Kansas City Royals in a temporary slump

[franksolich]

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/1260539.html

They'll pop out of it, though.

Royals suffer second straight 12-5 loss to Arizona

So much for the idea that Wednesday’s clunker was a mere aberration in the Royals’ cakewalk through interleague play. Thursday offered another eyesore loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Kauffman Stadium.

This one also ended 12-5 and again came spiced with the sort of defensive breakdowns that once characterized the Vermeil teams across the parking lot.

The Royals committed three errors for the second straight game, including two by second baseman Alberto Callaspo in just five innings before he got a mercy hook from manager Trey Hillman.

That only hints at the number of defensive misplays. Willie Bloomquist had a rough night at shortstop, and center fielder Mitch Maier appeared to have trouble tracking fly balls throughout the game.

There were also two run-scoring wild pitches — and nearly a third.

“Do I have an explanation at this point?” Hillman said. “No, because it is a very up-and-down team. We’ve hit more streaks of inconsistent fielding and inconsistent hitting and inconsistent pitching than we have positive (streaks)......