KANSAS CITY, Mo. --Five observations on the current state of the Royals.
NED-GATE
If Royals general manager Dayton Moore has intentions of bringing back manager Ned Yost next season -- and remember that Yost's contract is up after 2013 -- this probably wasn't a great week for making a case.
Monday's tough 4-3 loss to the Indians certainly riled up the Royals' faithful when pinch-hitter Carlos Pena, with runners on second and third and one out and the infield back, failed to take the bat off his shoulder. Pena looked at six straight pitches, ultimately striking out.
Fans jumped on Yost's decision then to use Pena in that situation: I was more incensed with Pena's decision to play a statue at the plate when all he had to do was put the ball in play against the Indians, who were conceding the tying run.
Yost's decision to Pena then was defensible. He put Pena in a position to succeed -- runners on second and third, less than two outs and a right-hander on the mound. Pena -- who is likely out for the season after undergoing an emergency appendectomy Saturday in Detroit -- simply didn't deliver.
Sunday -- the five-year anniversary of Yost getting fired by Milwaukee -- was another matter. Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie clearly didn't have his "A" stuff and looked like he would get knocked out early against the Tigers. Somehow, Guthrie managed to avoid disaster, other than serving up an early two-run homer to Alex Avila.
Guthrie, ever the gamer, battled through five innings, despite giving up a whopping 11 hits. He kept the Royals in it, trailing just 2-1.
Even with a rested and deep bullpen, Yost brought Guthrie back out for the sixth -- a pretty big gamble. Guthrie got though the sixth. Whew.
Then, still trailing 2-1, Yost brought Guthrie back for the seventh. I was absolutely stunned. But again, Yost survived the gamble.
The Royals then somewhat remarkably pushed across the tying run in the eighth after Max Scherzer exited. Now, at that point, it appeared it was going to be a battle of the bullpens and the clear advantage was going to the Royals, who have one of the best bullpens in the American League over the last 20 years.
But we all know what happened next. Yost again gambled with Guthrie, who had already thrown over 100 pitches. And Avila walloped his second home run of the game and the Tigers won 3-2.
The Royals' vaunted bullpen sat idly by as the Royals lost a game they could have stolen from the Tigers.
This was different from the Pena game: Guthrie, who had labored all day, was put in more of a position to fail than to succeed.
Even Yost seemed to realize afterward that his decision was likely to bring on an avalanche of criticism, considering he opted not to use his best weapon -- the bullpen.
"I thought (Guthrie) could get us through the inning," he told The Kansas City Star. "At that point, he had pitched himself out of some big jams, and I thought he had really got settled in.
"I thought he could get us through the bottom of the order, but I pushed him too far. ... Hindsight is 20-20, and there will be a lot of that. I just thought (Guthrie) had enough to get us to the ninth."
If the Royals come up short in their postseason quest, there will be many games to look back on and play what-if -- perhaps none bigger than Sunday's.
SITUATIONAL HITTING
Lost in all the manager bashing last week was more evidence of the Royals' biggest problem on offense -- lack of situational hitting.
You can start with that terrible at-bat by Pena on Monday in Cleveland. But Lorenzo Cain also failed in a key moment Sunday.
After Sal Perez singled and Mike Moustakas doubled, the Royals had a great chance to pull even, 2-2, in the seventh inning. The Tigers, like the Indians on Monday, also conceded the tying run with Cain at the plate and played the infield back.
Needing just a ground ball, Cain did not shorten up his swing and instead hacked violently at Scherzer's offerings. He popped out to short right field and the Royals did not score.
RANGER COLLAPSE
Thanks to the incredible swoon by the Rangers, the Royals likely will be in the race until the end. The Rangers are now tied with Tampa Bay in the race for the two wild-card spots -- the Royals are just 3 ½ games behind both, and the Royals have three games left with the Rangers this weekend.
First things first: The Royals can catch the Indians with a sweep of their three-game set starting tonight at The K.
The Royals, thanks to Sunday's loss, probably can no longer think in terms of winning each series -- they have to think in terms of sweeping now. With 13 games left, the Royals would appear to need to win at least 10.
BREAK-OUT BILLY
With two weeks left, the Royals will need some offense -- the type of offense they didn't get in Detroit.
And the guy I'm predicting will break out of a slump is Billy Butler, who hasn't homered since Aug. 27, and who has just one extra-base hit in that span -- a double.
Watch for Butler to get on a roll.
JAKE VS. STORM CHASERS
Former Royals prospect Jake Odorizzi looks like he'll start for Durham in the Triple-A championship game Tuesday against the Omaha Storm Chasers, who won the Pacific Coast League title.
Odorizzi was dealt to Tampa Bay as part of the James Shields-Wil Myers deal.
You can follow Jeffrey Flanagan on Twitter at @jflanagankc or email at jeffreyflanagan6@gmail.com.
