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Just three years removed from an April that gave a fanbase hope, the Royals stumbled, tripped and crashed out of the gate in 2006.
I was blogging then, but seem to have erased the entire experience from my memory. Opening Day starter Scott Elarton? Followed by Joe Mays? How can that fail?
Piloted by Buddy Bell who authored the Bell Axiom (Never say you've reached rock bottom. Things can always get worse.) saw his club lose their first two games but then rally for a pair of wins to even their record at 2-2 on the young season. They lost their final game of the opening homestand and then embarked on a nine game road trip that would take them to New York, Tampa and Chicago.
They wouldn't win a game on the trip.
For their tenth consecutive loss, the Royals were held to three hits in a 4-0 loss at the hands of the White Sox. In the first inning, Elarton walked the leadoff man, who was promptly caught stealing. Yet a single and two more walks loaded the bases. Would you believe the first run scored on a wild pitch? Of course you would.
Staring at an insurmountable 1-0 lead, the Royals gave up three more runs in the fifth. After surrendering a leadoff home run, Elarton loaded the bases on a double, an intentional walk and an infield single. A hit batter and passed ball plated the final two runs of the game.
Yes, that really happened.
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | BF | Pit | Str | Ctct | StS | StL | GB | FB | LD | GSc | IR | IS | WPA | RE24 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Elarton, L (0-4) | 4.1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4.07 | 23 | 77 | 38 | 27 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 13 | 2 | 34 | -0.110 | 1.04 | -1.8 | ||
| Luke Hudson | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.00 | 5 | 24 | 15 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0.020 | 0.37 | 1.2 | |
| Elmer Dessens | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.04 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.008 | 0.11 | 0.6 | |
| Ambiorix Burgos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 3 | 15 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.004 | 0.10 | 0.6 | |
| Team Totals | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3.38 | 34 | 128 | 68 | 50 | 3 | 15 | 9 | 17 | 2 | 34 | 3 | 1 | -0.078 | 0.78 | 0.6 |
In the entire three game series, the Royals collected only 11 hits and scored just a single run.
Bell Axiom, indeed.