Everyone Stay Calm!!!

Series Analysis
Boston @ Kansas City

It was an anticlimactic end to the Red Sox series for the Royals. KC came out of the gate firing on all cylinders on Opening Day beating the Red Sox 7-1, then they fell on their faces losing consecutive games 1-7 and 1-4.
There were several bright spots, such as

the starting pitching, but alas as with every year the bright spots are just an eclipse of the sun and eventually the truth comes out.
Don’t put to much emphasis into the first series numbers because of two reasons. First of all it’s the first series of the year and two it was against perennial contender, Boston.
A few offensive trends that showed in the final numbers that bother me are the strikeouts. The Royals totaled 28 K’s in 98 at-bats, that’s a strikeout every 3 ½ at bats, which is awful. Granted, the strikeout stat is number that needs to be taken with a grain of salt for now. The hitters are still getting their timing and the Royals faced Schilling, Beckett and Dice-K and they probably won’t face a three like that the rest of the year.
The other troubling trend was the lack of key two out hits. The Royals did an excellent job of this on Monday and they won, but the other two days they didn’t and they lost. They are currently batting .241 with runners on base.
The worst and final problem for the Royals this weekend is the number of walks issued by the bullpen. The bullpen is supposed to be rebuilt yet issued 6 walks in 7 innings. That Must Stop!
One problem the Royals didn’t have was poor starting pitching. The Royals had decent, nay, good staring pitching for the series
Gil Meche 7 1/3 innings 1ER 6K 1BB
Odalis Perez 5 1/3 innings 4ER 3K 3BB
Zack Greinke 7 innings 1ER 7K 1BB
When you look at those numbers you’d think the Royals would win two of three and if these pitching numbers keep up they will win some games.

Other Notes

- Alex Gordon got his first major league hit…he also struck out 5 times.
- Sadly, Gordon’s 5 K’s weren’t the most on the team, Teahen’s 6 were
- Even with those strikouts Teahen is still batting .300
- DeJesus and Buck both had solo homeruns
- Grudzielanek had 3 RBI for the series
- Tony Pena Jr. is batting .200, but had two triples on Opening Day
- Joel Peralta had 5 K in 2 2/3 innings
-Todd Wellemeyer was awful in his season debut, 1 inning 3ER 3BB and gave up a dong

Upcoming next, three at home against the reigning AL champion Detroit Tigers.

Royals Fact: In 1989 Bo Jackson struck out 172 times, the most in Royals history and is 15th all-time.

-b

Royals 2007 Record: 1-2

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