Royals disappoint fathers everywhere, get swept by Astros

They’re 22-49, man. I don’t even have a whole lot of entertaining stuff to write.

The Royals lost to the Astros, 7-4, on Sunday. They let down their fathers on Father’s Day. Of course, their fathers were probably disappointed before Sunday’s events, because most of these guys are gigantic failures at their profession of choice.

They had it going on for awhile, too. After falling behind 2-0, they tied things up with a two-run first on an error and a groundout.

Hunter Dozier smacked a two-run homer in the third to give Kansas City a 4-2 lead. Mike Moustakas almost scored on a hit by Sal Perez in the at-bat before, but he was thrown out at home and the Royals lost the challenge. Moustakas and eventually Danny Duffy were ejected.

The umpires sucked, too. The Moustakas call was close, probably too close to overturn, but home plate umpire John Tumpane tossed him when he questioned the call. Ned Yost waddled out there for a few seconds but ultimately backed down and went back to the dugout. You have to get ejected there, Ned.

Per Royals Twitter icon @BHIndepMO, Tumpane has made eight ejections in the last calendar year, and five of them have been Royals players.

Brad Keller gave a run back in the fourth, but he worked through six good innings to get in line for a win. He allowed nine hits in six innings, but just three runs scored. He was pitch-efficient, using 83 pitches to get 18 outs. He’s a bright spot in the organization going forward.

Kevin McCarthy worked a perfect seventh, and the Royals were in business. But then Brandon %$*#& Maurer happened.

The Royals sent down Scott Barlow, a young reliever who has shown promise, and kept Brandon Maurer, who is a gas can that absolutely blows. That move took exactly one day to blow up in their faces.

Maurer entered in the eighth inning with a 4-3 lead and needed exactly one hitter to give up the lead, as Carlos Correa walloped a game-tying homer. Maurer then gave up a single, a run that eventually scored and went down as the winning run, so he was tagged with the loss. It is an utter joke that he is still on a roster.

The Astros then scored a bunch of runs and eventually won 7-4.

Here’s my beef, ok? The Royals, at 22-49, are going nowhere this season. They are going to lose games regardless of who’s in the starting lineup at this point. Therefor, the least they could do is throw out a bunch of young guys, let them grow with pains, and use the losses to get the future of your organization some experience.

Instead, the Royals started Abraham Almonte, Alcides Escobar, Ryan Goins, and Paulo Orlando today. They are all at least 29 years old and they are all horrific at baseball. Burch Smith, Justin Grimm, and Brandon Maurer will all be at least 28 years old in three weeks as well. None of those guys should be on a major league roster.

Raul Mondesi and Rosell Herrera, who were called up before the game from Omaha, didn’t get into the contest until injuries and ejections took place. Scott Barlow is back in Omaha despite being better than the three older relievers they elected to keep. It is utterly ridiculous for these guys not to be in the lineup every day at this point.

After going 0-for-4, Alcides Escobar is now 2 for his last 44. He is hitting less than .130 in his last month of games - and he hasn’t gotten a single day off in that time period. His replacement is here. He is doing nothing for this organization. It’s time for him to be DFA’d and be done with the Royals.

And I get it: they’re 22-49. It’s not like these moves “matter” from a wins and losses perspective. But they do matter in the long run, because they could be using these good-for-nothing games to get the future of the Royals some time at the big-league level.

Oh yeah, and Whit Merrifield fouled a ball directly off of his knee and left with a contusion. It looked really bad; he’s fortunate to just be diagnosed with (at this time) a major bruise. Adalberto Mondesi came in and played his first game since his name change. Steve Physioc said that “He is officially Adalberto Raul Mondesi,” even though his name is Raul Adalberto Mondesi.

Serious question on Steve Physioc here. I wonder what the folks at the Royals and Fox Sports Kansas City think about him. You have to assume that they’re aware their entire fanbase thinks he sucks, right? I wonder if they know it and don’t care, or if they’re woefully unaware. I’d love to know what the producers at FSKC really think of Physioc and his tendency to screw up factoids, statistics, and action on a inningly basis.

Bottom line: If you’re going to suck, at least play guys that are going to be a part of this organization going forward. That’s really all I ask.

Up next: Texas comes into Kauffman Stadium tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday to play three games with the Royals.