Let me begin by saying that I admire Dayton Moore for wanting to improve the team during this off-season, and I applaud the recent acquisitions of 1B Mike Jacobs from Florida and OF Coco Crisp from Boston.  Those two acquisitions will very definitely be an improvement for us, without a doubt. 

I just finished reading a new piece from the Royals page at mlb.com, detailing Dayton Moore's shift to improve the bullpen.  With Leo Nunez and Ramon Ramirez now playing for Florida and Boston, respectively, that makes sense.  But when I read this possibility, I had to respond:

And, given Teahen's ability to play third base, his original position, that could even open third baseman Alex Gordon to the market.

In my view, Dayton, you would make the biggest mistake you've ever made if you did that, and in this entry, I'd like to list for you three reasons why I feel this way:

1.)  You'd lose a power source.  Alex's 16 home runs were second on the team behind Jose Guillen.  He's an up and coming power hitter.  In addition, according to mlb.com, his batting average was second on the Royals behind David DeJesus, and an improvement over 2007.

2.) You'd lose a very aggressive third baseman.  In the nine games I went to this year, I saw him save many runs with his all-out play at third base.  Trey Hillman let him play one position this season while his predecessor, Buddy Bell, had him play all over the field.  Although Alex did make 16 errors, to me, he gave his all every night he played.

3.) You'd lose a marketable celebrity here in Kansas City.  At FanFest, and at the games, I saw several shirts with Alex's number four on the back, including one that I frequently wear.  In addition, there were a handful of number sevens around.  Alex's shirts sell very well here in Kansas City.  To me, he's a talent that should stay around for a long time.

When I first watched him on television in 2007, I thought that Alex Gordon reminded me of a very young George Brett.  Brett stayed with the Royals for his whole career.  Why can't Alex? As a fan, I'd like to be able to continue to enjoy memories like this one from this past season for a long time to come.  I beg of you, Mr. Moore, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T EVEN THINK OF TRADING ALEX GORDON!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cGhtHA7XMk 

My top 3 games of 2008 had three things in common:

1.) The Royals won all three.

2.) Kyle Davies was the starting pitcher.

3.) Joakim Soria finished all three.

With these in mind, here we go:

Number three happened on May 31, and it snapped a 12-game losing streak for the boys in blue.  In addition, it ended a personal losing streak of mine.  I hadn't seen a Royals win in person in at least 10 years.  Kyle Davies made his first Royals start of the season, and David DeJesus hit a home run off C.C. Sabathia, now of Milwaukee.  The final score - Kansas City 4, Cleveland 2.

By an EYELASH, this game finished number 2 on my list, but this game was extra special to me.  It happened September 20, with the White Sox providing the opposition.  Kyle pitched the best game that I'd ever seen him pitch.  There were three KC Royal home runs.  David DeJesus hit an inside the park home run and Kila Ka´aihue hit his first big league shot, but what made the game special for me was the man that hit the first of the night.

Prior to this game, of the 14 home runs Alex Gordon had hit, I had only watched two live.  One was hit in Kansas City against St. Louis, and the other was hit in Baltimore.  #15 was special to me because Alex is my favorite Royal, and that home run was beautiful to watch.  To finish the game, Joakim Soria struck out Jim Thome.  The final score was 5-2 in favor of Kansas City.

As special as THAT game was, this game, June 22 against San Francisco, finished number 1.  This was Negro Leagues Day, with the Royals and Giants dressed up in Negro League uniforms.  Ironically enough, this was the only game where Kyle Davies didn't pitch very well, lasting into only the second inning.  After 4 1/2 innings, the score was 10-3 in favor of the Giants, and you would have thought that this game would be over.  Normally, it would be, but this wasn't a normal day.

The Royals scored 8 runs in innings 5, 6, and 7, with five of those runs in the sixth, leading them to an unbelievable 11-10 win.  Ron Mahay and Joakim Soria pitched the final three innings to finish the game.  Neither my brother, nor I, had ever seen a game like this.  It was absolutely unbelievable, and a well-deserved #1 game for 2008.

As the late Bob Hope always said, "Thanks for the memories."  KC Royals, see you in 2009.

I've been very hard on both Jose Guillen and the Royals recently, thinking that they both needed to come together and provide balance.  Today, they did both........and how!!

Guillen hit a ninth inning home run off Yankee closer Mariano Rivera, his fourth in the last three games, and Joakim Soria slammed the door in the last of the ninth, leading the Royals to a 3-2 victory and a split of the four game series.

Guillen has been swinging the bat very well as of late, making me very sorry that I questioned the amount of money the Royals spent for him.  Trey Hillman once said that he had a passion for the game, and it has proven to be true.  By the way, through seven games against the Yanks, the Royals are 4-3, with one more series to go in mid-August.

I like my crow barbecued, please.

My title is very true - especially through Chicago and New York.....

Let's face it.  The White Sox swept the Royals in South Chicago last week, and our local nine, with the exception of the 15-inning marathon, were pathetic.  That's all I can really say about that trip, so on to New York.

Friday night, the Royals accomplished something that they haven't done a lot of lately - win in New York.  Behind Kyle Davies, our losing streak breaker from one week ago, the Royals won 2-1.  On this night, they had pitching but no offense.

Yesterday afternoon, both teams had offense but no pitching.  Joakim Soria blew his first save opportunity of the season and the Royals lost 12-11.  Today, the Royals didn't show us enough of either pitching or offense, as they bowed 6-3, despite Jose Guillen's third home run in two games.

Luckily, the team with the worst record in baseball doesn't reside here.  The way I see it, that's the only positive.  This team needs balance, and soon.

As much as the Royals had been losing recently, and given my past luck hoping for a winner in a game that I attended, I had a title ready for this entry, which was to be "My third, their thirteenth."  Thank you, Royals, for changing all of that.

The Royals snapped their 12 game losing streak last night, defeating Cleveland and C.C. Sabathia 4-2.  That, along with a John Mayberry bobblehead, made for a fantastic and enjoyable evening.  The game was exciting from start to finish, and had its good, bad and ugly.  Here's the list:

THE GOOD - David DeJesus had a magical night, hitting a third inning home run and scoring what proved to be the go-ahead run in the fifth.  Kyle Davies wobbled in his first start of the season, but pitched better than the last time I saw him versus Minnesota last year.  Even JOHN BUCK had a good night.  Finally, Joakim Soria, although he gave up an eighth inning run in his first two-inning save opportunity, pitched well enough to save it.  I LOVED "WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE!!"

THE BAD - Alex Gordon couldn't catch up to Sabathia all night and Jose Guillen was hitless as well.

THE UGLY - Joey Gathright lost a ball in the lights in the eighth, and Guillen and Tony Pena, Jr. couldn't get there either, setting up a "Bermuda Triangle" with possible problems.  Thankfully, nothing materialized.

The game was exciting from the start, and it felt so good to finally see a win.  Hopefully, with road games against the White Sox and Yankees coming up this week, the boys in blue could give us even more wins to write about.

THIS WAS FUN!!

When I went to bed last night, the Royals had an 8-3 lead against Minnesota, leading me to hope that this losing streak would end.  When I woke up this morning to check my mlb.com scoreboard, I saw that Minnesota had come back to win 9-8 in 10 innings.  That was personal heartache.  I learned today that there was some expressed heat last night from - SURPRISE - Jose Guillen, a former target of mine.

Guillen is becoming my kind of player - the kind that isn't afraid to say how he feels.  Here are some bits and pieces of his thoughts, as published by mlb.com:

"This is all on us," Guillen said. "This is not about what kind of moves the manager made. He cares about us, and he wants to win more than anyone. He's preparing every single day to win and works hard every day. And we've been letting him down."  

"We've got 25 people," he said. We've got to play as a team, win as a team and lose as a team. We've got too many babies here. They don't know how to play the game and play the game right, the way it's supposed to be played.

"That's the problem here. Now I know why this organization has been losing for a while."

One thing more.... 610 sports reporters Neal Jones and Marty Wall shared this afternoon that he, Guillen, was just as much to blame for the current skid as anyone else.

Jose Guillen is 100% right.  The team is badly off-balance, and needs several wins SOON.  The way I see it, there is potential.  They just need to fulfill it. 

I had a comment published after my last take,  "Where has all the offense gone", so I'd like to devote this entry to my response.

I didn't look at the full picture during the Royals-Blue Jays series, because I had focused strictly on the Royals' pathetic offense.  My responder from yahoo.com pointed out that It is mainly because of Toronto's dominant pitching.  They do indeed have the lowest ERA in MLB.  In addition, he said that there was nothing wrong with KC's offense.  I couldn't disagree more.

Even with the 8 runs the Royals scored last night against Minnesota, the Royals have scored 192 runs against their opponents' 247.  Something needs to be done.  I hope it is - SOON!!

Thank you for your commentary, and I do invite more in the future.  See you down the road.

A week ago, in this very space, I shared about how the Royals offense came alive over the last few games.  They had won 6 out of 7, my targets had played very well, and overall, the team looked strong against Detroit and Florida.  This week, it seems that the roof caved in.

The Royals have lost 7 straight games, including yesterday's 3-1 loss at Toronto.  During the Toronto series, the offense has produced a grand total of 2 runs.  The one thing that I have noticed the most is the lack of balance between pitching, offense and defense.

To me, the Royals have taken two steps forward and three steps back, and it's very discouraging to watch right now.  The ship that Trey Hillman is commanding needs to right itself soon, or people are going to be desperate to watch another pathetic offense in 2 months.  As a baseball fan, I'm hopeful.

Monday night's game in Boston brought something to the Royals that hadn't happened to them personally since I was 6 years old - an opposition pitcher's no-hitter.

Boston's Jon Lester became only the second pitcher in history to no-hit the Royals, winning 7-0.  He struck out 9, walked 2, and had dynamite defense behind him.  What made this story more inspirational was that Lester was diagnosed with lymphoma no more than 4 years ago.  To me, that is remarkable.

By the way, the first to no-hit the Royals did so in Kansas City.  The legendary Nolan Ryan threw that gem.

Hopefully, the next one will be thrown by one of our pitchers.  Time will tell.

First, a disclaimer.  Any similarities between the title words, and the first few of our national anthem, are truly coincidental.

In past entries, I've been very hard on Jose Guillen, wondering if the money spent to bring the man to Kansas City was worth it.  This afternoon, during the Royals 9-3 victory over Florida, I was handed several very good reasons that the money WAS worth it.

He has a 10-game hitting streak.  From what I saw over the last few days, he's been getting good pitches to swing at.  In addition, he hit a very convincing home run in the late innings of this game to finally give me reasons to believe.  Can he continue this pace through Boston and Toronto? Time will tell.

By the way, the Royals have won six of their last seven games.  I'm very much encouraged.  Mr. Guillen, keep up the good work.