The Royals have not played well.

The hitting is only starting to wake up, the defense has lagged at times, but mostly, the starting rotation has been a problem. The bad things were our focus this week, including the Raul Mondesi PED suspension.

Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordon are heating up and Eric Hosmer's been great all season. Even Alcides Escobar is hitting a bit more now, and while Mike Moustakas went on the DL, Cheslor Cuthbert is filling in fine so far. Things are (hopefully) starting to turn around. The good things were also our focus this week, pulling ourselves out of the muck and into an optimistic place.

Follow the Vault at @KCBaseballVault. Follow host Jeff Herr at @TheJeffReport, co-host Michael Engel at @michaelengel. You can also email feedback to KansasCityBaseballVault@gmail.com.

Thanks to Clint Scoles (@clintscoles on Twitter) for sharing audio of a brief interview he had with Assistant GM JJ Picollo from Omaha.