Royals fall to the Mets 3-1

Let’s get the obvious part out of the way.

For the second straight game against the Mets, the Royals saw a number of…questionable balls and strikes called against them. Also for the second straight game, the Royals saw a runner attempt to steal second late in a very close contest, appear to beat the throw handily, and then saw him called out after a lengthy delay when the Mets challenged the play and no obvious angle showing the runner leaving the base could be seen on the televised broadcast.

Those things happened. They hurt the Royals’ chances of winning. And the Royals would be well within their rights to complain about the poor officiating that has occurred during this series. After all, it was only last year that Cole Ragans allowed a home run off of the netting in foul territory that couldn’t be overturned despite what appeared to be extremely clear evidence on replay. A few weeks later, another home run was allowed to stand despite what appeared to be clear evidence of fan interference.

But somehow they were able to see Bobby Witt Jr. come off the bag by something less than a centimeter for something less than a centisecond and rule him out today.

And let’s be real, that play simply shouldn’t be challengeable in the first place. There’s no reason to have umpires staring at stolen bases in that way. It kills the momentum, and it makes one of baseball’s most exciting plays nearly unusable in a game situation.

But yeah, the Royals still should have been able to win this game.

Last year, through July 12, Maikel Garcia had been the Royals’ leadoff hitter for most of the season. He had a .287 OBP. He had also scored 54 runs. Nearly half the time he reached base, he scored. This season, through July 12, Jonathan India has led off most of the year. He has a .330 OBP, but he has only scored 40 runs.

You want to know why the Royals are worse with a much better lead-off hitter? That’s why.

Today, Jonathan India hit a lead-off double, he was stranded at second. In the sixth inning, Kyle Isbel led off with a double, and India traded places with him. India then went to third on a wild pickoff attempt. Needing only a flyball of medium depth to tie the game, Bobby Witt Jr. popped out to the second baseman, and Vinnie Pasquantino grounded out to first. Maikel Garcia finally hit the flyball, but it was far too late.

We all knew going into the season that the Royals’ offense was going to be streaky. It was streaky last year, and Jonathan India was supposed to improve matters, but they needed at least one more good hitter. For all of our complaints about MJ Melendez and Hunter Renfroe, they each had lengthy hot streaks last season to keep the team winning games. That’s something Jac Caglianone, Nick Loftin, Drew Waters, and John Rave have been unable to replicate. Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino, Salvador Perez, and Maikel Garcia simply cannot be expected to get big hits in every game. Especially Pasquantino and Perez, who have shown enough to believe they’re still high-quality hitters, but ones who bunch their good games and their bad games.

The Royals will play their final game before the All-Star Break tomorrow at 1:10 CDT. Noah Cameron will face off against some combination of Sean Manaea and Clay Holmes.

An All-Star Break, by the way, that will see four Royals head to Atlanta, cited as the best of the best in a league full of the best of the best. That’s fewer only than the Mariners, Tigers, Dodgers, and Padres. Four teams that seem destined for the postseason. And somehow this team isn’t going to be good enough to make the playoffs. They may not even be good enough to win more games than they lose.

It’s a damn shame the Royals’ front office couldn’t find either the talent, coaching, or both to support those high-quality players enough to get them back to the playoffs.