Kansas City Royals: The ghosts of May

Baseball is a strange sport and it does some very strange things to its fans. Just day before this recent road trip and short home stand against Colorado, I had the really pessimistic, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” mantra running over and over in my mind.

From the First of May until The Royals left for San Diego, The Royals were starting to reel. They had lost four in a row against Toronto and Detroit and were out scored 33 to 11. The starting pitching was faulting and the relief wasn’t much better. I’m sure I wasn’t the only Royals fan that started to get that “here we go again” feeling creeping over them.

Cue the plane ride out west and a change of view, something in The Royals approach seemed to changed. Maybe it was the warmer weather of San Diego, my cousin Walker’s cheering section at Pet Co. park or the salty pacific air of Seattle, but something changed. Hallelujah!

After the heartbreaking loss in the first game against The Padres5-6 in 12 innings, The Royals began to look like a team that were about to take a hold of their destiny and exercise the ghosts of last May. The Royals won six out of nine contests against very good western division teams. They out scored The Padres, Mariners and Rockies (leading MLB in almost every offensive category) 40-22. It seems the bats have begun to wake up. Perez and Hosmer continue to rake the ball and the home runs seem to be coming. Escobar hit a grand slam. Giavotella hit a game winning three run shot and Cain hit his first homer of the season. On top off all of this offensive production, The Royals pitching appears to be heating up as well. Most notable Shields, who got his 1500 strike out (unbeknownst to him) and Vargas, who pitched a gem against The Rockies allowing only 2 runs.

And let’s not forget how well Wade Davis has been pitch of late. His 32 strike outs is fourth among Royals pitchers.

Now the “maybe not good” news; through first half of may this year, The Royals have a record of 6 and 7 and are currently 2nd in the central. Last year through the same period, The Royals had the exact record. Although this may not be exactly encouraging, The Royals started out a little stronger last year. A repeat of last years May is certainly not out of the question, but I don’t believe there will be a repeat. The Royals all seem to be clicking or beginning to click. This weekends series against The Orioles should be a very good litmus test that The Royals need to pass-If not, I’m not the only one being cheated.