Royal Opportunity Wasted - 8 out of 11

The Royals always have trouble against the Minnesota Twins and we all went in to this short 2 game series with hope. Hope that the team has made steps to take advantage of opportunities to win against a good team. The game Tuesday night had such a situation after the Royals tied the game.

Down 1 run going into the 7th, the Royals get a lead off infield single from Alcides Escobar. Then on an attempted sac bunt by Chris Getz, Twins pitcher Brian Duensing air mails the throw over the first baseman and Escobar goes to 3rd, Getz to 2nd. Excellent, the Twins make an unusual critical error and try to and the Royals the lead on a silver platter. Next up Melky Cabrera lines one off the knee of Duensing, Escobar scores, Getz to 3rd.

1st and 3rd with nobody out, tie game in the 7th inning with Alex Gordon, Billy Butler and Jeff Francoeur due up. 3 tries to get one run across. Then an amazing thing happened. Those 3 men swung at 8 of the next 11 pitches ( all fastballs by the way )... 3 quick outs, game still tied. The last strike was a fastball middle in that Francoeur watches to end the inning. They seriously could not get ONE ball it on the ground, or in the air far enough for a sacrifice? These are the games that good teams win. I know this team technically is not a "good" team.

The best we can hope for is that this inning will be used as a "teaching opportunity" at all levels of the organization. I don't blame the bullpen for this loss, I blame the offense for failure to execute.

It's the little things that great teams do... let's be great.