2nd Week Recap for Kansas City Royals

Since my 1st week recap of the season, the Royals have gone from 4-4 to 10-9. They've managed to go from an ugly, struggling offense to one that has shown what they can do when properly performing on all cylinders. They did lose center fielder Lorenzo Cain to the 15-day DL with a grade 1 groin strain. At this time last season, the Royals were at 10-7 and held a 1 game lead in the AL Central. The next objective is to close out this month above .500 and play better baseball in May. Do not repeat May 2013 when the team when 8-20. In their last 11 games this season, the Royals have managed to get swept at Minnesota, sweep the Astros in Houston, and take 2 out of 3 at home against Minnesota. They're in the middle of a four game series at Cleveland. Cleveland took the first game despite a Royals offense that hit .342. The Royals showed the true force of their offense in Game 2 as they defeated the Indians behind excellent pitching and a functional offense. James Shields, the ace of the pitching staff, threw six innings, allowed 2 runs (1 earned), walked one, and struck out 9 (21 in his last two starts) on 106 pitches. The bullpen threw three scoreless innings, two by Danny Duffy and one by Aaron Crow. The offense fed off of each other and clicked like a timely, well designed clock. Yes, I did just say that.

Let me throw some numbers at you. The No. 1, 8, and 9 hitters combined for 4 BB and 4 H. Eric Hosmer, the essential power hitter for the Royals in the No. 3 hole, went 4-for-5 with 2 doubles, 3 runs scored, 1 RBI, and 0 SO. He is now batting .311 on the season with a .754 OPS. Billy Butler showed his true form with an RBI double that bounced off the top of the wall following a Hosmer double. Alex Gordon got into the scoring late with a 2-run double in the ninth. This is what you want from your 3-4-5 hitters; a combined .538 BA (7-for-13) for a game. Despite Salvador Perez's skid at the plate, No. 7 hitter Mike Moustakas behind Perez got the offense going with a 3-run laser shot to right. He has really picked up his game after starting off the season with nothing at all. 4 of the 8 runs for the Royals came with 2-outs, something that lacked for most of the season so far. Alcides Escobar has been the hottest hitter for the Royals in the last week. He stole his 3rd base of the season, boosted his BA to .317 with 2 hits, and continues to put on a highlight reel at shortstop. In the game alone, the Royals hit .342 (13-for-38) and had a .958 OPS. That is the offense that is continually need to win. Keep it up guys. You have even more potential.

2nd Week Royals Offensive MVP:Hands down, Alcides Escobar has been an offensive machine in the last week and a half. Since the team was 4-4 to start off the season, Escobar has managed to raise his BA from .185 to .317. In his last 11 games, Escobar has batted .416 (15-for-36) with 9 R, 5 RBI, 3 walks (in last 3 games), and struck out 8 times (4 in first 8 games). Lets not forget he is batting ninth. Ninth! He has a 5-game hitting streak right now. Atta boy Esky, keep it up.

2nd Week Royals Dominant Pitcher:Jason Vargas has exceeded many expectations according to 610 Sports Radio KC. I don't think anyone expected him to start off the season like this. But more power to him, just another reason why we went after him. In his last two starts, he has 14 IP (7 innings for both starts), given up 12 H, walked 4, struck out 8, allowed 1 homerun, and combined for a 1.44 ERA. He was unlucky with his loss at Minnesota where he gave up 2 runs but the bullpen mustered it and the team lost 4-3. In his second start at home against Minnesota, it was a different story. 7 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, and he lowered his ERA to 1.24 (3rd in the AL). The team gave him more run support with 5 runs. Kudos to Vargas.

The Royals upcoming schedule includes the finishing of a four game series at Cleveland, three games at Baltimore, and 6 games at home (3 against Toronto and 3 against Detroit).

*All statistics are from www.baseball-reference.com*

(@DSEnick_brown32)

Royals 1st Week Recap

The Kansas City Royals aren't exactly off to the 2014 start they wanted. Yes they're at .500 right not but they've had some games they know they should've won. They lost a tough Opening Day game against  AL Central Detroit after blowing a 2-run lead for James Shields. The bullpen faltered in a 10-inning loss on April 2nd again in Detroit. Now keep in mind though that the Royals faced two Cy Young-winning pitchers, one of them also has an AL MVP award. On Tuesday, April 8th, they started a potential comeback against the Rays after All-Star closer Greg Holland allowed a 9th inning run. Mike Moustakas, the man everyone had been talking about in Spring Training, including myself, finally got his first hit of the season. He broke out of a 0-for-21 skid that had many Kansas City fans demanding the Royals sent him to Omaha.  What I don't understand though, is Manager Ned Yost didn't pinch-run for him with the tying run on first base. Instead, Alcides Escobar flied out to right, Jarrod Dyson struck out, and Nori Aoki struck out. I would've pinch run Lorenzo Cain for Moustakas, even though you'd be rewarding his first hit with a pull from the game. I would've had Escobar sac-bunt Cain to second, pinch-hit Justin Maxwell for Dyson, and let Nori still bat. But I'm not a Major League manager so I had to sit in the stands with everyone else at the game and listen to them boo. The Royals also lost their second baseman, Omar Infante, in the first game of the Rays series. Infante was hit in the chin by Rays pitcher Heath Bell. He was able to walk off the field under his own power, but not before some scare. Infante needed six stitches after the game, passed concussion tests, and x-rays revealed only a sprained jaw. The Royals can't afford to have Infante missing many games or be placed on the DL. Infante is batting .348 in 6 G with 2 R, 2 RBI, and a .771 OPS (3rd on the team).

1st Week of 2014 MVP:The man with the mask behind home plate, Salvador Perez. Whether it's in the batter's box or calling the game behind the plate, Perez has been off to a great start for the 2014 season. He may only have 2 RBI but one was a game-winning RBI double against the White Sox. Perez has thrown out two runners trying to steal and has allowed only two stolen bases. He is expected to get a rest after the Tampa Bay Series concludes at Kauffman Stadium on April 9th for a 1:10 pm ET game.

G    AB    R    H    2B   3B   HR   RBI   BB    SO   SB   CS    AVG    OBP    SLG      OPS7     21     3    10    4     0       0       2        7       3       1      0     .476     .607   .667    1.274

1st Week of 2014 Dominant Pitcher:The top pitcher so far for the Royals can be argued among a few. Yordano Ventura threw in his first game of the season last night after a rain-out skipped him in the rotation. He pitched six shutout innings (95 pitches, 62 strikes), allowed only two hits, struck out six, and no walks. There were a lot of deep counts with hitters that forced his pitch count to rise quickly. But the top pitcher for the Royals so far is newly-acquired Jason Vargas. Making his home debut on Monday, April 7th, Vargas pitched eight innings (+1 batter in the ninth), gave up four hits, one earned run, one walk, and struck out two (both in first inning). He tried to complete a brilliant outing with a complete game shutout but gave up a leadoff homer in the ninth to Ben Zobrist. He was pulled immediately after but exited to a standing ovation from the home crowd. In two starts so far (against Detroit and Tampa Bay, both contending teams), Vargas is 1-0 with a 1.20 ERA in 15.0 IP. He has allowed only 9 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, and has 9 SO. Opponents are batting .167 against him and a 0.73 WHIP. It's only two starts to a long season but they're two starts that have exceeded expectations of him after a down year last year with injuries. My hat goes off to him.

Team Batting Statistics and Rankings for entire MLB:BA - .258 (13th)
R - 27 (Tied for 26th)
H - 67 (Tied for 20th w/ Detroit)
2B - 11 (Tied for 24th)
3B - 2 (Tied for 10th)
HR - 1 (30th, finally got their first by Alex Gordon after a franchise record to start a season without a home run in 248 PA)
RBI - 26 (27th)
BB - 27 (Tied for 16th)
SO - 44 (Tied for the fewest w/ Detroit)
SB - 7 (Tied for 4th)
CS - 5 (Most in MLB)
OBP - .329 (9th)
SLG - .327 (28th)
OPS - .656 (24th)

Team Pitching Statistics and Rankings for entire MLB:W - 4 (Tied for 16th, highest team total is 6)
L - 4 (Tied for 17th, highest team total is 8)
ERA - 3.00 (7th)
SV - 3 (Tied for 4th)
IP - 72.0 (26th)
H - 58 (4th fewest amount)
R - 25 (5th fewest amount)
ER - 24 (7th fewest amount)
HR - 4 (5th fewest amount)
BB - 17 (2nd fewest amount)
SO - 55 (28th)
Opp. BA - .217 (6th)
WHIP - 1.04 (3rd)

Besides the fact that the Royals are at .500 (4-4), they can't be disappointed at all. Three of their four losses have come when they faced Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Chris Sale. They finished a six game home stand that they finished with a 4-2 record and two series wins. As long as they keep getting series wins, they shouldn't face another horrid May when they went 8-20 last season. The Kansas City Royals open a six game road trip on Friday, April 11th, at Minnesota then a three game series at Houston. If you're able to get out to Kauffman for their three game home series from April 18th-20th, they'll face the Twins. Stay optimistic about the offense, they will come around. Pitching has been dominant.