Royals Embarrassed by the Rays

The Royals 9-5 loss last night was our seventh straight at Tropicana Field. If the Devil Rays ever lick their chops, it must be when they see us coming. The sad thing is they are missing Huff and Baldelli. With the exception of Greinke, we aren't missing anybody and they ran us out of town.

This was also our seventh loss in a row. And references to the 19-game losing streak from last season are already being made. I'm sure the joke writers for Leno and Letterman are huddled together to see if they can put a new spin on old story and still make it funny. The thing about jokes is—they always contain an element of truth. If they didn't, they wouldn't be funny.

This streak is different that last season though. Last season, we were about as fundamentally sound as a group of 35 year-old recreational league softball players. We missed cut off men. We had no clue how to run the bases. We swung for the fences on every pitch as if we'd never heard of the concept of situational baseball. And, as you remember, it was difficult to watch.

This season we are bad in a different sort of way—our pitching. Somehow we've amassed a staff who is absolutely terrified of the strike zone. Five of our twelve pitchers who have seen action this season have an ERA over 12.00. Our staff ERA is 7.45—the worst in MLB, by far. We've walked 58 guys in 93 innings. Opponents are hitting .315. And half way through the month of April, not one of our starters has won a game.  

Redman made his season debut yesterday, and while he wasn't exactly sharp, after throwing 87 pitches in five innings, he left the game with a 4-3 lead. Stemle, in what is sure to be his last appearance in Royal blue for a while, gave up 6 ER in 2.1 IP and we had no chance after that. According to an article in the Star this morning: "Club officials planned to discuss possible personnel moves Sunday night on the charter flight to Chicago." Let's hope they follow through.

Affeldt has been placed back into the rotation because Denny Bautista went on the 15-day DL again. Mays is staying in the rotation (talk about a good plot for a horror movie). And Wood's spot start will be just that as he moves back into the pen—at least for now.

Tonight, the Royals will send Mays (0-1, 12.86) against Jose Contreras (1-0, 1.93 ERA). Contreras in 5-0 lifetime against us with a 2.23 ERA.