Surronded by an overwhelming sea of terribleness, one very cool thing happened this afternoon in Denver: Angel Berroa didn't leadoff. Of course, I'm not sure that batting Angel 2nd really represents a true solution, but its the smallest hint of a beginning towards one. Honestly, the Royals' lineup is becoming increasingly embrassing with each box-score, its like a bad nose-job that you can't look away from. Seriously, is there anything worse than seeing the DeJesus-Berroa-Graffanino-Emil Brown love train as the 1-2-3-4 hitters?
All snottiness aside, thats just un-freaking-believably terrible. Even during the darkest reaches of the Muser-era we had a nice lineup core of Damon, Dye, Sweeney and Beltran... but this is just too much. DeJesus is a nice young player, who might someday be a marginal All-Star for a few seasons (like Damon once projected to be), but right now he's just barely adequate, despite however much I might like his OBP skills and his glove. You know about Berroa if you've seen him play at all, and there simply aren't words that can describe how truly awful you must be to bat Tony Graffanino 3rd on a daily basis.
The Water Torture Offense was in full effect tonight, as the Royals blasted 9 singles, drew zero, yes zero walks, and hit a 9th inning homer (thanks Matt Stairs). Our boys also struck out 10 times, which makes the zero walks total even more stunningly bad.
The Royals are in real trouble now, heading into Minnesota -- where they've struggled mightily -- to face a Twins team that needs victories in bunches. Predictably, everyone's Buddy has choice quote from page 87 of Baseball Manager-Speak that provides good copy while being totally devoid of meaning, or a solution:
``I hate to keep giving pitchers credit, but a lot of it this weekend has to do with them,'' Kansas City manager Buddy Bell said. ``And there isn't a whole lot more I can say.''Umm, I thought Buddy was a teacher? I thought he'd motivated this team, gotten them to hustle, "do the little things" and stay focused? I thought he was a perfect fit for Allard, and for this young (not really) team? Instead, we get nothing. Well, silly me, what should I expect? Managers leave Colorado celebrating the greatness of Rockies home-pitching, what, once or twice a decade?
Increasingly bitter and saddened.
Do you trust this man?