Angels can pitch, but K.C. can't hit
Yes, the Angels were supposed to be in first place on the 6th of May. But were they supposed to be in first place despite John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar combining for exactly zero wins? I don't think so.
Yet here they are, thanks largely to Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders, who have combined for 12 wins. Also: zero losses.
Saunders is now 21-8 in his career, though his 4.28 ERA suggests he may not be able to maintain that winning percentage.
Santana somewhat famously went 7-14 with a 5.76 ERA last year. He was terribly unlucky, and we should have expected a decent season from him this year. But 6-0, 2.02 is sort of beyond the pale (in a good way). Eventually, Saunders and Santana will lose a game (or 10). But assuming Lackey and Escobar eventually get back, the Angels really should be unbeatable.
All this was prompted by Santana's shutout last night, so I should mention that Santana's victims were the Royals ... and lately lots of pitchers have been shutting out the Royals. From Rany Jazayerli's latest:
So it's come to this: the Royals start the longest homestand of the season by getting seven brilliant, shutout innings from their fifth starter...and it's completely wasted. For the fourth time in their last 23 games, the Royals were shut out. They've scored one run four times in that span, and two runs four times. Which means in 12 of their last 23 games, the Royals have been held to two runs or less. They're 2-10 in those games.It's driving me nuts, because a month into the season, it's possible to argue that the Royals have built a championship-caliber pitching staff. --snip-- The problem is that whoever the Royals call up won't do the team any good unless Hillman adjusts his roster approach to take advantage of the guys he already has. If he can't find a way to make use of German's talents, fat chance he'll use some Triple-A lifer in the right role. In an ideal world, the Royals would call up Mike Aviles, who's hitting .347/.375/.694 for Omaha, and can play shortstop badly and second base and third base passably - he's German with fewer walks and more power. Or they would call up Shane Costa, who's hitting .330/.368/.591 in Omaha, the third straight year he's absolutely raked in Triple-A. In an ideal world, the Royals would pinch-hit for Pena at every opportunity, sit for Jose Guillen against hard right-handers, find a way to get Callaspo's bat in the lineup every day. The Royals are dead last in the league in runs scored, and the 14 hitters who are on the roster today are the only 14 hitters who have played for the Royals all season. Common sense dictates that when your hitters aren't hitting, you might want to try new hitters.
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Just to mention a few of the many problems …
• First baseman Ross Gload hasn't homered in 26 games;
• Shortstop Tony Pena is batting .157 with two walks and zero homers in 27 games;
• Joey Gathright, who everybody loves because he's fast, is batting .247 with one walk and zero homers in 24 games; and …
• Jose Guillen, "earning" $12 million this season, is batting .165 (and yet somehow leads the club with 15 RBIs).
Oh, and youngsters Alex Gordon and Billy Butler, who were supposed to break out this season, aren't hitting, either. Essentially, nobody's hitting except David DeJesus (good player) and Miguel Olivo (fluke). Which has Jazayerli calling for the head of hitting coach Mike Barnett.
That's probably a necessary first step, particularly considering that Barnett's in his third season with the Royals and the hitting has been worse each season. But as Rany notes, the Royals have other options. Manager Trey Hillman isn't making the most of the talent on his roster, and general manager Dayton Moore isn't making the most of the talent in his organization (there's help available in Triple-A). What's disheartening is that Hillman and Moore seem to think that if they just keep running Pena out there every day, eventually he'll start hitting.
Rob Neyer
