And the Streak Hits Ten

If your team has lost nine games in a row, the last thing you do is give your two best hitters the day off—especially when the next day is an off day. But for some reason, Bell gave Sweeney and Sanders a vacation day and we ran an odd lineup out onto the field. Costa played right field—so much for the "he can play center" claim. Esteban German played center even though he has never played a single game in the outfield in his major league career. And of course, he misplayed a ball. And Paul Bako played again in place of Buck. That's not a huge drop off, and some might even say it's an improvement. But overall, this lineup looked like a few that Pena ran out whenever he wanted to waive the white flag.

And predictably, we did nothing at the plate (this is a glimpse at what a post-Sweeney lineup might look like). Jose Contreras, the number three guy in the Sox rotation, nearly no-hitting us. And while you'd like to see a solid single break it up, I'll take the check swing dribbler up the third base line that Mientkiewicz hit. Anything to avoid further embarrassment. We went on to get two more hits—but couldn't find a way to cross the plate, so we lost 4-0. The Royals only managed one run and eleven hits in three games in Chicago.

Scott Elarton wasn't sharp, and that didn't help matters. He walked five guys and gave up three earned runs in 4.1 innings. Hats off to Hudson, Dessens, and Burgos for not allowing any runs once they got the ball.

But now the losing streak stands at ten and people are talking. And googling. In the past couple of days, people have found this blog by googling things like "royals miserable" and "royal's losing streak 2005." I don't know what is worse—the fact that they are looking for such things or the fact that I've written about them. But as Royals fans, we are in this together, and since most of these inquiries are coming from the Kansas City area, I'm going to assume that Royals fans really do want to see things turned around, but they are just trying to become more informed about the team. Yeah, that might be a stretch, but I'd hate to think that our own fans are finding glee over our struggles.

On a positive note, Zack Greinke is back in camp in Arizona. The Star published an article about his return this morning. The guy is obviously struggling emotionally and you've got to feel for him. I'm proud of the way the Royals treated him though:

"I couldn't have done this without Allard, (manager) Buddy (Bell) and my parents," he says. "They’ve done so much more than they needed to do or should have done. I'm still amazed by it. When I left, I thought they'd just kick me out the door. The way they've done it, I wasn't expecting it. It's just been incredible."

What a great reminder that life is about so much more than baseball.

The Royals head home now to begin a series against the Cleveland Indians. I'm going to make it to the K for two of the three games. Hopefully I'll have some decent photos to post upon my return. Tomorrow, the Royals will send Mark Redman (0-0, 5.40) to the mound against Cliff Lee (1-1, 2.89).