New Year, Same Old Royals

On a warm overcast day, Tommy Hailey and I made the pilgrimage to Kauffman Stadium for Opening Day for this 2023 MLB season. There was much fanfare (pun intended) and hope going into the day, as some had hopes of a victory or a close fun loss. Instead, what the 38 thousand members of the Royal Kingdom saw was nothing short of the offense completely crapping the bed. As a total of 2 hits is all the offense could muster, the Royals were able to draw five walks; however, none of which were able to be acted upon as they looked like deer in the headlights when any base runner got into scoring position. It wasn’t as if the pitching wasn’t good enough, as only two runs were surrendered. Both runs were credited to Greinke. Even though 1 of the runs should be attributed to my least favorite Royal in Amir Garrett (See BTT as to why), he gave up two hits and a walk in his 2/3 of an inning pitched.

A massive surprise and bright spot were Jose Cuas as he struck out all three batters he faced. The Royals fell 2-0 to the Twins. Whatever you think, it’s one game, not a big deal. The very next game lost by the same score, 2-0. I can’t pin this loss on starting pitching either, as Jordan Lyles looked good in his 5.1 innings pitched. As he gave up the game's only runs, one of which was an unearned run. The offense again fell silent as they were shut down, this time getting four hits. Ok, so it’s just two games. It’s not that bad. I mean, they’ve got one more game. Two words Joey Gallo. Joey Gallo feasted upon the Royals as he had 4 RBIs and blasted two home runs, one of which was against who? Amir Garrett. The offense finally showed up as they mustered four runs on six hits—the same number of runs as Joey Gallo.

The Twins won 7-4. Once again, the blame doesn’t necessarily go towards the starting pitching as Brad Keller went 4.2 innings, 6 K’s, and only two earned runs. Garrett and Coleman lost the game for the Royals as Garrett gave up one run, and Coleman gave up 3. Cuas gave up one as well. The only pitcher that didn’t was Scott Barlow. Go figure. Hopefully, things can get turned around soon as the Blue Jays come to town for a three-game series. Brady Singer takes the mound for our boys in blue, looking to change our fortunes this season as they hunt for a Blue October.