Game 45 Preview: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs. Kansas City Royals

The Royals have dropped thirteen of seventeen games, dropping them below .500 and pushing them to five games behind division leader Cleveland. The offense has been futile, scoring three runs or fewer in ten of those games. But Dayton Moore runs a calm ship, and he is not ready to panic.

"You know how people panic?" he asked. "We’re not going to panic. We’re not panicking. We are not panicking. I’m not going to make excuses for young players. I’m just not."

It is not time to panic. Panicking would be foolish, so we're not panicking and its even silly to suggest we're panicking. Actually it sounds like you reporters and panicky fans are panicking at the fact we're not panicking, so maybe you should panic about that first, before you panic about us not panicking. And listen to some Panic at the Disco. Or watch "Panic" starring William H. Macy and Neve Campbell. And maybe we'll acquire Giants minor leaguer Joe Panik.

Dayton then talks about some of the struggles of the young hitters, namely Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas.

"Pitchers are different from position players," Moore said. "First of all, it’s very difficult for a position player to ever develop beyond their level of competition. "If a position player goes down to Triple-A and has success, that doesn’t mean he’s going to come back up here and have success. For position players, a lot of it is getting to know pitchers."

I don't entirely disagree. I'm not convinced Moose has much to prove at AAA against has-beens and never-weres. Sure he may "regain confidence", but as Scott McKinney points out, Its just as likely that he'd fall back into bad habits playing in launchpads like Reno and Las Vegas. And Moose himself admits, he's not lacking for confidence. At this time, what Moose needs is perhaps some some humility so he'll take the time to fix his swing.

On the other hand, this is the General Manager who demoted a star prospect third baseman who was hitting .194./.343/.323. That hitter - Alex Gordon - went on to become of the best hitters in the league. If Moose or Hosmer need to work out some mechanics in AAA, so be it. Its certainly not unprecedented for a player to figure things out in the minors after being demoted and becoming a very good regular (plus hey, game the service time!)

But Alex Gordon was an Allard guy. Moose and Hos are Dayton guys. Would demoting them be a slight admission that they weren't great draft picks? Would Dayton allow his ego get in the way of what is best for the franchise?

At least he's not panicking.