This is the closest Tony's bat has come to making contact with anything this season
When you consider that the Kansas City Royals have scored the least amount of runs of any team in the Majors with 181, and that none of the regulars are currently hitting over .300 on the season, it's pretty easy to see that this team has trouble scoring runs. All of which makes it a lot easier to understand the team's current 8-game losing streak that's dropped them into a tie with the Detroit Tigers for last place in the AL Central.
Now, when a whole team is struggling offensively, it's tough to find that one guy that's sucking like no other. Fortunately for Royals fans, shortstop Tony Pena has made himself a very easy target, though his manager Trey Hillman has no plans on taking him out of the lineup anytime soon.
"I think it goes back to this," manager Trey Hillman said. "If the guys who are supposed to be hitting will just hit, then he's not the issue. The issue is the other guys in the lineup who are hitting one through six on any given day."
Very astute observation, Mr. Hillman, but I don't think it's going to do much to appease Royals fans. After all, Tony is hitting .162/.184/.204 on the season. If you added Tony's average to his anemic OPS of .388, he'd still rank 4,583rd in the American League. What makes matters worse is that while Pena has struck out 30 times this season, he's only been able to finagle four walks.
In other words, he's just as overmatched at the plate as Britney Spears would be in a debate about black holes with Stephen Hawking.
The real problem Hillman has is the fact he has nobody he can replace Pena with. The calls for Alberto Callaspo are growing louder in Kansas City, but even though Callaspo has had more success at the plate (.266/.347/.313) his defense at short leaves a lot to be desired. Especially when compared to Pena's glove.
When a team has as much trouble scoring runs as the Royals do right now, they can't really afford to sacrifice any defense because they can't make up for the runs it will cost them.
