Royals Lose to Laughably Bad Mariners, Are Laughable Worse.

Sure, I could go off on some rant about the Royals' futility, but it wouldn't be anything new and would require far more energy/effort than is warranted. I guess you could say I'm mailing this one in to pay homage to the Royals who have been doing the same thing for the past month.

The Royals managed two hits tonight. Scratch that. Billy Butler managed two hits tonight. The rest of the Royals were shut down by Jason Vargas for eight innings. Vargas struck out five and walked three while allowing just one hit, a Butler double that plated Lorenzo Cain who reached via one of the three aforementioned walks. Troy Wilhelmsen struck out two, getting Moustakas for his second to close out the game following Butler's second double of the evening.

None of this matters, of course. The Royals seem to somehow be playing worse than they were when they lost twelve straight earlier this season. The entire team is listless. Francoeur with his .277 wOBA is tattooed into the lineup every night. Yuniesky Betancourt is still getting significant playing time and putting up a negative WAR while Johnny Giavotella is riding a 22-game (I think) hitting streak, sporting a .338 AVG and hit his 10th homer tonight. He's clearly not ready.

With the Twins off today, the Royals' lead over the last place Twins winnowed down to a mere single game.

Nothing will ever change.

Luis Mendoza is the Royals ace. We may as well end it all now.