James Shields Officially Hates His Teammates Now; Royals Fall 2-1

James Shields looked like the true ace the Royals meant to acquire, going eight innings, tying a season high with nine strikeouts, walking just one, and sprinkling six hits and just two runs. But by old school conventional logic, James Shields was a loser because he just didn't have THE WILL TO WIN tonight, as his efforts led to a 2-1 Royals loss.

The Royals managed just five hits of offense all night. They had just three runners in scoring position all night. Of the seven baserunners they had all night, one was erased on a double play, and one was picked off in a terrible baserunning gaffe by Eric Hosmer. The team was rather punchless.

The new guy - David Lough - was one of the the only bats to show up tonight, collecting two hits including the only RBI for the Royals. He drove home Salvador Perez in the third, although Lough was nearly caught at second when he inexplicably tried to take an extra base on a shallow blooper to Coco Crisp. Isn't Rusty Kuntz supposed to be our base-running guru?

Lorenzo Cain also had a pair of walks. He leads the team in on-base percentage, so let's hit him sixth, after Eric Hosmer.

Coach Ned, obviously stung by the criticism that he pulled James too early in his Chicago start a few weeks ago, left Shields to close this game out, and Shields gave up solo home runs to Josh Donaldson in the seventh (on a pretty decent pitch down and in) and Adam Rosales in the eighth (left it up and Rosales blasted it). The Royals are going to get solo-homered to death this year.

Shields ended up with 122 pitches for the night. He is now 2-4 with a 2.45 ERA. What a loser.