A sweep in Texas! Let the long beleagured Royals Nation rejoice!1 Because winning two road games against the best team in baseball in May always means good things for the rest of the season, right?

Sarcasm aside, the brief Texas series was fun, and came at a great time following the news that Danny Duffy is the latest Royals pitcher to rip his elbow apart. Bruce Chen was fantastic Monday night while Vin Mazzaro was decent and Tim Collins absolutely filthy Tuesday. Jarrod Dyson is getting on base a lot, and scoring when he does. Mike Moustakas is ripping the ball. Francouer might be coming alive, Escobar got some big hits, and Hosmer finally got a couple to drop in.

The Texas sweep, combined with winning two-of-three in Chicago over the weekend, doesn’t wipe out the 12-game losing streak of April. But it does remind us of how fickle baseball is. If the Royals had just gone .500 during that losing streak, today they’d be 21-14 and in first place in the AL Central. This still isn’t a first place club, not with a rotation that features two replacements for starters on the DL and Luke Hochevar taking up another slot. This mini-hot streak, though, has put some life back into the season, which the team, and fans, sorely needed.

Horrible news on Duffy. The good news is he’s still young, most pitchers come back just fine from Tommy John surgery, and if he has to miss a year, it might as well be now before the contention window opens. And let’s be honest: most Royals fans figured he, Mike Montgomery, Jake Odorrizi, etc. would end up blowing an elbow or shoulder eventually. Such is life as a Royals fan.

Speaking of Odorrizi, he and the amazing Wil Myers were called up to Omaha today. With the injuries and inconsistency that plagues the big league rotation, Odorrizi just might be in KC before the season is over. And it’s great seeing Myers reclaim his spot as one of the best hitting prospects in the game. It’s not completely ridiculous to imagine a lineup with him, Moose, Hos, Gordon, Butler, and Perez filling six of the nine lineup spots next year.

And I must give props: Chris Getz has not been completely horrible this year. It’s early and I’m not climbing on any bandwagons or anything. I’ve lobbied hard for Getz to be run out of town, so it’s only fair I credit him with getting some nice hits in key situations.

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  1. I hate the phrase “X” Nation, where X refers to a team, city, school, etc. Yet I used it. ↩