Rock bottom?

After blowing yet another game last night, Mike Sweeney made some comments that surprised me. This is taken from an article running in the KC Star this morning:

“We've definitely hit rock bottom,” Sweeney said. “This is a joke. It's Aug. 9, and we've got 39 wins. It's terrible. We're playing horrible baseball.

“We're not pitching, hitting or playing defense. Nothing. We're not running the bases right. We're playing brutal baseball in all aspects of the game.”

Then he went a step further:

“It has nothing to do with the manager or the coaches. It has everything to do with us. We're not getting the job done; get us out of here.”

While I would disagree with Sweeney about the coaching (Pena continues to make horrible decisions), I would definitely agree that several players need to get the boot. I’m not talking about the players who make physical mistakes. We need to get rid of the guys who refuse to give 100%. And we need to get rid of the guys who just do not seem to understand the fundamentals, like covering first base, hitting cut off men, etc.

I don’t know if this is rock bottom or not. The Expos sweeping us in a double-header and that stretch a few weeks ago when we were shut out three times in a row have to be closer to the bottom–but regardless of where the bottom is, it is time to make any changes necessary for this not to continue.

Did they get it?

As I watched Denny Matthews being inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame on Saturday night, I wondered what went through the minds of all the players who stood behind him. They watched the video board and saw the glory years. They saw Brett take Goose into the upper deck. They saw Sabes dominating the Cards in the 85 World Series. They saw Motley squeeze the final out of that same series which brought a World Championship home to Kansas City.

That was nineteen years ago. Many of the current batch of Royals were toddlers or just a little older. They know our history. They’ve surely seen the video footage of the glory years. But I wonder if they’ve ever put it all together in their minds. Denny Matthews called ever game during the glory years. Nineteen years wasn’t all that long ago.

So, what am I saying? That players should attend such a ceremony and automatically become World Champions. No, I’m not saying that. I’m just wondering out loud, as I was in Kauffman Stadium the other night, about whether or not our current group of players understand and appreciate what made this team great.

Winning World Championships takes talent. No doubt about it. But how much more talent did the 2003 Florida Marlins have than we do? Or how about teams like the Minnesota Twins? They continue to lose players, but then continue to win. Beyond talent, our team is missing something that former Royals’ teams contained. Fire.

Fire shouldn’t be only generated when a team is winning–like in our case last season. It should always be there in a player. If it were, the concept of chemistry that baseball announcers talk so much about might be a little easier to come by because teams would be united behind a common goal. To play their best and hardest at all times. Can we be honest and say that we don’t have a team that does that right now?

I reminded a friend recently about a game in the mid-90's in Kauffman Stadium. The Royals were playing the Mariners. We were way out of contention at that point of the season. But the game was on the line. Mike Schooler came in to shut the door on the Royals in the ninth inning. We were down by a run, with two outs. We had runners at the corners and Wally Joyner was at bat. He ripped a frozen rope down the right field line that cleared the bases for the victory. If I remember correctly, Keith Miller scored the winning run from first. When he popped up from his slide, he was mobbed (this was before it became a ritual like it is today) by Royals.

I am not trying to over-romanticize a period in Royals history. I’m sure we had guys who didn’t always give 100%. But I can’t remember one instance. Unlike this season. We have guys on our team who seem to be bothered by the fact that they have to run 90 feet to first base on pop ups or ground balls. We have guys who do not go after balls hard in the outfield. We have catchers who seem inconvenienced by having to block balls in the dirt, so they take a backhanded stab at the ball.

As I stood and cheered for Denny Matthews and for former Royals on the video screen, I hoped a few of the players got the connection. We want to cheer for them the same way. But we aren’t going to give them any more effort than they are willing to give us.

Thank you Denny Matthews

I felt honored to be in Kauffman Stadium on Saturday night as Denny Matthews was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame. I was glad to see that 27,000 other people felt the same way. I wish we would have sold the place out to show him how much we appreciate the time and effort he has put into Royals broadcasts since their inception.

During the ceremony, Herk Robinson said that his daughter was back in town after moving from the Kansas City area ten years ago. When she flipped on the radio upon returning to Kansas City and heard Denny Matthews calling a Royals game, she said she felt like she was home.

I know what she means. I’ve lived in Omaha, Nebraska my entire life. But as a young boy, I caught Royal fever and started listening to Denny Matthews and Fred White. As I grew into a man, I always felt a sense of nostalgia when I heard them. Like Herk’s daughter, I felt like I was home. I still do.

That might seem a little odd to people who don’t follow baseball, but when you spend several hours ever day listening to a person speak about a common interest, how could a fan not feel this way? And for me, it goes even deeper than that. Denny Matthews is not a guy who is just punching the clock. We share a common bond. For better or worse, we love the game of baseball and we love the Kansas City Royals.

As I mentioned in an early post, I had the pleasure of meeting Denny in April of this year when I was covering a story about a couple of Royals players for a magazine and a newspaper. I probably broke some media protocol by introducing myself to him and telling him how much I appreciated his work over the years. But I didn’t care. He didn’t seem to either. He was gracious and took the time to speak to me a couple of times later that day.

Let’s never take this guy for granted. He’s a one of a kind and well deserving of always being remembered in the Royals Hall of Fame and hopefully Cooperstown.

Playing the numbers

Several Royals switched uniform numbers during the off day on Monday. Here's a quick run down:

Gotay is now #30
Santiago is now #33
Relaford is now #11
Stairs is now #12

More bad news

Mike Sweeney left the game last night against the White Sox with back spasms. This will be his third go around with back problems this season. He hasn't been put on the DL yet this season. Let's hope he doesn't need to go there now.

What a horrible month

The Royals were 7-20 in the month of July. They have never had fewer wins in the month of July. Beyond many other problems, the team batting average for the month of July was .239.

Wow, were we bad or what? This season feels like the mid-1990's, doesn't it? I'm going to the ball park anyway. I haven't been there in seven or eight weeks, so I'm looking forward to the weekend series against the Angels.

Run Harvey run

From a story in the KC Star yesterday…

Royals manager Tony Peña just snapped. It came in the fourth inning of Thursday night's 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays when Ken Harvey jogged toward first on a pop-up.

Finally! Pena’s smile is gone and he actually noticed one of our guys not hustling. He benched Harvey for a game. Although, benching a guy for one game isn’t enough, at least it says something to the rest of the guys.

“Either we're going to play the game right or people are going to be on the bench,” said Peña, his usual smile nowhere to be seen. “I ask my players to run the ball out. Whoever doesn't run the ball out, I'm going to take them out of the game.”

Halleluiah. Why it took 100 games before he started doing this is anybody’s guess, but at least Pena is finally unafraid start doing something about lackluster effort.

Wright watch

I told you that I was going to be interested in seeing how Jamey Wright pitched for Colorado since we outright released him without giving him a chance this season at the major league level.

Wright got the start in Arizona last Saturday and while the D-Backs are hardly a threat offensively, Wright did his part and gave up 1 earned run in 5 innings and picked up the win.

Then today he got the start at Coors Field against the Dodgers. Wright gave up 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings and got a no decision. So, after 2 games, he is 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA.

Berroa's disappointing season

If you believe in sophomore slumps, I guess that would explain Angel Berroa's season. I might buy it if we were just talking about his poor offensive output. Maybe pitchers studied him in the off season and figured out how to get him out. But he has made 18 errors this season and has a .954 fielding percentage. That's a tough one to figure out.

He got of to a rough start defensively last season, but settled in nicely and played error free ball for a couple month stretch at one point. Maybe his struggle at the plate this year has led to a lack of confidence in his defense. I don't know, but he has been a disappointment this season.

At the plate, he has his average up to .251. Nobody expects him to hit for a high average, so .251 isn't a real concern. The problem has been his failure to do the small things. Last night, the Royals had a runner at third with one out, early in a scoreless game. The second baseman and shortstop were playing back conceding the run and Berroa struck out.

Berroa looks like Soriano during the World Series last year. He's such a free swinger that it's hard to imagine him ever delivering a guy from third in a situation like last night. He's drawn just 13 BB's this season and he has over 300 AB's.

Tonight, DeJesus got hit by a pitch to lead off the game and Berroa tried to bunt him over. He popped the ball up to the pitcher. Berroa certainly has talent and a gun for an arm, but his game is desperately in need of work.

Gonzalez out for the season

Guys get hurt. It is part of the game. But who didn't expect Juan Gonzalez to get hurt and miss a ridiculous amount of games? He has played just 33 games for the Royals this season. RSTN is reporting tonight that Juan Gonzalez is now out for the season.

Juan Gonzalez is a detriment to the club. But at least a healthy Gonzalez meant we could trade him. Baird said tonight on RSTN that a couple of teams were interested in Gonzalez, but obviously that's not going to happen now.

Go Brian

What a welcome sight it was to see Brian Anderson pitch 6 scoreless innings, giving up only two hits. His ERA is still over 6.00, but at least it is moving down rather than steadily climbing like it seemed to every time he took the mound in the first half of the season.

I'm out of town, so I didn't get a chance to see the game, but I can't help but wonder why Pena didn't leave Anderson in longer? He only threw 75 pitches.

And the hits just keep on coming

How could Jamey Wright have been worse than Chris George last night? 10 earned runs and 11 hits on 84 pitches in 3 innings? Wow.

Sweeney apparently still available

According to a report on ESPN.com, Baird is talking to other clubs about moving Sweeney. Here's part of the report:

The Royals have let teams on Sweeney's "tradeable list" (Angels, A's, Mariners, Dodgers, Giants, Padres and D-Backs) know they're willing to talk, as Baird tries to find him a home with a contender.

Has Mike asked to be traded to a contender? I'm guessing that if he has a tradable list, then he must at least be open to the possibility. Trading Sweeney would suck the life out of this team and out of our fan base.

People like Matt Stairs, who I've grown to really appreciate in Royal Blue, continue to want to stay in KC. He's been rumored to be on the trading block, but Baird now says he wants to keep a veteran in the lineup and Stairs wants to resign with the Royals next year.

Let's just hope that we can get past this year's trade deadline with the team still intact. Last year was fun picking up a few players for the stretch run, but it's back to hoping that we don't dismantle our team this year.

Holding our breath?

The Royals are 6-6 after being shutout three times in a row shortly before the All-Star Break. Sweeney is back swinging a hot stick. Randa is due back today for the second game of the doubleheader. Juan Gonzalez is due back shortly (not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing). At the very least, this team resembles a major league team again. Something we couldn't say before the break. Now, do we need to hold our breath as the trade deadline approaches?

The Royals release Jamey Wright

Everybody who follows the Royals can see that we need pitching. We do not have a number one starter, nor do we have a number two. We have three, four and five guys and to be honest I would question whether a couple of them even have number five stuff.

So why in the world would Baird release Jamey Wright—the guy who was 8-6 with a 4.21 ERA in 18 starts at Omaha? Those aren't great numbers, but they qualify for a spot at the bottom of our rotation in KC, don't you think? At least a shot at the rotation?

By not giving him a shot, it sounds like the organization saved $150,000 since he would have received a jump in salary for his promotion to the big leagues according to his contract, but when the league minimum is $300,000, that hardly seems like a huge risk.

He wouldn't have saved our season. It's way too late for that. But he may have established himself as a decent pitcher for the future—kind of the way we keep hoping that Chris George will. There comes a time to say that a guy just isn't going to work out, but when he has put up decent numbers in the minors, don't you at least give him a shot at the big leagues before you make that determination?

Colorado has decided to give him a shot. They picked him up and he's scheduled to start tomorrow against Arizona. I'll be interested to see what happens.