Thursday, April 7, 2011

Who are the Kansas City Royals?

At this point in the season, it is not uncommon for Kansas City Royals fans to jump ship and follow other, more exciting things like... golf. and chess. However, this year, the year the Earth will end as predicted by the Mayan calendar, has the Royals starting at the top of the AL Central. Yes, the Kansas City Royals are in first place... hell has frozen over and pigs are flying.

Last season, the best the Royals could muster was three wins in a row occasionally on their way to a finish of 67-95. Well... that consecutive wins cap is no more and the Royals are sitting at a comfortable 4-1. That is a .800 winning percentage. People in Boston are salivating at the idea.

What the heck happened?

When the Royals had a walk-off win over the Bad Guys from Chicago, the Royals became the third team in the past 20 season to have its first four wins come in the final at-bat and the first team to do it since the 1989 Royals. I don't know what to make of this strange season... but while I crack a Mich and think it over, let's just break down what has happened so far:

- Aaron Crow (the Royals' first-round draft pick in 2009), Tim Collins (someone not EVEN drafted), and Jeremy Jeffress (Brewers' first-round pick in 2006) compose the winning pitches of Kansas' last three games. They are all Rookie relief pitchers.

- Alex Gordon of Nebraska is hitting .379 after going 11-for-21 with 5 RBIs. The last two seasons he batted .232 and .215.

- Melky Cabrera still has a cool name. And as far as his talent goes, is batting north of .290 along with his teammates Alex Gordon, Jeff Francoeur, Billy Butler, and Chris Getz. (if anyone is interested, Joe Mauer, a candidate for last years' MLB batting championship, is batting .077)

Those are the facts. I just don't know how to interpret them. Something weird is going on and I expect someone to get to the bottom of it. Let me know how it goes.


2 comments:

  1. As said in your other post, less than 5% of the year is over, give the Royals time to shoot themselves in the foot and Mauer Power time to get his stride in. All will smooth out and I predict by April 15, Twins will already have a better record then the Royals!

    PS who picked the Rays to win the world series in your poll in the top right corner! SERIOUSLY!!!!!???

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  2. to be fair the royals are always a flash in the pan. They seem to go on a sweet run early and then choke it half way to all star break and they return to their position at the back of the pack. Without Grienke this year there is no chance for them to make a run for it. An ace is needed for any team that wants to make it a race. Twins are in the same boat. Unless Frankie or Mollestache return to their previous form the put a fork in them and fire up the deep frier the twinkies are done

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