Last night, the KC Royals lost their series in Houston. So they demoted struggling reliever Kelvin Herrera. Tonight, they returned home to lose to the LA Angels, 5-4.

People keep saying that the Royals power struggles are because Kauffman Stadium is more of a pitchers’ ballpark when the weather is cooler. Well, the Angels hit four homeruns tonight, which accounted for all of their runs.

Ervin Santana faced his former team and allowed eight hits over 7.2 innings. He did not walk a batter, while striking out eight. However, four of the eight hits he allowed left the ballpark.

Mike Trout hit a solo shot in the first inning to give the Angels their first lead. Albert Pujols hit a solo homerun in the fourth. After the Royals scored a run on an Alex Gordon ground out in the bottom of the inning, Chris Iannetta hit a solo homerun to give the Angels another two-run lead.

The Royals cut back into the lead in the bottom of the 5th inning on another ground out. The score would stay 3-2 until the top of the 8th inning when Mark Trumbo hit a homerun, though this one was a two-run shot.

The Royals got the fans excited in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Lorenzo Cain singled, took second base, and scored on Salvador Perez‘ RBI single (his third hit of the game). After pinch-hitter Elliot Johnson popped up in foul territory for the second out, pinch-hitter George Kottaras singled to cut the deficit to one run. Chris Getz then walked to put the tying run in scoring position.

That brought an Angels pitching change, and Robert Coello got Alcides Escobar to fly out to end the game.

The Royals once again out-hit their opponent (10-8), but lost. They went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position and hit into two double plays. Eric Hosmer, Cain, and Perez combined to go 7-for-12, but only scored two runs and drove in one.

*Louis Coleman took Herrera‘s spot in the bullpen and pitched tonight. He pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

It took over three and a half hours, but the KC Royals finally beat the LA Angels, 9-5.

Both teams’ pitching left something to be desired.

The Royals scored seven runs in the top of the 3rd inning. That’s right SEVEN. They sent 11 men to the plate. Jarrod Dyson walked to leadoff the inning and scored on a Billy Butler two-run single. Dyson would later triple in a run later in the inning.

In that inning, the Royals collected five hits and worked three walks. The Angels starter, Barry Enright, lasted three batters into the third. His replacement, Mark Lowe, allowed all three inherited runners to score in the 3rd inning, along with four of his own. He needed 36 pitches to get through the inning.

Royals starter Wade Davis definitely wasn’t on. He needed 103 pitches to get just one out in the 6th inning. He allowed four runs on nine hits and three walks. He struck out two.

Kelvin Herrera once again struggled and for some reason, manager Ned Yost let him pitch two innings. Well, Herrera probably won’t be pitching on Friday, as he threw 44 pitches (just 23 for strikes). He allowed yet another homerun, a solo shot by Mike Trout.

On the positive side, the Royals pitchers got into trouble and for the most part, worked out of it. The Angels collected 12 hits, but only went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position. They left ten men on base.

Back to the offense.

The Royals collected 13 hits, five for extra bases. Every starter except Eric Hosmer had at least one hit and every one scored a run except Salvador Perez. Lorenzo Cain, Perez, and Elliot Johnson each had two hits. Cain hit two doubles and drove in three runs. Perez had two RBIs. Alex Gordon went 3-for-4.

The Royals now head to Oakland (with a day off on Thursday) for three games. James Shields gets the Friday night start versus the A’s Jarrod Parker.

*On the negative side, Dyson left the game late with a sprained ankle.

**The Royals TV broadcast honored the passing of Fred White earlier in the day with a half-inning of silence.

All good things must come to an end.

Jeremy Guthrie during 2013 ST against Cleveland.

That is exactly what happened on Tuesday night in LA. Jeremy Guthrie, who had not lost in 18 straight starts, struggled to keep the ball in the ballpark, as the Angels beat the visiting KC Royals, 6-4.

He allowed four solo homeruns and 11 hits total over seven innings. Guthrie also walked three and did not strike out a batter, while allowing five runs. The other run he allowed came via a sac fly.

It didn’t help that the Royals only collected six hits, two from Billy Butler. He seems to have found his stroke, as he hit his fifth homerun of the season with two outs in the 6th inning. That homerun cut the Royals deficit to 3-2. Butler also drove in the other run in the fourth with a double.

*I’m sure Royals fans were screaming at their TVs or computers in the 9th inning with pinch-runner Elliot Johnson on second base and two outs. I know they were down four runs, but Jeff Francoeur swung at the first pitch from new pitcher Ernesto Frieri to end the game. I can only imagine what is being said because he hit a measly pop up to the second baseman.

Getting away from Kauffman Stadium did the KC Royals some good, as they blew out the LA Angels on Monday night, 11-4. It was the first game of the series and they scored in every inning but three.

Billy Butler had one of his best offensive games in awhile, and got it all started in the first inning. He drove in Alex Gordon with a two out double. He drove in two more with a single with two outs in the third. In the 5th inning, Butler singled and scored on Lorenzo Cain‘s single (he also had a very good offensive night). Butler drove in two more with a double in the 6th inning and scored on a Cain two out single. He even singled in the 8th inning, the Royals only base runner over the final two inning (they struck out four times).

Butler went 5-for-5 with two runs scored and five RBIs. Maybe he has FINALLY found his stroke?

Cain was also good, as he went 3-for-5 with the two RBIs. Alcides Escobar and Salvador Perez also picked up three hits each. Gordon and Jarrod Dyson chipped in two hits each.

Luis Mendoza had one of his best starts as a Royal and picked up his first win of the season. He allowed three runs on six hits over six innings. He struck out six and induced ten ground outs. Luke Hochevar picked up the save, as he gave up one run over three innings.

On the negative side, the Royals hitters struck out 13 times.

The two teams continue the series on Tuesday night, as Jeremy Guthrie matches up against Jason Vargas.

The KC Royals won their slugfest over the visiting LA Angels, 17-11 on Sunday afternoon. It was another piggy-back game for fifth rotation spot contenders Luke Hochevar and Bruce Chen. Neither pitched well, but their offense continued to do the talking.

Hochevar started and allowed four runs on five hits over 3.1 innings. He walked two and struck out three. Hochevar also allowed two home runs. He threw 68 pitches, 42 for strikes.

Chen followed and allowed five runs on five hits over 3.2 innings. He walked two and struck out four. Chen also allowed two home runs. He threw 40 of his 67 pitches for strikes.

Francisley Bueno and Aaron Crow each allowed a run in their one inning of work.

Alcides Escobar went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Billy Butler went 3-for-4 with a double, three runs scored, and four RBIs. Jeff Francoeur fell a double short of a cycle, with three RBIs.

Next up, the Royals will enjoy their second day off this spring. On Tuesday, they will head to Phoenix to play Oakland and Tommy Milone. James Shields will start for the Royals, followed by Everett Teaford, Greg Holland, Juan Gutierrez, Donnie Joseph, and Louis Coleman.

Catcher Salvador Perez is expected back by Tuesday and should be in the lineup. He went 0-for-1 in his final game of the World Baseball Classic for Venezuela.

Eric Hosmer went 2-for-5 in the USA’s clinching game of Pool D over Canada. His bases clearing double in the ninth blew the game open. He and lefty Tim Collins will be heading to Miami for the second round, where they will face Puerto Rico. Irving Falu went 2-for-4 in Puerto Rico’s loss to the Dominican Republic. Former Royals Carlos Beltran went 0-for-4 and Mike Aviles went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run. In the game for the Dominicans, Miguel Tejada came off the bench to go 2-for-2.

Really?

That was what I uttered when I heard the news. When I told my dad that the KC Royals acquired Santana, he was hoping I meant Johan from the NY Mets.

Ervin Santana during the 2011 season (Keith Allison/Flickr)

Instead…the Royals acquired Ervin Santana from the LA Angels (and some cash) for minor leaguer Brandon Sisk. I had been wondering why he hadn’t pitched over the last week in winter ball (now I know why).

It was rumored that the Angels were trying to get rid of both Santana and fellow rotation member Dan Haren before Wednesday was over because they didn’t want to have to pick up their exorbitant options.

Well, now the Royals will be paying him all that money ($13 million).

Apparently GM Dayton Moore thinks that Santana is a HUGE upgrade to their already awful rotation. REALLY? Then why have the Angels been trying to get rid of him the last two years?

The soon-to-be 30 year old has a career 96-80 record with a 4.33 ERA over eight seasons. He is a former All-Star and has thrown a no-hitter.

In 2012, Santana was a spectacular 9-13 with a 5.16 ERA. He allowed a league-high 39 homeruns. The silver lining is that, over his final ten starts, he was 5-2 with a 3.91 ERA for the playoff-pushing Angels.

I guess the Royals are looking for reclamation projects for pitching coach Dave Eiland (they also picked up Chris Volstad). I feel like the team is stocking up on pitchers who are alot like Luke Hochevar and that’s one too many

The one positive about the Santana signing is that he did have two good seasons with the Angels in 2010 (17-10 with a 3.92 ERA) and 2011 ( 11-12 with a 3.38 ERA). In those seasons, he had back-to-back 220 innings pitched. Can he return to that success? Who knows, but the Royals seem to think so.

The Royalsneed to make a 40-man roster move by Friday to make the deal official, as the roster is full. Three players are also on the 60-day DL (Danny Duffy, Felipe Paulino, and Blake Wood) and need to be added back to the roster.

Apparently, according to Moore, the Royals aren’t done wheeling-and-dealing:

“We’re not done,” Moore said. “We’re going to try to continue to upgrade our rotation through trades that make sense, continue to work internally to evaluate our young pitchers, perhaps one or two of our guys in the bullpen and we’re certainly going to explore free agency.”

*Sisk was 3-2 with a 2.54 ERA and eight saves in 50 appearances with Triple-A Omaha this season.

LA Angels slugger Mark Trumbo hit a three-run homerun in the 2nd inning off KC Royals starter Will Smith to give them a 4-0 lead. The Royals went on to lose 4-3.

Smith allowed six hits over the first two innings. He allowed just one more over the next three.

The Royals chipped away, with single runs in the second, third, and fourth innings. In the third, Tony Abreu hit his first homerun as a Royal. In the other two innings, Jeff Francoeur drove in the runs (with a ground out and a single).

After that though, the Royals didn’t really do much on offense. Mike Moustakas singled in the bottom of the 9th inning with one out and Jarrod Dyson pinch-ran for him. He was caught trying to steal second base and Frenchy flied out to end the game.

Check out what manager Ned Yost had to say about the injury-riddled seasons of Dyson, Chris Getz, and Lorenzo Cain. Is he hinting about them not really being in the Royals’ plans for the future?

Yost used the same relievers: Louis Coleman, Aaron Crow, Kelvin Herrera, and Greg Holland. Those four combined to give up three hits over four scoreless innings. They also struck out six.

Jake Odorizzi with the Blue Rocks

*With Triple-A Omaha being eliminated Saturday night, the Royals called up a few reinforcements (and no Wil Myers was not one of them). Unfortunately, none of them got into the game. Those called up were: pitchers Nate Adcock, Tommy Hottovy, and Jake Odorizzi, catcher Adam Moore, and infielder Irving Falu.

Odorizzi is expected to begin his Major League career in the bullpen, as Yost mentioned they do NOT want him to make a start against a contending club. The Royals do play two series against Cleveland and they are looking to get him a start then. For more on Odorizzi‘s promotion, click HERE.

The KC Royals got revenge on Saturday night, as they walked off against the LA Angels by a score of 3-2.

Shutout by former ace Zack Greinke for eight innings, the Royals offense went to work in the ninth. After a strikeout, Greinke allowed a single to Alex Gordon.

That brought in Angels closer Ernesto Frieri. He threw just four pitches and quickly coughed up the game.

Billy Butler hit the first pitch he threw out of the park to dead center to tie the game at 2-2. Three pitches later, Salvador Perez gave the Royals the victory with a homerun to left.

Jeremy Guthrie had another solid outing, despite leaving the game with a loss. He allowed five hits, the first one coming in the 4th inning. Mike Trout singled to lead off the inning, but Guthrie picked him off.

The next hit came to lead off the fifth, a solo homerun by  Kendrys Morales.

Guthrie got into trouble in the 8th inning with two outs. He walked Trout with a runner on third base, but Torii Hunter followed with an RBI single to give the Angels a 2-0 lead.

The Angels dropped to 7.5 games back of the American League West leading Texas Rangers (though their lead over second place Oakland is down to two games). The Angels are however 2.5 games back for the second wild card spot.

*In minor league news, Triple-A Omaha lost in the Pacific Coast League finals on Saturday night. Now everyone will want to know, will the Royals call up outfielder Wil Myers and pitcher Jake Odorizzi?

It seems the overuse of the KC Royals bullpen earlier in the season has led to their struggles of late. They blew yet another lead on Friday night, as they lost to the visiting LA Angels, 9-7.

Royals starter Bruce Chen had one BAD inning, a four-run fourth. In that inning, he gave up three hits, walked a batter, and hit a batter.

However, his offense bailed him out. In the bottom of the 6th inning, they scored three runs to retake the lead. A leadoff walk to Alex Gordon chased Angels starter CJ Wilson from the game. After an Angels fielding error put Billy Butler on base, Salvador Perez flied out (moving Gordon to third base). A Mike Moustakas sac fly tied the game at 4-4. Jeff Francoeur followed with a two-run homerun on a 1-2 pitch to give the Royals the lead.

Chen went back out for the 7th inning and allowed back-to-back singles with one out. That chased him from the game and Ned Yost brought in Louis Coleman. He immediately gave up one of Chen‘s runs on an RBI double by Erick Aybar. After intentionally walking Albert Pujols to load the bases, Coleman rebounded with two strikeouts to escape.

Jason Bourgeois (who was called up on Friday from Triple-A) singled with one out in the bottom of the 7th inning, stole second base, and scored on Alcides Escobar‘s RBI single.

So the Royals held a 7-5 lead heading into the 8th inning. That is when things continued to fall apart for the bullpen. Aaron Crow entered and recorded two outs around a single. With Kendrys Morales pinch-hitting, the Royals brought in lefty Tim Collins. Morales homered on the very first pitch to tie the game at 7-7.

Then Mike Trout singled (who was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Chen) and Aybar singled. After hitting Pujols to load the bases, Jeremy Jeffress was the next reliever to enter the game.

Jeffress walked the first batter he faced, Torii Hunter, on five pitches to force in a run to give the Angels the lead. The Angels tacked on an insurance run in the ninth.

The Royals had their chances in both the 8th and 9th innings. In the eighth with a runner on second base and two outs, Eric Hosmer flied out to center against lefty reliever Scott Downs to end the inning. In the ninth, David Lough pinch-hit with one out, walked, took second base, and went to third on a wild pitch. However Gordon could not continue the rally, though it took nine pitches for Angels closer Ernesto Frieri to retire him and end the game.

In the loss, the Royals hit three homeruns, though two were solo shots in the 2nd inning.

The Royals minor league award winners via Around the Horn in KC

*It was Futures Night at Kauffman Stadium, as the Royals honored their minor league players of the year. The only players not on hand were the Pitcher (Jake Odorizzi) and Player of the Year (Wil Myers) with Triple-A Omaha (they are still playing in the Pacific Coast League Championship). Also not on hand was Michael Mariot, as he is also pitching for Omaha (though he was the Double-A Pitcher of the Year). For more check out Around the Horn in KC and kcroyals.com.

**For more on the Angels, check out Light Up the Halo.

Not a whole lot went right for the KC Royals in their afternoon finale against the LA Angels. They lost 11-6, despite chasing Angels starter Jered Weaver from the game after five innings (101 pitches).

It all started with the first inning, when four of the first five Angels hitters collected hits off Royals starter Luke Hochevar. The first run scored on a wild pitch.

In the second inning, the Royals defense was terrible. Alcides Escobar booted a ground ball at shortstop, but it was ruled a hit (Peter Bourjos was the hitter). Eric Hosmer bobbled a sac bunt. Mike Moustakas threw wildly to first base after getting a force out at third base. Hochevar threw another wild pitch.

Then Hochevar forgot how many outs there were on a Mark Trumbo tapper to the mound. He lobbed the ball to first base for the out as Hunter raced home to score another run.

The home plate umpire ended Hochevar’s day in the 4th inning. After allowing a homerun to Bobby Wilson, Hochevar hit Trout with a 3-0 pitch. Hochevar was ejected and in came the good portion of the game: Everett Teaford.

Teaford pitched four scoreless innings of relief before leaving in the 8th inning with a man on base. Unfortunately, that run would score, as Louis Coleman allowed back-to-back homeruns to Trout and Hunter to cap the Angels scoring.

Billy Butler hit a two-run homerun in the 5th inning for the only runs the Royals would get against Weaver.

Jeff Francoeur connected for a three-run homer in the 8th inning, breaking out of an 0-for-15 skid. That cut the Royals deficit to 8-5, but the Angels came back against Coleman.

*Next up, the Royals head to Seattle. The Mariners won three out of four last week in Kansas City by scoring 31 runs on 50 hits. Luis Mendoza will get the start in the opener on Thursday (he did not face the Mariners last week). Jason Vargas will oppose him (he has won three straight starts).