Streak Follows KC to Oakland

Last weekend I was in Kansas City with a couple of friends hoping to catch three Royals games and enjoy the 20th anniversary celebration of the 1985 World Series team. But the rain didn't cooperate, so my friends and I decided to make the best of the situation by trying new restaurants and coffee shops, and by hitting a couple of stores.

While we were in the car, we listened to coverage of the Royals on WHB. Buddy Bell was anxious for the rain to stop so they could finally end the losing streak. When the rain finally did stop long enough for them to play, they lost both games. Now, we're upon another weekend and the streak is still in tact. All kidding aside, the pressure on Bell and the players who actually care, must be enormous. Every at bat probably seems magnified. Surely, every mistake is magnified.

Last night, the mistake was a two-seam fastball right down Main Street by D.J. Carrasco in the first inning that Adrian Beltre clobbered for a grand slam home run. That was just the beginning of a nightmare outing for D.J., who saw his ERA rise to 4.89 after giving up 7 ER in 3 IP.

The line up featured Emil Brown hitting lead off. Why? Who knows. Maybe just to shake things up a little. I guess he'll work there as well as anybody (with an average over .250). Did you know that Brown is tied for the team lead in stolen bases with a whopping five? DeJesus and Berroa also have five. Brown went 0-for-4 in the experiment and the Royals lost 11-5.

Now it's on to Oakland. Let's just hope that we can get one out of three there. If we get swept in Oakland, all sorts of losing streak records are in danger of falling.