A Mostly Bitter Bittersweet Opening Day

There were certainly some encouraging things to be taken from Opening Day, but it is hard not to focus on the bad. Namely the eighth inning.

It surely is not fair to focus entirely on the eighth inning, as the Royals did not get the job done on offense. Leaving eleven men on base is not palatable under any circumstance. If you have thirteen baserunners and manage a mere two runs, much of the onus for a loss falls on the offense's inability to plate those baserunners.

But those two runs were enough until the bottom of the eighth when Kyle Farnsworth entered the ballgame. I was reticent to pile on the negativity before games had actually been played because it is far too easy to go all blowhard in the offseason and then have your words blow up in your face. I will gladly put The Professor atop the Shit List right now.

Kyle, I know you're reading this. I don't want you to stay on this List, Prof. This is what I need from you. Eight straight scoreless one-inning outings. Starting with your next outing.

Now, as for Trey opting for Farnsworth over Cruz or even Mahay, who had been warming up, I have to say I was immediately on edge when I saw Farnsworth on the mound. I understand that it may take a couple of weeks to get the bullpen sorted out (although, I could certainly have told your that Juan Cruz should have been toeing the rubber if he was available). Pulling Meche--who looked great, even in the inning he struggled on paper he wasn't missing his spots at all--on Opening Day coming out of the seventh with 91 pitches thrown is something I can start to understand, even with Alexei Ramirez looking foolish on that curve ball that struck him out to end the seventh. But if Farnsworth is trotted out there with every able-bodied pitcher at Trey's avail, it won't take long before I lose patience with his inability to manage a bullpen. If nothing else, Farnsworth's blown lead on a three-run homer after struggling to get anyone out (except for Quentin, who looked like a fool--and I'm not just talking about his bullshit batting stance that I hate more than anyone's in baseball) should signal very early to Trey that Farnsworth cannot be trusted in a game that tight.

I have to go back to work, but I should say that I was encouraged by the Royals' collective approach at the plate. Their patience did Mark Buehrle in early, with everyone working counts, especially Mark Teahen, who managed to get on base via a walk and a hit-by-pitch. More on that next time, hopefully*.

*Unless of course someone else chaps my ass off like Farnsworth did today.