A Royal Disaster
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

On August 4, the Kansas City Royals lost the final game of a series to the Red Sox. The key inning was the fourth, in which the Sox scored eight runs on only three hits. The inning, unsurprisingly, featured five walks and a two-base throwing error on a routine grounder to second base. The loss was the Royals’ seventh in a row, and they haven’t won a game since. The 18-game losing streak is the worst in franchise history, and it’s probably about to get worse.
This hasn’t been a string of unlucky games for the Royals. They’re a uniquely untalented team. Even the very worst teams in the majors, like perennial bottom feeders like Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, have some interesting young players. In fact, the Devil Rays have the best collection of prospects in the game, in addition to young major league contributors like Carl Crawford and Scott Kazmir, while the Pirates have outfielder Jason Bay and a surprisingly large array of talented young starters.
The Royals have nothing at all – among all their players, only two, starter Zack Greinke and centerfielder David DeJesus, seem to have the potential to even be above-average regulars five years from now. DeJesus is hitting .290 with 44 extra-base hits and 37 walks this year; his combination of youth and skill marks him as an utter anomaly on the team. Greinke’s 3-14 record and 6.02 ERA are far more typical.
The rest of their players are, almost without exception, either youngsters with futures as bench players like third baseman Mark Teahen (three home runs in 311 at-bats this season), or washed-up veterans like Terrence Long. Of their two good veterans, Matt Stairs is a 37-year-old platoon DH and Mike Sweeney is a 32-year-old first baseman with a bad back and a $12 million salary.
So, it’s not surprising that the Royals are terrible. It is a bit surprising, however, that they’re this bad; an 18-game losing streak takes work. The Royals have been up to the task, though. They’ve been bad at a level that may be beyond description, but even the attempt should make the gravity of the situation clear.
During their skid, the Royals have been outscored 144-64, meaning their opponents are averaging eight runs a game, while the Royals are averaging 3.6.The Royals have four one-run losses and one two-run loss during the streak, which is to be expected – even the worst team needs some bad luck to lose 18 straight. Still, those are outnumbered by the blowouts: they’ve lost seven games by at least five runs, two of those by at least 10. Their opponents have scored 10 or more runs seven times, while the Royals have scored more than five runs just three times, and three or fewer 10 times.
On the individual level, things are even worse. The starting rotation has pitched just 94 innings in those 18 games, during which they’ve allowed a 7.56 ERA and a rancid 58/41 K/BB ratio.
Perhaps this is to be expected; Greinke, Runelvys Hernandez, and Jose Lima all rank among the bottom seven in the league in ERA. Lima, having run up a 5.30 ERA in three starts during the streak, has been the team’s best starter over these 18 games by a fair amount.
Compared to the pitching, the hitting during the streak has been wonderful. Stairs has hit like Frank Thomas in his prime – .351 BA/.442 OBA/.541 SLG, albeit in only 12 games. Young outfielder Chip Ambres has hit .262/.326/.452, which isn’t bad at all. The problem is that he’s been the team’s second-best hitter. DeJesus (.301 OBA) and shortstop Angel Berroa (.309) are the only other Royals with at least 30 at-bats and on-base averages above .300 during the streak. Meanwhile, Donnie Murphy (.200), John Buck (.233), and Long (.273) aren’t mired in slumps – this is pretty much their level of ability.
The Royals would have to go 5-38 over the rest of the season to lose as many games as the 2003 Tigers did. The really frightening thing is that they may well do so. Their next 16 games are against Oakland, Boston, New York, Minnesota, and Texas. After that, 13 of their next 19 will be against the White Sox, who have the best record in the league, and Cleveland, whose record is one game worse than the Yankees’. Another six games will be against Detroit, which, like Texas, is a decent team closer to the White Sox in the standings than the Royals are to them.
In sum, the Royals will be playing 12 games against teams that are currently leading either their divisions or the wildcard race, 17 against teams that are within four games of the wild-card lead, and six games against two mediocre but dangerous clubs. As bad as they are, anything might happen, and with the stretch they have over the next two weeks, it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see them drop 30 games. The Devil Rays might get all the grief, but the Royals are the game’s walking corpses.