Royals Win on the Field, but are Losers at the Trade Deadline

Sure, the Royals beat the Cleveland Indians to take the series and win their 46th game of the year in a lost season, but what most fans were disappointed with after the game was the fact the club made just one meaningless trade at the deadline, sending Mike Aviles to the Red Sox yesterday for infielder Yamaico Navarro and reliever Kendal Volz. If I am Lorenzo Cain, I would probably start looking at real estate in Omaha. Rumors had swirled around Melky Cabrera, Jeff Francoeur, Bruce Chen, Jeff Francis, even the T-Bones had shown interest in Kyle Davies. But tomorrow they are all still Royals. Constancy. Sweet, sweet constancy.

On the field, the Royals concluded their weekend of outplaying the "contending" Indians with a 5-3 victory. Duffy was his usual Duffy self, striking out lots of guys, but failing to be efficient enough with his pitches to see the sixth.

Jeff Francoeur go things going early with a solo home run, leading to hopes his trade value had skyrocketed. But when he came out on the field for the ninth, minutes after the trade deadline, we knew we were stuck with him. A contract extension must be just days away.

Our top three hitters (Gordon, Cabrera, Butler) got on base seven times today, leading one to think that Ned might finally know what he's doing in terms of lineup construction.

Nice to see Soria bounce back with a relatively uneventful ninth.

Well, with the nucleus of this team staying together, we are due for a sizzling August and September. 75 wins is within reach my friends.