Before spring training and into the early part of the season, I made it pretty clear with how I was trying to enjoy the season a little more and even try to be a little more positive. I was pretty proud of myself, but then I realized how easy it was. The team went 25-7 in spring training and then roared out to a 17-10 start. How hard is it to stay positive when that's the kind of team you're working with? I ...

Follow Derek on Twitter @derekjohannsen The Royals have officially hit the slide.  The offense isn’t hitting, the pitching isn’t quite what it had been and since “the pull” of James Shields against Chicago on May 6 the Royals are 4-12 and have dropped to 21-22 on the year.  I was at the game on May 6.  Then and there we were discussing the asinine decision to pull Shields.  Lo and behold, two weeks later th ...

We just saw the Angels recently, but I wonder if we're seeing a slightly different team after the way they've played the last few days offensively. The numbers show they are a pretty middle of the road offense, but the personnel says that is incorrect. Now, obviously players can struggle to live up to expectations, but a guy like Josh Hamilton has looked a lot better over the last few games, of course start ...

If not for the Marlins, many would be looking at the Houston Astros in awe as they strive to be the worst team since the 2003 Tigers. I ultimately think the Marlins will end up a few games better than the Astros due to the upcoming return of Giancarlo Stanton, but for now the Astros have a partner in being historically bad. When looking for something the Astros do well, let's start with the offense. Well... ...

After a 1-6 week, the Royals really needed a bounce back on what looked like a much tougher road trip at the start of the year than it looked when they embarked on it. They took two of three from the Angels, in sort of weird fashion before heading to Oakland and watching their offense fail to support their one and two starters, giving them both losses that seemed somewhat crippling to the team. Losing 2-1 i ...

The Royals head to Oakland to face the A's who are a pretty weird team. When last season started, the thought was that the A's were a team with great pitching but they had an offense that sort of lacked. A funny thing happened around the All-Star break last year. Chili Davis had an impact on the offense and the A's scored the most runs in baseball after the break. That's continued this year, as they are the ...

We're really in the swing of the season and have a pretty good idea of what teams are. We know who is good and who isn't good and we'll be wrong about a couple of them as they fade or ascend down the stretch, but for the most part we've had enough time to see teams sort of settle into their rightful spots. I guess that 40 game barometer that just about every general manager talks about is legitimate because ...

When the Royals fired Kevin Seitzer and replaced him with the duo of Jack Maloof and Andre David, the message sent out loud was to hit for more power. The real message, I think, was that the Maloof/David combination was just a better fit for this particular team than Seitzer was. One of the knocks on Seitzer was that he had a bit of a one-size fits all approach, and that's what got him fired in Arizona. The ...

When the schedule came out, this looked like a very tough series against an Angels team that was expected to have a very dynamic offense and a pitching staff that would hopefully (for them) hold up enough to slug their way to a title. We'll get to the pitching, but to call the offense a disappointment is quite an understatement. The Royals are outscoring them per game, which considering the Royals offensive ...

You don't have to adjust your calendars. The Royals actually did play seven games last week. Yes, that's right, they played a game every day without a single postponement for weather, manhunt or anything else. The unfortunate news here, though, is I'm not sure their week could have gone much worse. They finished the week 1-6 with their lone win a very solid win in Baltimore. The week started with a heart br ...

The Royals transition from playing on team at or near the top of the American League East to playing another as the New York Yankees come to town. I wasn't alone in this, but I expected the Yankees to be down this season due to injuries and age, but here they are at 20-13 and hanging around at the top of the American League East once again. Their offense hasn't really been the driving factor in their succes ...

The roller coaster of a big league season can be a lot for some to handle, and I think Royals fans are learning how to be fans of a team that might contend throughout the season. Heading into Wednesday night's game, the Royals had lost two straight. They had yet to lose a third on any of those stretches. Now, as you know, that changed on Wednesday night, but the Royals fought back yesterday with a win. Afte ...

The Royals need to shake off a tough loss as they head to Baltimore to face the 19-13 Orioles, who are looking good for the second year in a row. The Orioles are actually a really well rounded team, but let's start with their offense. They've been one of the better offensive clubs in the American League averaging just under five runs per game. They hit a ton of homers. Every player who is playing every day ...

Another week and more postponements, but this week added a couple new wrinkles to the days off as the Royals were rained out just three defensive outs away from a victory on Thursday and then having consecutive days off with a rainout on Friday. Unfortunately, the Royals lost a very good Ervin Santana start that makes him ineligible for another pitcher of the week award, so someone else will get a shot at t ...

The White Sox come to Kansas City for a three game series (that could very well become two or could result in another doubleheader) this weekend. Injuries and veteran players struggling have led them to last place in the American League Central after a month plus a couple days, but it's hard to say if that spot is deserved or if they're just waiting to get hot. Their offense was supposed to be better than t ...

The Royals were able to put together a stretch of playing five consecutive days since we last met, but the game immediately following last week's edition of Notes was rained out and the game immediately preceding this week's edition was rain/snowed out. And oh yeah,tonight is probably in jeopardy, too. Weather, current events and off days have really limited what the Royals have been able to do as far as ge ...

The Tampa Bay Rays come to town on the heels of the Royals getting crushed in their last two games against the Cleveland Indians. There's some intrigue in this series, of course, due to the offseason trade that brought James Shields, Wade Davis and Elliot Johnson to the Royals. The Rays felt comfortable trading James Shields because of all the pitching depth they have in their system, and they acquired Wil ...

Another week is in the books for the Royals and another week has ended with a day-night doubleheader. When the week started, the Royals were only scheduled for one off day, but mother nature found a way to give them three for a second straight week. The good news is that there aren't a ton more scheduled off days. Of course, I say scheduled because this weather has been crazy. In the baseball world, it was ...

The Royals return home in first place to play a four game wraparound series against the Cleveland Indians who are currently sitting at 8-11 and three games behind the Royals. This is the first series between the two teams in 2013, so it's the Royals first opportunity to see the sort of new look Indians. In the off-season, they added Swisher, Bourn, Stubbs and Reynolds to the offense. Michael Bourn is injure ...

When the Royals left on their road trip last week, I said they'd go 3-5 in the eight games, and if they could steal one from Atlanta, they'd go 4-4. Yes that was hedging my bet a little bit, but I'm okay with it. The Royals did one better. They had a really tough trip with all the off days that were both scheduled and unscheduled, and then they ended up only playing seven games, but when it was all said and ...