It Was Just One Game
A decade ago the Royals started the season with a win against the White Sox.
It was a game in which everything went right, all the hitters hit, the pitching (RIP Ventura) was fantastic and, riding high off of the 2014 WS run, I wrote on my now defunct account that, even though it was just 1 game, I was fully bought-in.
Yesterday was... disappointing. Everything definitely did not go right. The pitching was hit and miss (see what I did there?). The players I really hoped to see something from early (Isbel, Melendez, Renfroe, Garcia) all showed nothing much, and riding... not high off of last season, but kind of mid, I'm not sure how I feel.
I find myself again repeating the mantra "It was just one game... it was just one game."
Ragans was good but seemed to struggle with his command.
But it's a good lineup and he was still okay. It was one start, there's no reason to think he'll be less than he has been the last 40+ starts he's made for the Royals.
India showed off his warning track power at the K.
But it was only a few at bats and he was hitting the ball hard. There's no reason to think he's trying to hit home runs, likely the opposite, and eventually solid contact will translate into results.
Renfroe looks terrible in RF.
No real upside here, he's gonna have to get real productive at the plate quick if he's giving Jeff Francoeur level offense without the arm.
Isbel did the TOOTBLAN thing.
I was once really high on Isbel, and I still think he's probably the best CF option the Royals currently have, but he should be a 4th OF or AAA depth. He's good, but not great defensively, and doesn't steal enough bases. He absolutely cannot be giving away outs on the basepath.
But it was just one game, I'm sure it will be addressed.
The biggest problem with baseball having so many games is that it takes so many before any real conclusions can be drawn. Barring a 10+ game streak one way or the other, it will probably be well into May before we know how we really feel about the team this season.
I can say this, much like in 2015, I am still fully in. The back end of the bullpen was good, Bobby turned a groundout to the left side into a single, then into a double, like he does, Vinnie looks fine when he's not trying to leg out a double and there's lots of off days early, he'll likely get that hammy under control.
I'm here for the ride, and I'll try to find the good in the bad because this team is still something special I think.