Before we get started here, Billy Butler had a remarkable game last night, going 3-for-4 with three doubles.
Now, that's a heck of a night in any context, but because Billy hits in the middle of the Royals' lineup, he pulled off the feat of getting those three doubles without ever driving in a runner, or scoring himself.
Nobody's done that in more than two years, when Derrek Lee had four hits, including three doubles, without scoring in June 2007.
One interesting name on the list of guys with three or more extra-base hits in a game without scoring or driving in a run: Willie Bloomquist, who had three doubles in July 2005 in a game against -- wait for it -- the Royals.
Billy, by the way, is hitting .308/.344/.475 since June 4. Anybody else think we're starting to see a little emergence here?
OK, on with the team numbers, which means off with the good thoughts.
The Royals' starting rotation's 4.22 ERA is tied with Detroit's for the third-best in the American League, which, obviously, is pretty good.
Their bullpen's 4.43 ERA is 11th in the AL, which, you might notice, is not as good.
Overall, it's a 4.29 ERA, tied for 7th in the AL, which certainly isn't good enough for a team built on pitching, but also isn't terrible.
Here comes the crux of this post:
The Royals have surrendered 44 unearned runs* this season, which is the most in the American League. The Twins, not surprisingly, have given up an AL-fewest 17.
* Yes, I'm with you in thinking that this is an imperfect measurement of how good or bad a team's defense is. Joe Posnanski points out that all of Detroit's runs last night could be called "unearned." The numbers are still interesting...
Using the stathead rule of thumb that says every 10 runs is worth one win, that's nearly three wins already for a team that absolutely needs to be better in this category.
Give the Royals three wins, and they'd be 39-45 and seven games behind the Tigers. Not good, certainly, but also not quite the mess they are now. All just by playing better defense.
Figured a different way, the Royals are an OK 6th in fewest earned runs surrendered. They are 10th in total runs surrendered.
If they'd matched the Twins' total of unearned runs surrendered, the Royals would rank 2nd in fewest runs given up.
...is a bad player. In fact, he's one of the worst regulars in baseball this year. He can't hit, he can't play defense, he doesn't draw a walk and by all accounts he's not much of a worker either. Good guy to give up one of your top pitching prospects and another one to boot for.