Recently in the diaries Buddy Bell was lambasted for his comments comparing shortstops Andres Blanco and Angel Berroa. Bell's comments seemed offensive at best and at least unnecessary in the eyes of most Royal's fans. However, Bell made other comments in the same articles that I believe are of interest:

"Four eyes see better than two," [Berroa] said. "Sometimes, I get down so easily. ... Right now, you [Bell] are my father and you can see better than me. Sometimes we're doing something and not doing it right."

The fact that Berroa gets down on himself so much is one of Bell's big concerns.

"There's a misconception around the city that he doesn't care," Bell said.

Indeed, Berroa has become one of the main targets of Kansas City's fans this year. Bell said that Berroa just worries about his game in excess.

"It just eats him up too much," Bell said. "He's got to get where he can forget about it. It just weighs heavy on his mind and his heart."

So basically the argument here is that Berroa sucks only because the fans are so down on him. As I see it there are 3 possible conclusions to be drawn from this:

1. Bell is right. Berroa is not playing up to his 2003 ability because of his emotional and mental weakness coupled with the KC fanbase's utter frustration with him.
2. Bell is wrong. Berroa had a fluke year in 2003, and does not have the ability to be a major league shortstop.
3. Bell (and more likely Moore) want other 'baseball guys' around the league to think Berroa is only struggling because of the KC situation. The idea being that a change of scenery is all he needs to perform to 2003 standards.

Which is it? Personally I believe it is 2), and the optimist in me wants to believe it is 3). However, 1) is still an intriguing theory to me as a baseball fan: can someone really play this bad for this long based solely on those factors? Is it possible for Berroa to improve by the fans loudly cheering him for every at bat? Would a sports psychologist be able to help? Buddy Bell certainly seems to believe it... and he is nothing if not 'experienced' with that type of baseball voodoo, one would think. At any rate, I find it somewhat fascinating.. so there it is. What do yall think?