Well, yesterday sucked.
After leading 5-0 after six, leading 6-3 after eight, the one pitcher on the roster you would never in a thousand years pick to have a meltdown on the mound, did so, as Joakim Soria yielded four runs on five hits to give the White Sox the lead. Fortunately, the Royals middle of the lineup (more on them in a moment) came through, as Kila Ka'aihue doubled home pinch runner Jarrod Dyson to send the game to extra innings, where the Royals ultimately lost 10-7.
I really wanted to go to "Mass" yesterday. I had it all planned out -- I was going to duck out at lunch, run home, throw on some shorts, a t-shirt, and Birkenstocks, and head on out to bake in the sun of right field. (If you're not in KC, yesterday was damned near perfect -- mid 70s, mostly sunny, no real breeze. Just about perfect "work on the tan" weather).
Unfortunately, the real world interfered, as I had to attend an afternoon meeting with a couple corporate folks who don't understand why "company Steve works for" does things they way they do when it comes to my job. (For what it's worth, I completely agree with them. The logic "company Steve works for" when it comes to reinsurance is ass-backwards. Thank God someone finally sees things as I do).
But enough about work. The Royals emerge from the first week at 4-2, and in both losses, they either (a) nearly won it with a 9th inning comeback (Opening Day), or (b) had a fluky, won't occur again ninth inning meltdown out of their closer (yesterday). All four wins were of the comeback variety as well -- a walk off homer by Ka'aihue, an 8th inning rally, a 9th inning rally that led to a 13 inning win, and rallying from down 4-0 before recording an out to win in extra innings. At this point, we can safely say, that whatever these guys may be, they're at least entertaining as hell to watch.
Think about that. When was the last time this team was entertaining as hell to watch? Some people would say 2009, but are you sure about that? The Royals had a tremendous ten game stretch in early May when they went from a .500 team to a division leader, but by Memorial Day they were back to .500, by the All Star Break they were 10 games back, and other than days when Greinke started, did you really want to watch these guys? (Nope).
So I'm going to declare that the 2011 Royals are the first entertaining team we've fielded since 2003. Again, you can argue that 2009 was entertaining and I won't b*tch with you about it, but 2003 is the benchmark for me.
Unlike 2003 though, this team represents the low point for the next four to five years, not the high point of the decade. And for that, I am really excited.
Look at who the key contributors have been so far. In fact, just look at who the Royals have trotted out in the 3/4/5 slots for every game this year, and their stats:
3 Alex Gordon: 11/29 (.379), 2 BB / 7 K, 5 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI. OBP of .419, OPS of 1.079.
4 Billy Butler: 8/22 (.364), 5 BB / 3 K (1 HBP), 1 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI. OBP of .500, OPS of 1.182.
5 Kila Ka'aihue: 4/23 (.174), 5 BB / 8 K, 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI. OBP of .321, OPS of .712.
Gordon had one bad game (Opening Day, went 0-5). Since then, just do the math -- he's 11 for 24 with 2 walks. As impressive as his 42% on base percentage is, it's actually over 50% if you remove the outlier. Butler has just been raking it in this opening week. Reaching base 1 out of every 2 at bats? That's impressive. And Ka'aihue has struggled ... but he's still reaching base 32% of the time, had the game winning homer on night two, and tied the game in the bottom of the ninth yesterday. He's starting to warm up.
If the middle of the lineup keeps producing like this, the Royals can sustain this opening run. Look it, entering the season, nobody thought the Royals would be averaging 6 runs a game. Nobody. The fact that they beat up a couple pretty good pitchers in Kazmir and Buehrle is a very promising sign.
What also shows promise so far, is the starting rotation. Outside of Chen's outing on Sunday, none of the starters performances have been awful. They're not pitching us out of any games. They might be creating early deficits, but they're not getting torched like so many games over the last seven years. If you know going into a game that you've got three solid hitters that reach base nearly 50% of the time, and your starter is going to go 6 innings and limit the damage to 4 runs or less, you've given yourself a really good shot to win, provided your bullpen doesn't implode. And generally speaking, they haven't.
Let's start with the best reliever of the opening week, Jeremy Jeffress. Everyone's favorite pothead! (It's ok champ -- all our tailgates are always "smoker friendly", and you can't be tested for weed at the major league level. You're cool with me). Jeffress has given up one hit so far this season -- a wind aided homer to Bobby Abreu last Sunday that, if it didn't have a 40mph wind pushing it, would have harmlessly fallen into Francouer's glove about 20 feet shy of the warning track. That's it. That's impressive.
Tim Collins, who might be my favorite reliever to wear a Royals uniform in a long time. Dude is maybe 5'6", maybe 150 lbs. When he trotted in on Sunday, I was like "no sh*t? This guy's a reliever?" Hell yes he's a reliever. In 3 appearances so far (covering 4.1 innings) he hasn't yielded a run, and has 6 strikeouts (versus 1 walk). Nobody has advanced past second base either.
Equally as impressive has been Aaron Crow, who in three appearances so far (covering 5 innings), also hasn't allowed anyone to score, and has racked up 7 strikeouts (versus 1 walk). Dare I ask ... yes, I dare. When the hell was the last time the Royals had two relievers you could count on to come through 95% of the time? Let alone four, because other than yesterday, Soria's been untouchable as well.
About the only negative you can find on the entire freaking roster at this point is Sean O'Sullivan, who has been hit more often than Jeremy Jeffress' bong so far this year. He's appeared in two games so far -- Sunday after Chen crapped out in the fifth, and yesterday. Both times he's gone two innings. Both times he's been rocked, giving up 3 runs yesterday, and 2 on Sunday. It might be time to option him a couple hours up the freeway to whatever the hell the new ballpark in Omaha is called.
Here's how the Royals have looked after the first week of the season over the last few years:
2010: 2-4.
2009: 3-3.
2008: 4-2.
2007: 2-4.
2006: 2-3.
2005: 3-3.
2004: 4-2.
2003: 5-0.
For only the third time in nine years, the Royals emerge from the opening week above .500. The previous three times, well, once went pretty well (2003), the others crapped out (2004, 2008).
The key now, is what happens in week two. The Royals hit the road for a five game road trip against two of the three preseason contenders for the Central crown, Detroit and Minnesota, before coming home for a homestand against two teams that, at best, are equal to the Royals in terms of talent and season potential, Cleveland and Seattle. I'm not saying this team is going to be playing meaningful baseball in October. You'd have to be certifiably crazy or named Steve to even entertain those thoughts at this point. But here's how the Royals fared in the two weeks following the opening week the last eight years:
2010: 5-7 (no major streaks).
2009: 6-6 (no major streaks).
2008: 5-8 (no major streaks).
2007: 4-8 (including a 2-7 road trip).
2006: 2-10 (including a 0-9 road trip).
2005: 2-12 (including a 2-6 home stand).
2004: 2-8 (including a 1-7 road trip).
2003: 9-3 (including a 6-2 road trip).
In a word, yikes. The Royals literally played themselves out of any realistic talk about stealing the Central seven of the last eight years in this next two week stretch. Only in 2009 did they not crap out, and even then, they still sat at .500 after three weeks, hardly an inspiring start. So to say the next two weeks are important, is kind of an understatement. Especially since of our next 12 games, 7 are at home against less-than-playoff-caliber competition.
First Week MVP: Alex Gordon. Besides the clutch hitting, he's also recorded two assists, throwing out Bobby Abreu on Sunday, and Mark Teahan yesterday at third on base hits. Dare we dream folks? Is the Alex Gordon I drooled over in college, the Alex Gordon I "called in sick" two straight days for to go watch in the College World Series because I wanted to see the guy play in person and have the "I saw him even before he was great" card to play, dare we dream that that guy is back? God I hope so. Can you imagine this lineup in two years, with Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakis on the way? (black guy in a "family guy" spoof voice) Damn Royals! You scary!
First Week Cy Young: Jeff Francis. The free agent afterthought, signed just before spring training began, has delivered two rock star starts so far:
vs Angels Friday: 7 IP, 1 run (earned), 5 hits, 4 K's, 1 BB. No decision, left tied 1-1.
vs White Sox Wednesday: 6 2/3 IP, 2 runs (earned), 8 hits, 4 K's, 1 BB. No decision, left leading 5-2.
So for a couple million dollars, dirt cheap for a quality starter, he's so far given the Boyz N Blue 2 quality starts, 13 2/3 innings, and has an era of barely 2. (It's 2.03). I'll take that every day of the week, and twice on the days Francis is starting.
First Week LVP: Brayan Pena. The only Royal who really had a tough week at the plate. It also doesn't help that his backup produced one of the week's most dramatic moments, the three run homer to win Sunday's game in the thirteenth inning. It really doesn't help that he's been subbed out of three of the six games so far (granted twice for pinch runners, but still, if the manager deems you that replaceable on a regular basis ...) Pena needs to get his sh*t together, or he could be the odd dude out when Jason Kendall returns in a few weeks.
First Week Least Cy Young: Bruce "C'mon" Chen. Sean O'Sullivan certainly gave "C'mon" Chen a run for this "honor", with his horrendous 11 plus ERA in relief work, for failing to go even one outing without giving up a run, and for blowing the tie or the lead in two of the last three games. But "C'mon" Chen was HORRIFIC in his Sunday start. I mean HORRIFIC. Granted, the wind helped the bats on both teams that day, but given a 5-0 lead after two innings, Chen barely survived three more innings before leaving with a 9 plus ERA and allowing an astonishing 11 Angels to reach base in 5 innings of work (4 of whom scored). "C'mon" Chen. You have to do better than that.
First Week Final Thoughts: Entertaining as hell to watch. That's what these kids are. Entertaining as hell to watch. They might frustrate the hell out of you at times (like Soria yesterday, Chen on Sunday). They're gonna make you clap like a trained seal or Pauler Abdul at other times (the comebacks of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday). At the end of the day, their ceiling is probably 75 wins as the team is currently constructed. But at least it'll be one helluva entertaining 75 wins. And it's been a long, long time since the phrase "entertaining as hell" could be used about anything on the field at One Kauffman Way. Well, other than the live hotdog race on Sundays, those are always entertaining ...
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