2013 AL Central Catch All thread

[Steve9347]

I have such a manboner for Kelvin Herrera. If they want to switch, they can have Nate Jones.

 

Nate Jones struggles with "control," which is a very dangerous thing for a reliever to struggle with. Kelvin Herrera struggles with "trusting his stuff too much because he can throw the ball 400 miles an hour but we're in the majors and hitters can catch up to that s***," which is an incredibly easy problem to correct.

Indeed. Herrera is a nasty motherf***er.

[caulfield12]

melt down

Posted by: Howard Sinker (www.startribune.com/sports) under Farm System, Twins fans, Twins management Updated: May 24, 2013 - 9:13 AM 41 commentsprint

 

Watching the Twins broadcasters after Thursday night's frustrating-for-all loss to Detroit was a little bit like listening to me talk about the basketball teams I used to coach -- the elementary school team in the Golden Valley/Crystal Park and Rec League and the sixth-grade B team I coached in Hopkins. After a loss, we'd chatter about the effort and look for the bright spots -- winning the fourth quarter against the tough kids from Eden Prairie or how we'd run some good offense and "did everything but make the shot."

 

That's how it should be when you're coaching preteens.

 

The Twitterverse was a bit cranky after the Twins blew that lead in Detroit.

 

One of my friends tweeted: "After 9 straight losses, this is where we'll find out what kind of Twins fans we are. Does that represent the kind of person we are too."

 

To which someone responded: "I don't think that expressing frustration and expecting those who run the Twins to do better constitutes being a bad fan."

 

When Bert Blyleven tweeted this afterward:

 

 

 

 

Someone responded: "Oh c'mon, Bert, the team sucks! When Molitor takes over, I hope you are the pitching coach."

And so it went. In the best of times, some true fans hold animosity against those who jump on the bandwagon, which is silly. In bad times, they sometimes talk smack at each other, which deflects from the real problem of how incredibly poorly the Twins have been playing since the start of their last homestand.

 

That 2-7 stretch followed by a clean sheet of defeat on the first half of the current 10-game road trip has landed the Twins solidly at the bottom of the AL Central, with the only worse record in the league belonging to pathetic Houston. In the name of looking at the present and future, I called a personal halt at the start of the season to writing about how the mistakes of the last few years had created a team for which there was little hope.

 

"Kansas City North" was the term I used a few times, and Twins fans are getting a first-hand look at what that means. We used to watch the Royals talk about how better stuff was ahead and then they'd get off a respectable start -- followed by a tumble to the bottom. That's exactly what's been happening to the 2013 Twins, who worked so hard to be respectable for the first five weeks that little appears to be left for the next five months.

 

(Quick aside: I know I'm not the only one a bit skeptical about all of the optimism being directed toward the Twins of the future who are currently playing their way through the lower minors. Hopeful, yes. Convinced, no.)

 

The awful starting pitching has begotten tired relief pitching. The poor pitching has created an overall sense of hopelessness, leading some fans to bicker about who should be called up from Rochester among the collection of players currently in last place in the International League.

 

The biggest frustration there is the perceived "Anthony Slama treatment" of pitcher Kyle Gibson by Twins management, which has called up Samuel Deduno and P.J. Walters as current stopgaps. We've heard buckets about how Gibson has thrown shutouts in two of his last four starts, one against a team with a record almost as bad as Houston's (and the other also against a sub-.500 team), and little about the other two.

 

In the other two, Gibson gave up nine runs and 18 hits in 7 2/3 innings against two of the league's better teams.

 

For the Twins to seek more consistency from Gibson is understandable.

 

For fans to expect (and have expected) more competence from the Twins is, too.

[chw42]

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/23/42528...cent-slide.html

 

Dayton Moore "not panicking," says position players have to develop at the major league level...and pitching is a different issue (Herrera, their version of Nate Jones, was recently sent back down to AAA).

 

Herrera not being on the team is good news for the White Sox.

[LittleHurt05]

Those improved, young, exciting Royals are currently in 4th place behind the s***ty, old, boring White Sox. Huh, go figure.

[Dick Allen]

Those improved, young, exciting Royals are currently in 4th place behind the s***ty, old, boring White Sox. Huh, go figure.

They need a total rebuild. They should hire Marty to consult.

[Jake]

Those improved, young, exciting Royals are currently in 4th place behind the s***ty, old, boring White Sox. Huh, go figure.

 

So much more talent than us! So much!

[High Mileage]

I know you guys hate Ozzie for the most part, but he knows what it takes to win and I think he'd be PERFECT for the Royals.

People here are growing impatient and think Ned must go. He got rid of a hitting coach that helped turn Alex Gordon around and now all the entire team can do is hit singles. Now the starting pitching is even growing a bit unreliable outside of No. 1.

Getz can't hit; Francouer can't hit; Salvy Perez may be one of those guys who gets hurt a lot with that big body at catcher; Hosmer is an average singles hitter right now; Moustakas is a possible bust; Cain looks good but is in a slump and we'll see how long the slump continues.

 

If they fire Ned ... why not Ozzie??

HELL NO. I don't think Ozzie would go over well with the canvass at all. He's far too outspoken for our ownership and management as well.

 

From the Royals telecast

 

 

 

:lol:

 

So many mistakes.

That's hilarious, I was watching that game and saw that graphic several times, but never noticed all the mistakes.

 

My Royals are really struggling lately. In a little over two weeks since taking 2 of 3 from the White Sox, they are 4-13, losing 6 of those by 1 run. They were swept by the Yankees at home, and the A's on the road. They also dropped 2 of 3 to the lowly Astros.

 

Moustakas still isn't hitting, .174/.244/.299 on the season.

 

Escobar still isn't hitting, .246/.276/.322

 

Getz still sucks, .214/.267/.316

 

Francoeur still sucks, .232/.258/.319

 

Hosmer has been better, but he's still not hitting for power, only 8 extra base hits all year.

 

Then you have all of Ned Hosts bonehead mistakes. Such as batting Getz leadoff, batting Escobar in the #2 spot for much of the season. Bringing Luke Hochevar into tied ball games, and/or wumith runners on, pulling Shields too early from several starts when he was cruising.

 

I think Yosts' fate is tied directly with Dayton Moore's, and another s***ty season should get them both canned.

 

 

[Soxfest]

Those improved, young, exciting Royals are currently in 4th place behind the s***ty, old, boring White Sox. Huh, go figure.

We will see by years end.

[greg775]

HELL NO. I don't think Ozzie would go over well with the canvass at all. He's far too outspoken for our ownership and management as well.

 

 

That's hilarious, I was watching that game and saw that graphic several times, but never noticed all the mistakes.

 

My Royals are really struggling lately. In a little over two weeks since taking 2 of 3 from the White Sox, they are 4-13, losing 6 of those by 1 run. They were swept by the Yankees at home, and the A's on the road. They also dropped 2 of 3 to the lowly Astros.

 

Moustakas still isn't hitting, .174/.244/.299 on the season.

 

Escobar still isn't hitting, .246/.276/.322

 

Getz still sucks, .214/.267/.316

 

Francoeur still sucks, .232/.258/.319

 

Hosmer has been better, but he's still not hitting for power, only 8 extra base hits all year.

 

Then you have all of Ned Hosts bonehead mistakes. Such as batting Getz leadoff, batting Escobar in the #2 spot for much of the season. Bringing Luke Hochevar into tied ball games, and/or wumith runners on, pulling Shields too early from several starts when he was cruising.

 

I think Yosts' fate is tied directly with Dayton Moore's, and another s***ty season should get them both canned.

 

Have you seen the interview with Ozzie before this Miami series? He's humbled and says he'd work cheap. You Royals fans are too patient. You need something to shake things up. Royals had a chance to sign Sosa back in the day; coulda signed Thome. Coulda signed anybody. But you plod along hoping and hoping.

Yes you beat the Sox like a drum and probably will again the next time we play.

[Marty34]

They need a total rebuild. They should hire Marty to consult.

 

I like your philosophy Dick, pro changes that help a team.

[caulfield12]

Have you seen the interview with Ozzie before this Miami series? He's humbled and says he'd work cheap. You Royals fans are too patient. You need something to shake things up. Royals had a chance to sign Sosa back in the day; coulda signed Thome. Coulda signed anybody. But you plod along hoping and hoping.

Yes you beat the Sox like a drum and probably will again the next time we play.

 

 

The problem was never the Royals' offense.

 

It was always pitching. When they had Dye, Damon, Carlos Beltran, Randa, Carlos Febles, Mike Sweeney and decent production out of the catcher's spot over a decade ago, they were still struggling to be much over .500.

 

 

Royals now on a 4-15 run, including a whopping 7 consecutive losses at home...have gone from 7 games under .500 to 4 games under in the span of 3 weeks.

Edited May 25, 2013 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

Saturday’s loss was faith-testing grim. The Angels trotted out right-hander Billy Buckner, a one-time Royals’ draftee who hasn’t pitched in the majors in nearly three years. And he worked five scoreless innings.

 

The LA bullpen, which entered the day with a better ERA than just two other American League units, then completed the shutout with four clean innings.

 

And it all looked easy.

 

“Offensively, we’re just not getting it done,” manager Ned Yost said. “We just need to break out of the funk were in and get some hits. It’s a combination of everything, but we’ve got to find a way to get it done.”

 

The Royals’ attack right now...Tennyson once wrote about “the quiet sense of something lost.” Well, yeah. Bingo. A lot of quiet, and a lot of lost. (That’s right, we’re channeling Tennyson. Gives you an idea, doesn’t it?)

 

Some specifics:

 

The Royals have scored three runs or fewer on six occasions while going 1-8 over the last nine days. That streak includes three one-run losses at Oakland, two losses in three games at Houston (which is tough to do).

 

And now three straight home losses to the Angels who, when this series opened Thursday night, had the worst record in the American League but for those aforementioned Astros.

 

Tennyson is perfect.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/25/42562...l#storylink=cpy

 

 

And it doesn't get any easier after Sunday, 7 games at St. Louis and Texas

[Balta1701]

The problem was never the Royals' offense.

The Royals are 12th in the AL in Runs scored this year, they were 12th in the AL in runs scored last year, and they've averaged finishing right around 12th in the AL in runs scored for the last 10 seasons (with only 1 finish in the top 10). No matter how many names you want to list, offense has been a problem for them for a decade.

[caulfield12]

In some ways, Yost is in charge of the clubhouse culture. As long as that remains positive — and there are no indications otherwise — he will remain the Royals manager.

 

This is what Yost’s life experience has shown him he should do. That’s frustrating to hear when the losses pile up — especially if you don’t understand why Yost sees this as his only option.

 

He tried it the other way, once. That was five years ago, and Yost didn’t know any better. It led to his greatest professional failure. Cost him his job.

 

In a moment, away from the other microphones and cameras, he will help explain where he’s coming from.

 

Ned Yost literally walked into one of the most bizarre firings in baseball history. This was in Chicago. An off day in September 2008. Yost was the Brewers’ manager, and they’d just been swept in Philadelphia. They had lost 11 of 14. Two weeks earlier, they led the wild-card race by 5 1/2 games. Now, they were tied. The ground beneath them trembled.

 

General manager Doug Melvin called Yost to his hotel room. Yost knocked on the door expecting to talk about what needed to happen to turn the team around. He loved his players, and felt particular ownership after seeing them from 106 losses the year before he arrived to the brink of the franchise’s first playoff appearance in 26 years.

 

When he walked into that room and saw owner Mark Attanasio on the couch, Yost knew he wasn’t there to talk about what needed to change. He knew the bosses had decided Yost would be that change.

 

As best anyone can tell, no manager on a playoff contender had ever been fired this late in the season. Every indication is that Attanasio forced Melvin’s hand. The baseball world was stunned. Braves manager Bobby Cox — a mentor to Yost — was furious, saying that no manager at any time could ever feel safe again.

 

The Brewers closed the season 7-5, into the playoffs on fumes. They quickly lost to eventual World Series champion Philadelphia in the first round. Yost spent much of the next year on a tractor working his land in Georgia, thinking about what happened.

 

When the Royals gave him a chance to manage another team built around another group of young prospects, I met with Yost in his office and asked if he’d learned anything from the experience in Milwaukee.

 

“Yeah,” he said, “don’t lose a bunch of games in September.”

 

Those words are flippant, because Yost is often flippant and he doesn’t like to get into this. He watched that group grow up. Stuck with them when nobody else believed, or cared, or both.

 

Part of Yost’s baseball soul will never get over that rejection. He went from a leading Manager of the Year candidate to fired, all because of a brutal two-week stretch. Many around the team aren’t sure the firing made much of an impact except to keep Yost from seeing the project through.

 

But that experience helped shape the Royals of today, for better or worse. People who were part of that Brewers team five years ago — even the ones who believe Yost was railroaded by a meddling and overly emotional owner — think he changed once the losses came in September.

 

Yost admits this, to a point. The man who spent his previous 945 games as manager complimenting and encouraging and smiling spent too much of his final 14 games with the Brewers cursing and yelling and frowning.

 

Yost became the fall guy in an unprecedented baseball move, in other words, but he wasn’t blameless. If his tenseness seeped into the clubhouse, he wasn’t doing his best job. If his cursing after a double play weighed on the mind of the next batter, Yost wasn’t helping.

 

These are the realizations Yost came to on his tractor, the year after being fired. He is a confident man, stubborn and ornery. He is tough enough that he had gall bladder surgery and didn’t miss a day of work, saying it hurt when he breathed, but “besides that I feel pretty good.”

 

So this is not a man who easily accepts disappointment, or dwells much on the bad. But he does like to recognize his own weaknesses. Here was a mistake he made. So he identified it, and worked on it. For better or worse, the result of the most important lesson he learned in Milwaukee is how you see him acting today in Kansas City.

 

“I pushed too hard,” he says now, away from the other microphones and cameras. “Instead of remaining calm, staying positive, I showed my frustration at times. It bleeds through to them. I’ve worked real hard at not doing that here. Nothing, Not even, ‘Damn, how’d you miss that pitch?’ That doesn’t do any good.

 

“I learned that.”

 

It’s worth remembering that baseball people are, generally, much less panicked than fans. Losing a series to the terrible Astros is a sign of trouble, but you want panic? The Angels have a $146 million payroll and are five games under .500. The Dodgers ($216 million) and Blue Jays ($116 million) remade their rosters and payrolls with win-now moves and both are in last place.

 

The Royals are four under .500 in a season many expected them to finish a few games over.

 

“This is nowhere near time to panic,” starting pitcher James Shields says.

 

Shields was on the 2011 Rays team that made up a nine-game deficit in September to make the playoffs. That’s an extreme case — the biggest last-month comeback in major-league history, actually — but an example of why the players aren’t freaking out. The history in Milwaukee that none of them experienced is why Yost is working so hard to keep it that way.

 

Miguel Tejada has made six All-Star teams and won an MVP award in his 16 big-league seasons. He played for a 103-game winner in Oakland, and a 93-game loser in Baltimore. He’s answered to 11 different managers, through good times and bad, hitting streaks and losing streaks, blown ninth innings and walk-off wins.

 

“For me,” Tejada says, “the most important thing a manager can do is give you confidence. That’s the most important thing. And my manager is doing a good job with that.”

 

These words have a different meaning once you better understand Yost’s background, and his motivations. He and general manager Dayton Moore talked about the Milwaukee experience before Yost was hired. Each man knows the expectations, and Moore is complimenting Yost’s work with maintaining “that clubhouse culture.”

 

This is what Yost is focused on now, to not let the same mistakes that got him fired by the Brewers follow him to Kansas City.

 

That means right now, as the Royals attempt to climb from what could be a season-defining slide, is Yost’s first real comprehension test. He knows he is seen by many as the guy who didn’t make it all the way through in Milwaukee, the one who can take you to the door but doesn’t have the key.

 

He’s trying to change that here, and now. Staying calm and positive is the only way he knows how. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. But he tried the other way once.

To reach Sam Mellinger, call 816-234-4365, send email to [email protected] or follow him at Twitter.com/mellinger. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com.

 

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/25/42562...l#storylink=cpy

[flavum]

Royals swept 4 by the Angels at home. Since the game Jordan Danks hit the homer in KC, the Royals are 4-16.

 

I'm glad the Angels are in the Sox rear view mirror.

[LittleHurt05]

Those improved, young, exciting Royals are currently in 4th place behind the s***ty, old, boring White Sox. Huh, go figure.

[High Mileage]

Have you seen the interview with Ozzie before this Miami series? He's humbled and says he'd work cheap. You Royals fans are too patient. You need something to shake things up. Royals had a chance to sign Sosa back in the day; coulda signed Thome. Coulda signed anybody. But you plod along hoping and hoping.

Yes you beat the Sox like a drum and probably will again the next time we play.

The fans aren't patient, but the ownership and front office sure as hell are.

 

As far as Ozzie, I don't listen to much of anything he's said, because I can usually only make out every third or fourth word. He is not the type of guy ownership will want, far too outspoken, far too temperamental. He may be "humbled" now, but his history speaks for itself. The Royals like the softer-spoken, religious types. When times are tough, and they usually are for the Royals, they want to hear press conferences filled with things like "aw shucks" and "geewhiz", not incoherent profanity laced tirades.

 

Sosa? LOL. He was done when those rumors popped up. Thome? When was that?

 

The problem was never the Royals' offense.

 

It was always pitching. When they had Dye, Damon, Carlos Beltran, Randa, Carlos Febles, Mike Sweeney and decent production out of the catcher's spot over a decade ago, they were still struggling to be much over .500.

If it's not one, it's the other.

 

[caulfield12]

The fans aren't patient, but the ownership and front office sure as hell are.

 

As far as Ozzie, I don't listen to much of anything he's said, because I can usually only make out every third or fourth word. He is not the type of guy ownership will want, far too outspoken, far too temperamental. He may be "humbled" now, but his history speaks for itself. The Royals like the softer-spoken, religious types. When times are tough, and they usually are for the Royals, they want to hear press conferences filled with things like "aw shucks" and "geewhiz", not incoherent profanity laced tirades.

 

Sosa? LOL. He was done when those rumors popped up. Thome? When was that?

 

 

If it's not one, it's the other.

 

He must mean signing Thome (instead of the Twins) before the 2010 season.

 

If you recall Tony Muser, all KC fans remember the confrontation with Mike Sweeney about "milk and cookies." It became a quasi-religious debate for a few weeks about Mike being too soft/kind/not enough Ty Cobb in him...sort of like they say about Paul Konerko in Chicago sometimes (or Thome, for that matter).

[caulfield12]

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/27/42595...e-a-change.html

 

Smells Like the Royals Need to Make A Change

 

 

 

 

I liked these comments...

 

Should Yost be fired? Yes. His Royals record is .439 compared to .423 for Hillman and .424 for Muser. End of discussion. Goodbye. He failed miserably in Milwaukee and somehow managed to get canned with his team in playoff contention in the final weeks of the season... never happened before in 130 years. Think about that. Look at the talent on that 2008 team... All Stars all over the place and he's driving them over the cliff. He's an epic failure...literally.

 

However, the bulk of the blame goes to Moore. First off, he hired Yost, the epic failure. What's he done here in seven years? Nothing. Not a damn thing. This roster that he built is a joke. You look at the lineup we run out and can't help but giggle. His drafts have been a complete disaster. His free agent signings have been terrible. He simply can't evaluate the draft which is the ONLY WAY THIS TEAM CAN COMPETE. That was supposed to be his strength. It's instead made him look like a clueless fool. He's a likable Scott Pioli. They're the same GM but one you like and the other you can't stand. Both are in way over their heads as "the guy". Great number two guys at best, terrible number one guys.

 

They both need to go. Here's the problem. You can't fire Yost with Moore's days numbered. What coach will want to come into that situation? I suppose the usual trash that we've had over the last 20 years will do it. I don't think David Glass is that stupid. He has to start with Moore and find a GM who will bring in his guy. That is the only way this will work. Moore has to go and the sooner the better.

 

The Royals need a manager who knows how to win. I would try Guillen even though he can be a loose cannon but he could inject something into the clubhouse as they need something. Yost has lost the clubhouse as it is showing on the field each day.

 

[caulfield12]

James Shields’ first big league team lost 101 games. Those 2006 Devil Rays scored fewer runs than every other team in the league and gave up more than all but two. The next year, they finished an even 30 games behind first place, the 10th season in a row Tampa Bay had lost more than 90 games.

 

The organization dropped the “Devil” from their name that offseason, and, coincidence or not, went from the worst team in baseball to the World Series the next year. Shields wrote a book about that team, and helped win 90 or more games in each of his last five years before being traded to Kansas City before this season.

 

Shields’ career has doubled as a doctoral course on the difference between good teams and bad ones. He’s lived both lives, from the inside. The difference?

 

“It’s just putting it together as a team, playing as a team,” he says. “Amnesia has a lot to do with it, being able to forget losses, and going out there and competing. It all starts with starting pitching, that’s what we’re doing a good job of.

 

“But the difference is chemistry, I think. This can be a very selfish game, and the less selfishness we have in this clubhouse, the more we’re going to play together.”

This is as tight a clubhouse as you can typically find in the big leagues, teammates who legitimately count each other among their best friends. Those hand signs hitters make back to the dugout after getting on base are goofy and irrelevant, but they are also a picture of guys who truly like one another.

 

It’s a fair point Shields makes, but the Royals have had clubhouses full of friendships before and failed. Two years ago, the Royals laughed together like a bunch of old high school buddies but also lost 95 games, including 11 of 13 at one point, and 17 of 22 at another.

 

No, we need more.

 

The thing that makes this Royals team different than the limp versions that have come before is actual talent. This is the best team, on paper, the Royals have had since the 1994 strike.

 

Even if that’s a bit of faint praise, it at least means that your hope isn’t in a team that signed Jose Lima out of an independent league sight unseen (2003), began with Kyle Davies and Sidney Ponson in the rotation (2009) or started Luke Hochevar on opening day (2011).

 

This is a real big league team, a good one even. That may or may not be good enough for the playoffs. They had the look of an 84-or-so win team before the season, were on pace for 85 entering Saturday, and figure to be around that most of the year. But it should be good enough to dream a little.

 

There will be five playoff teams in each league this year for the first time, as you know. An analysis of the last five years of teams that would’ve qualified with this new format shows the Royals are so far performing at or near the average of that 25-team group.

 

They are pitching slightly better (3.57 ERA was tied for third in the league entering Saturday’s games, vs. a 4.01 ERA ranking between fifth and sixth for the playoff teams), and scoring significantly less (4.39 per game ranks ninth, vs. 4.97 per game ranking between fourth and fifth).

 

The most important stat, by far, is run differential. Twice in the last five years, the top five teams in run differential were the same five teams that would’ve made the playoffs in the current format. Only three of the 25 teams ranked below sixth, none below eighth. The Royals had the American League’s seventh-best run differential entering Saturday’s games.

 

Put another way: if the 2013 Royals aren’t a playoff team, they’re a close enough to play one in a movie.

 

Nobody can tell you how to feel about your team, of course. The Royals have spent the last 27 years teaching a new generation of fans that the better times are yesterday or tomorrow but never today. Never quite yet. Never quite now.

 

If you want to be skeptical, you can build a good case even without the Royals’ rotten history. They’ve scored three or fewer runs in more than half their games. Chris Getz and Jeff Francoeur are swinging with the combined punch of a dandelion. Mike Moustakas is hitting .189. Wade Davis is on pace for a very (Kyle) Davies-ian season in the rotation. Eric Hosmer has six extra-base hits and Kelvin Herrera has given up seven home runs.

 

So, sure. You don’t need to look far for reasons to stay away from believing in this Royals team. They’ve burned you before. They surrendered benefit of the doubt at some point in the 1990s. You have every reason to wait this out, to save your hope.

 

But how much fun would that be?

 

To reach Sam Mellinger, call 816-234-4365 or send email to [email protected].

 

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/19/42436...l#storylink=cpy

Edited May 28, 2013 by caulfield12

[Steve9347]

Maybe the Royals will be good next year.

[Steve9347]

Have you seen the interview with Ozzie before this Miami series? He's humbled and says he'd work cheap. You Royals fans are too patient. You need something to shake things up. Royals had a chance to sign Sosa back in the day; coulda signed Thome. Coulda signed anybody. But you plod along hoping and hoping.

Yes you beat the Sox like a drum and probably will again the next time we play.

You'd s*** your pants if the Royals hired Ozzie.

[fathom]

I don't get why teams continue to let Miguel Cabrera beat them.

[caulfield12]

Cabrera's current pace still in Hack Wilson territory.

 

48 homers, 187 RBI's, .372 average (has cooled off from the .390's, lol)

[flavum]

Royals blowing another one. After starting 17-10, I'd be real disappointed if I were a Royals fan.