The little things and chemistry

For the past two days, the Royals have battled the Oakland A’s and actually looked like they belonged on the same field. Good starting pitching. Good bull pen work. And a confidence that seems to have been building brought us into Oakland on a high note.

The problem is, we continue to fail when it comes to doing the small things. Berroa boots a ball hit right to him in the 9th inning on Saturday, Chavez blasts a two run shot, and didn’t you just know that we were going to lose after that? Yesterday, we failed to turn two at a crucial moment, a little dinker falls in—we lose, again.
All year long, we’ve been a team that doesn’t do the small things well. We aren’t moving runners over. We are swinging at first pitches way too often, making ourselves susceptible to guys who can change speeds well and we’ve certainly seen enough of that in recent weeks.

I’ve heard fans point to a lack of chemistry on this year’s team since we brought in some new faces as the reason we are so bad. That may be partially right. But what does chemistry have to do with being patient at the plate and waiting for a pitch you can handle so you can slap it to the right side of the infield to move a guy over? What does chemistry have to do with staying down on a ball at short to make sure you’ve got the ball securely in your glove? What does chemistry have to do with a lack of hustle?

Maybe it’s got everything to do with it. Maybe one bad trait builds on another and before you know it, the entire ball club is in a funk. Even if that’s true, that is still no excuse for playing the way we have. Each man is responsible for his own actions and effort on the field.

If chemistry could be created, every team would do it. But not every team that wins has chemistry. Did anybody really say that the Florida Marlins had chemistry last year BEFORE they won the World Series?
Now, if our fans are really trying to be nice when they point to our lack of chemistry when what they really want to say that we have guys on our team that don’t seem to care whether we win or lose, then I’d say to stop trying to be so nice. We don’t need to call guys names or spew hateful words. But simply pointing out a lack of hustle and/or apparent desire to win is probably in order.