A Pattern

Anybody noticing a pattern yet? The Royals fall behind early, battle back, and then lose at the end. This time they lost 6-5 in eleven innings to the Twins.

This is already starting to look like a long season and we're not even out of April yet. As a fan, I'm frustrated with the lead off walks, the poor fielding, the lack of fundamentals, and many of Pena's unorthodox decisions. But at the same time, I feel for the players. No doubt, good teams take advantage of teams who are not fundamentally sound, but our guys are still battling even though they appear to be overmatched and under-prepared.

Last season, I was in the locker room in late April to interview Joe Randa for a national sports magazine. Tension was already high among the players because they'd lost so many games. A few guys were doing things to try to liven things up—Jason Grimsley rode a motor scooter (that sounded a lot like a chain saw) around the club house. That brought a few smiles. And for some unknown reason, Curtis Leskanic slapped me on the butt when he walked by me. Yes, I checked to see if he strategically placed a "kick me" note on my backside, but he didn't.

Beyond a few funny tactics, I got the feeling that the players were already feeling the weight of expectations. They had just come off the first winning season in nearly a decade and the people of Kansas City expected (or at least optimistically hoped) for more of the same. Not necessarily division titles, just .500 or slightly better. Summers are so much more fun during pennant chases.

Part of being a fan though, is sticking with your team when things aren't going well. I do think it's legit to abandon a team when or if a team owner and his GM clearly show that they do not care about the product. We can't say that about Glass and Baird. We can disagree about personnel decisions. I certainly have. One of which is sticking with Tony Pena. Nice guy. Bad manager. But Glass and Baird are concerned about the product on the field. They've moved high profile players whose star had risen for prospects that almost everyone in baseball praised. Unfortunately, none of those prospects (with the possible exception of Berroa—who has never lived up to his rookie season) are producing yet.

We won't be in a pennant run this summer, but let's stick with the team and see what happens. Let's watch Buck, Teahen, and Gotay to see if they develop. Let's enjoy watching David DeJesus roaming center field in Carlos Beltran-like fashion. Let's marvel at Zack Greinke. And let's keep it all in perspective. Bad baseball is better than no baseball.