KANSAS CITY -- You have probably heard the old saying that statistics don't lie. Well, at least they don't lie when it comes to trying to explain the Royals' futility in the 2008 season. The team is mired in a seven-game losing streak and has lost 14 of the past 16.

Exhibit A: Home runs.

The Royals didn't expect to be among the top home run-hitting teams in the Major Leagues. But they also didn't expect things to be quite this bad. Going into Sunday's game they had cracked only 90 home runs for the season, last in the American League and only better than the San Francisco Giants in the DH-less National League.

Jose Guillen leads the team with 16. Alex Gordon has 14. Miguel Olivo has 11, and has only played in half of the team's games. Mark Teahen and David DeJesus each have 10.

By comparison, the Detroit Tigers, one of the teams the Royals are chasing, have two players over 20 round-trippers and six others with 10 or more. The Chicago White Sox lead the Majors with more than double the Royals' home run total, with 192.

Exhibit B: Walks.

Kansas City has drawn an AL-low 343 bases on balls. Only one other team in baseball has fewer than 405, again, the offense-challenged Giants. In the AL, the only team within three zip codes of the Royals is the Mariners, who have 391 walks and the league's worst winning percentage. The Red Sox lead the AL with 540 walks, second only to the Cubs' 562.

Exhibit C: Defense.

The Royals spent the early part of the season among the league leaders in fielding percentage, but have fallen to ninth place in the 14-team AL. Kansas City is third in the AL and fifth overall in home runs allowed. The Royals have given up the third-most bases on balls. They rank in the middle of the pack in strikeouts.

Their opponents' batting average is .269, tied for fourth worst in the AL. The team ERA of 4.72 puts them fourth from the bottom in that category.

Kansas City does lead in one AL defensive category -- most wild pitches.

Manager Trey Hillman has continually lamented his team's poor approach to hitting.

"On any given day, it's not very good," he said. "It's either a matter of recognition or focus in preparedness."

Hillman pointed out that it wasn't just a matter of doing a better job of driving the ball, but also better execution with situational hitting.

Hillman said the whole notion of approach starts with good balance at the plate and the ability to recognize pitches out of the pitcher's hand halfway to the plate.

"I look at statistics all the time," he said.

Hillman cited swing ratio at strikes as a key stat. He said his team stacks up well in the AL as far as contact ratio is concerned, but has not been squaring up on the ball.

"Bottom line is, from a performance and production standpoint in scoring runs, it hasn't played out," he said.