Dontrelle Willis looks so-so even against Royals

Last week when Dontrelle Willis held the Royals to two runs over six innings in his first start of the season I warned against reading too much into one decent outing against a poor lineup and unfortunately it didn’t take long to see why. Facing the Royals a second time Tuesday afternoon, Willis narrowly escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first inning only to allow four runs in the next four frames. The good news is that Willis has yet to implode by completely losing the strike zone like he did so often during the past two seasons. The bad news is that he’s allowed a poor Royals lineup stacked with left-handed hitters to bat .348 against him, managing just seven strikeouts compared to five walks in 11 innings. He’s made huge strides relative to 2008/2009, but the matchups will get tougher and he just doesn’t look very good so far. And remember, Willis was last healthy and good way back in 2006.