Royals POSTCAST: Kansas City Royals Offense Puts Up ZERO Fight in Loss to New York Mets

Royals POSTCAST: Kansas City Royals Offense Puts Up ZERO Fight in Loss to New York Mets

[Music] This is the Royals Post Cast, your instant game reaction for the Kansas City Royals, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in to the Royals postcast here on the Locked On Network. Your team every day. I’m your host, Chance Lebo, and I’m here to bring your reaction to every Royals game the rest of the way. You can follow me on Twitter, Chance Lebo. It’s right there by my name tag here on the live video. If you can’t make a show live, don’t worry. These episodes will be uploaded for you to listen to on demand wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for making Locked on Royals podcast or the Royals Postcast your first listen of the day. Before we get started, remember to subscribe to the channel and turn on our notifications so you get an alert whenever we go live. Thanks so much for joining the show. Feel free to join the live chat and let me know your thoughts on the game and I’ll do my best to respond to your comments. Royals lose a heartbreaker in a game that I really feel like they never had an opportunity to win. It was not a game that they particularly played well in. Obviously on the offensive side of the ball, losing three to one. Um but also the fact that you have to go with the bullpen game. Michael Lorenzan uh comes up with an illness. um just a frustrating loss because you needed this kind of win. You needed something to gain some positive momentum at least with a a series win heading into the All-Star break. But now we’re sitting here with the Royals uh kind of drowning right now at 46 and 50. And I don’t know, I I know somebody Kaden in the chat says caps off the 2025 Royals season. Uh I don’t know if I go that far, although I did kind of pronounce him dead after the Dodger series. Um, but this was definitely one of the more frustrating losses. Um, you get another uh early offensive opportunity. Um, and they just don’t have enough to get the job done. And so that is what we’re going to lead into. Here’s what you’ll be talking about. This is what you’ll be talking about. Uh, continued struggles with the runners in scoring position. We’ve seen it from the Royals uh not just in this series, but in series prior to the Pirates series and the Diamondback series, they just can’t hit with runners in scoring position. Bad situational hit. They had some of their worst at bats of the entire season um in the last two games. Um you get last night runners on second and third in the first inning, nobody out, and you can’t score a single run. Tonight or today, you start out the game with a leadoff double from Jonathan India and your middle of the order comes up and you can’t even get him around. Um just a frustrating start to the Royals offense and kind of what you would come to see the rest of the way for the offense is bad situational hitting. Once again late in the game it was uh in the eighth inning the Royals have an opportunity to score. Even in the seventh inning they have an opportunity to score with Jonathan India hitting a double um and then reaching third after a bad pickoff attempt and you have the middle of the lineup up. Nobody out. All you got to do is get a ball in the air or a sharp ball to the right side of the infield. And they just failed to do that because this team does not have the right approach at the plate. This team does not have very uh unselfish batters that are willing to take an out. I mean, we’ve tal we’ve heard Vinnie Pasquantino say how much he hates sacrifice flies. There’s a big reason why he’s taken a big step back and sacrifice flies this year is because he’s become I don’t want to say a more selfish player, but you can see it. his approach to the plate when there is a runner on third and less than two outs. The strategy is not to try and score a run at all co at all costs for Vinnie at the plate. It’s can I drive a baseball farther than you know than I have before. So, a frustrating loss of epic proportions. The pitching staff was fine. I mean, this was a a real uh papier-mâché pitching staff today with really, you know, a bullpen that was taxed last night. Michael Lorenzan’s unable to go today. You don’t know what you’re going to get from Lucas Ersk, you don’t even know if he’s available today. And you have to go with the bullpen game. Uh even Anel Serpa who started the game pitched two innings last night or multiple innings last night. So it was it was a tough they were kind of building from they were trying to come back from a deficit they kind of started with early when Lorenzan was unable to go, which I understand. Uh feeling sick is one thing, but that was I don’t know. I I feel like in the July in the month of July in a playoff hunt, you kind of battle through it, especially on the mound. I mean, Michael Lorenzan could have given him three innings today. I don’t know what his illness is, if it’s COVID, whatever, but I don’t know. I I feel like he definitely uh should have been a guy. It should have been pushed to be like, “Hey, I get it. You’re not feeling good, but we need somebody to at least get us a bulk start.” Like four innings would have been fantastic. So you don’t have to go to Jonathan Bolan in the second inning and pray that he gets you through three innings and then the rest of the way it’s kind of pieced together with a bunch of guys that either threw yesterday or shouldn’t have thrown at all today. Um but yeah, I I just seem to I I I continue to be disappointed by this team and I you know kind of get kind of talk myself back into them every once in a while and you know they beat up on the Pirates who are a bad baseball team, a really bad baseball team. they avoided Paul skins on the bump and then you know you win a win a series in Arizona you have a winning road trip because you split with Seattle like those are positive signs putting one foot in front of the other but at the same time they continue to have massive lapses in offensive aptitude because they don’t have good approaches at the plate. Uh it seems like a feast or famine lineup and even when they’re feasting it’s not like they’re putting up double digit runs on the board. It’s like a six six to six to one game. I mean, six is like when they are hitting their max potential as an offense. And that’s what frustrates you as a fan is that, you know, there are a lot of holes in this lineup. Um Jack Kagleon had a really good series against the Pirates. He’s 0 for since the series. Went 0 for today. Nick Loftton had a great series against the Pirates. 0 for two today. John Rae, I mean, I I’ve made my thoughts on John Rave known. I don’t think he’s a Major League Baseball player. I think the more at bats they give him, the worse they’re gonna do. At the very least, you can call up a guy like MJ Melendez and you know what you’re gonna get out of him. But I’m I’m kind of getting tired of John Rae. I I don’t think he’s a good baseball player. I I don’t think he’s a guy that you can rely on for uh more than 40 games in a season. He’s a solid fourth outfielder, but right now he’s their starting left fielder when they’re facing right-handed pitchers, which is like 70% of the time. So, um they just don’t get enough out of so many parts of the lineup. And quietly, Mikel Garcia is going through a bad stretch right now. Didn’t hit very well in the Pirate series. Has not hit well to start this series. His approach to plate, you can see it’s dwindling. And uh I think obviously the All-Star snub might have rubbed him the wrong way, as it did many Royals fans, including myself. But you just have so many holes in this lineup and you will continue to have those until until they make a move. whether that’s tonight, tomorrow, during the uh during the break, after the break, at some point they have to make a move because this offense just will not cut it. Um I know a lot of people are going to mark the season dead and just whatever. Everybody’s going to overreact to losses. This is not a loss you need to overreact to. um because they had I don’t want to say zero chance to win this game, but if you thought they were going toe-to-toe with a a papier-mâché bullpen and an offense that hasn’t looked good against solid pitching all season, like this was not a game that they could have won. I I don’t think it was a game they should have won, but um yeah, this is a really bad offensive performance by the Royals and continues to be just that. And so, um, another frustrating loss, but, you know, they play one more tomorrow before the All-Star break and then we have a 4-day hiatus and then we’re kind of back for the long run. So, um, I will try and get to the comments when we come back. I’ll also talk about what’s next for the Royals, who they’ve got on, uh, the mound tomorrow, what they need to do to potentially climb out of this hole they continue to dig themselves in. That’s coming up next here on the Royals post. Have you ever decided at the last minute to head to a ball game with friends or family? Maybe it’s game day and you suddenly realize you want to be in the stands. That’s exactly where Game Time comes in. It’s the easiest way to grab last minute tickets without the stress. 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All right, let’s get to some of the comments as you guys are obviously not pleased with that loss. Um, also, uh, a lot of people upset about the replay review. tired of the replay system being in New York. I don’t know if I’d say that has anything to do with it. These people are the people who do the reviews. I understand the frustration and the the inkling to think that they are, you know, favoring the Yankees, the Mets, but I don’t think that’s realistic. I think that’s kind of a conspiracy theory, but if you want to run with that, feel free. Um, but Bobby Jr., um, another Royals runner coming off the bag. I mean, at some point, you have to I don’t know. I I have yet to see I mean we saw Jonathan India get spiked and he was perfectly fine today a pair of doubles for Jonathan India but I have yet to see somebody like legitimately hurt their hand by not wearing one of those oven mitts that they slide with. Um I have also seen a ton of runners over slide on the base paths because they can’t grab onto the base because they’re wearing an oven mitt on their left hand. So get rid of them. I I I think they’re stupid. I think they’re for swag and that’s it. Like, sure, they look cool, but so do wins. So do scoring runs. And the Royals don’t do enough of either of those things to warrant wearing those pathetic, stupid mits on a day in and dayout basis, especially guys like Kyle Isel, who never gets on base in the first place. I don’t think you need one of those in your back pocket. But um yeah, just a a stupid stupid mistake by Bobby Wit Jr. And that happened last night. I believe it was Tyler Tolbert who he needs to be on his last leg. I don’t know what he provides to this team. Um, all right. Continuing to go through the comments. Uh, Levi Hullman, why do we have three catchers and why is Deainy on the roster? They are not going to play him. This team is exhausting and Q might as well take a nap during the game. Um, in terms of three catchers, um, I don’t know why Meley is still up. Maybe Salvi is still battling that uh that hip injury or whatever the injury is that he’s currently dealing with, but I understand the frustration in carrying three catchers. I agree. Um, but in terms of Deainy, um, I mean, they learned their lesson with John Raeve. I mean, and I think that Triple A’s in currently in their all-star break, so I don’t think he’s missing any ABS or anything, but I mean, I’d like to see him at least get an opportunity, but where are you going to put him? I mean, like, are you going to bench Nick Loftton, who had a really good series against the Pirates? Are you going to put him uh in the outfield where he has zero experience to this point in his career? Um, so I wouldn’t say zero experience, very little experience and not enough to warrant being a starter immediately in the big league level. But agree with the point of carrying three catchers, but at the same time, who are you going to call up? What’s what what’s the move there? Are you going to call up Drew Waters, who absolutely stinks. Um, yeah, I I’m I’m good there. Um, continuing to go through the comments, um, Parker saying, “We should have started Jack.” Uh, very funny. Um, uh, I know that’s going to be something that always gets brought up in the comments. Jack Kackling hasn’t thrown a pitch in a calendar year. I’m not going to throw him out there against, uh, the New York Mets lineup. So, um, Elizabeth saying, “I think the bullpen did fine considering who we are playing.” Agreed. I was fine with the bullpen. Um, even especially since they threw basically nine innings of bullpen. Um, yeah. Um, uh, Brent saying, “You said yesterday for the most part they don’t beat good teams.” Yeah, they just don’t. I mean, they’re going to have to at some point if they want to make the postseason, but it seems like a team that just doesn’t have success against teams that have a pulse and uh it’s one thing that’s going to be frustrating the rest of the way because they’re going to face good teams, but um very frustrated by that. Um Jaylen saying, “Jack just missed a home run today.” Agreed. Yeah, he did just missed the home run. I didn’t go to Savant to see how many parks that would have been a home run at, but yeah, he was right on. He was right on it. Um, I thought his at bats were fine today, but yeah, I I I’m I’m with whatever. Um, I mean, Bobby Jr. was out. I mean, he came off the bag. Even if it was for a split second, he’s still out. Um, uh, Jaylen saying they definitely won’t bench Bobby for him any day of the week. Yeah, I mean, they’re not going to um they’re not going to bench anybody like Mike’s not getting benched. I think he could use a day off, maybe a half day off, but not going to bench him. Uh Jaylen saying, “Any ideas of a trade soon or during the break?” Um really honestly don’t know. I don’t have any in insidefo. I’m down here in Witchaw. I don’t have any sources inside the organization, but I feel like if they won a game or two to start, if they won the first game or the second game, they won one of these games, if not both, they probably would have made a move. Uh but now that they are kind of, you know, they’re sitting at 46 and 50 and they get Shawn Maniah tomorrow, um I very I do not see them making a move um to at least get a big league bat. I don’t think they I think they give Lugo one more start um and then they potentially look to move off of him, but I don’t see them making a trade anytime soon. Uh because what’s the point? What what’s the rush? Um you get a really really bad Miami team right out of the break. So I’m of the opinion that they don’t make a trade. uh here anytime soon. Um yeah, uh that looks like all the comments we’ve got today. I know it’s a Saturday show and I know a lot of people are probably doing things uh better than watching Royals baseball, but yeah, Royals with a tough one today. They’ll be back at it tomorrow. It will be um I wonder if they move Lorenzan back or maybe they throw him in the bullpen roll since it’s the last game of the first half. But I think it’s Chris Bubich going tomorrow. Um nope, Noah Cameron. Uh, and it says Klay Holmes on baseball reference, but we’ve heard that it’ll be Shawn Maniah. So, Noah Cameron, Shawn Maniah. Wouldn’t be surprised if Michael Orenzan’s available out of the bullpen because they don’t have any bullpen arms that are fresh. It wouldn’t surprise me if they made a move, you know, like sending I mean, Taylor Clark down or one of the guys that has options, sending them down and bringing up a guy that can, you know, at least throw an inning or two in emergency duty if they need it if the game goes to extras and they want to actually win it. Um it wouldn’t surprise me if they made one of those moves heading into tomorrow’s game. But tomorrow’s game, it is a 110 first pitch between the Mets and the Royals. So we’ll be here around 3:45 4:00 to wrap up the first half of the Royals season and encourage you guys to join me because I mean we can kind of turn it into a mailbag since it will be the last time you hear from me until next Thursday because we’ll have some time off during the All-Star break. But I appreciate you guys being here on your Saturday. If you’re listening to this on demand, head over to our YouTube channel, subscribe to the channel, and hit the notification bell so that you are notified whenever we go live. Thanks for listening. I’m Chance Lebo. This has been the Royals Postcast, part of the Locked On Network.

Chance Liebau reacts to game two between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets. We discuss the offensive struggles on the day, replay review biases, and a difficult situation for the Royals pitching staff.

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