Not this shit again...

The month of May started, one of my favorite months of the year. The weather is warming up after one of the worst winters in Indianapolis history, my birthday is in May, leaves are on trees and the grass is healthy and green again. However, as a Royals fan I should despise the month of May. I knew KC has had bad months of May in recent years, but I didn't know quite how bad until I read Vahe Gregorian's column in the KC Star. "...77-124 in May since general manager Dayton Moore's first full season in 2007 and 136-231 in May since 2000."  It's astonishing how a team can be 47 games below .500 in a single month over the past 7-plus seasons. This has been the Royals' modus operandi for years now, and it's beyond frustrating. Last year, the Royals went 8-20 in May after a promising start to the season that saw them above .500, that was part of a bigger downfall that saw KC go 5-20 in a 25 game stretch in the month that took them out of playoff contention ultimately.  I am the type of person who discounts April numbers for the most part because April is unlike any other month in the baseball calendar. Once May hits I begin to take trends a lot more seriously, and when the Royals start off by getting curb-stomped by the team they need to catch to become relevant again I get worried. Am I slamming the panic button yet? No, because they are 2 games under .500 and we haven't hit the quarter pole of the season yet. Regardless, this week's slate of games is crucial for many reasons.

The Royals are in San Diego to visit the Padres for three games then head up the Pacific coast to visit the Mariners for a four game set. If you are a huge fan of runs being scored you're going to hate this week. The Royals, Padres, and Mariners are all among the bottom six in the league in OPS.  Personally, I am looking forward to the Royals playing in San Diego as I think they might be built for that stadium better than the home team. They are better in the OF defensively and sport a lot of fly ball pitchers that would benefit quite nicely from the marine layer in PETCO Park (looking at you Guthrie and Vargas). One would look at the Game 1 match-up and think the Royals have a huge advantage with Ventura vs Stults. I don't see it that way, Stults is completely different pitcher in SD than he is on the road. He's quite effective in PETCO and has good numbers over the past two years. Also, he's left handed and the Royals have some aversion to hitting left handed pitchers hard, or at all. KC is coming off a bad series and a long flight, Monday's performance will set the tone for the rest of the week. Guthrie and Erlin face off Tuesday, that is a game where you might actually see some runs scored. Wednesday is the best pitching match-up of the week, Shields vs Cashner. Andrew Cashner at home has been lights out, James Shields on the road has been lights out, should be fun. 

There is a Royals player who I have bagged on all year that is giving me some hope, that's Billy Butler. This past week Billy has hit more balls in the air and squared up a lot more pitches. He even had a little 6 game hitting streak going there for a while, and made a lot of loud outs. This seems like we are getting closer to seeing the Billy Butler we need to see for this team to be effective. It's obnoxious,  to an extent, to be in a NL park for the next 3 days where Billy will probably only play 1 game when he seems so close to breaking out. Salvador Perez needs to start hitting, he's currently on a 1 for 12 skid and his average has dipped to .231 with an OBP under .300. The platoon at third base seems like a full go, with Danny Valencia seeing starts versus left handed pitching, I wanted to believe in Mike Moustakas so badly, but after 1400 ABs in the Majors I am not sure it's ever going to click for him. 

This week for the Royals features 7 games that are extremely winnable albeit on the road. Maybe this is the trip this team needs to get out of this funk and forget about the Detroit series. However, if this week goes South, the hopes of an AL Central title could be gone. Detroit has 7 home games this week versus the two worst starting rotations in baseball with Houston and Minnesota. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the Tigers have a 6-1 or even 7-0 week. With KC already 7 back in the loss column a 2-5 road trip coupled with the Tigers taking care of business against inferior opponents will have fans on Sunday afternoon breaking down the Chiefs 7th round pick and how he could really contribute on special teams.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/04/5003013/its-not-early-for-the-royals-but.html?fb_action_ids=10201815567418132&fb_action_types=og.comments#storylink=cpy