Talking streaks: One continues (Royals at 10), one ends (Merrifield made it to 31)

Today we’re talking streaks.

First up, the Kansas City Royals’ 10 game losing streak, a skid that’s followed wins in their first two games of the year.

Ten and counting

The Royals’ slide is at 10 entering Friday night’s home contest against the Cleveland Indians.

The numbers say blame the bullpen — five of Seattle’s runs came after Kansas City starter Jorge Lopez left the game in just their latest loss on Thursday — but the eyes say it’s not that simple.

In the seventh inning, centerfielder Terrance Gore failed to make a diving catch that would have saved the Royals a run; in the ninth inning defensive replacement centerfielder Billy Hamilton failed to make a running catch that would have saved the Royals two runs and the game.

Neither catch was routine, but the Royals need to be better than average at defense. Having two of the fastest players in baseball doesn’t help if they can get to balls but don’t finish the deal and make the catch.

Another part of the Royals’ 2019 game plan is to get the ball in play and then use their team speed to pressure the other team’s defense.

On Thursday, the Royals punched out 14 times. Team speed doesn’t help when those fast players are walking back to the dugout instead of getting on base.

Few teams are great at everything, but for the Royals to be competitive they need to be above average at some things — and that includes catching the ball and putting it in play.

Everybody is focusing on the bullpen’s failures, but as ugly as the numbers are, on Thursday afternoon the bullpen pitched well enough to win and the rest of the team didn’t play well enough to take advantage of the opportunity.

The Royals’ failure to break their losing streak is not entirely on the bullpen.

Merrifield is right

After Thursday’s loss, infielder Whit Merrifield was quoted as saying: “What’s happening can’t continue throughout the whole season. It just can’t.”

History suggests Merrifield is right.

A nowhere-near-exhaustive internet search reveals that the 1962 New York Mets have still won the fewest games in a modern season: 40. The Kansas City Royals are currently 2-12, and if they continued to win two out of 12 games for the rest of the year, they’d finish the season with 27 wins.

That’s not likely to happen, but it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to worry about.

There are baseball sayings for every occasion, and here’s one that fits this situation: You can’t win a pennant in April, but you can lose one.

By getting out of the gate like a Kentucky Derby entrant with a pulled hamstring, the Royals need to go 79-71 the rest of the season just to get back to .500. Right now that seems extremely unlikely — but not entirely impossible ... and here’s why.

There’s another baseball saying that goes like this: You’re never as good as you think you are, and you’re never as bad as you think you are.

At the beginning of the season, hot and cold streaks stand out much more than they would if those same streaks took place in the middle of the season. The Royals are on pace to win 27 games and the Mariners are on pace to win 140. Smart money would bet on neither thing happening.

The Mariners probably aren’t as good as they look right now, and the Royals probably aren’t as bad as you think they are.

Now let’s hope they both prove me right ... or you forget I wrote this by the time they prove me wrong.

Hitting streak the hard way

Some people who should know better downplayed Merrifield’s 31-game hitting streak because it took place over two seasons. Former big-leaguer Harold Reynolds pointed out that the offseason allows a hitter to recover and come back stronger the next year.

Fair point, but there are other factors that make keeping a hitting streak going over two seasons more difficult.

When a big-league hitter is going good, he’d take 10 at-bats a day if he could get them. He knows his hot streak won’t last and he wants all the hits he can get while he’s feeling good. To keep a hot streak going with a winter shoved in-between two at-bats is impressive.

The man whose 30-game hitting streak Merrifield eclipsed, George Brett, also pointed out that Merrifield did it under lousy conditions.

Doing it over two seasons means getting hits in September and April — or in this case, March — and that means Merrifield did it while playing in lousy weather. In the Midwest, that can mean rain, sleet, snow or the occasional plague of locusts.

And doing it over two seasons also means doing it against pitchers Merrifield might have never faced before: September call-ups, rookies who made their team out of spring training and pitchers who changed leagues or teams in the offseason.

Big-league hitters will tell you that some of their most difficult at-bats are against unfamiliar pitchers. Reading scouting reports or watching video is no substitute for standing in the box and seeing a pitcher live.

For example: On March 31, Merrifield got a hit off former Royals and current White Sox reliever Kelvin Herrera — not exactly an unfamiliar pitcher, but a pitcher Merrifield had never faced in a game.

Merrifield deserves credit, not criticism, for the streak he was able to put together.