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.

Just after Christmas 2006, for the first time in several years, I went bowling.  Given the fact that it had been several years, I didn't know what to expect, even with my first shot.  With everything set, I threw my first ball, which was a STRIKE!!!  In my surprise and shock, I said very loudly, "So this is what a strike feels like!!"

Prior to Trey Hillman taking over as manager, the Royals really haven't had the best of teams.  Winning streaks would happen, but wouldn't last very long.  With KC's 7-6 win at Florida last night, I really believe that the Royals, for the first time in several years, have an honest-to-goodness winning streak on their hands.  Last night's win was their fifth in a row.

Jose Guillen, a frequent target of mine, had three hits.  Miguel Olivo, filling in for new proud papa John Buck, hit a home run that proved to be the difference in the game.  Overall, the Royals played very aggressive baseball.  I like what I'm seeing and hearing.

As I've said before, Trey Hillman made a believer out of me.  The way I see it, as long as the Royals keep their focus, bigger and better things can and very definitely will happen.  Keep up the good work, KC!!!

In a previous blog entry, I had mentioned that I hadn't been a big fan of John Buck since he had been in Kansas City.  Among other things, I had mentioned that I didn't like his Mendoza line batting average.  Last night, something happened in his family to give me an attitude adjustment about him.

As the Royals were defeating the Florida Marlins 7-6(more on this in my next entry),  John and his wife Brooke became the parents of twin boys.  Buck wasn't in the lineup for Thursday's home finale with Detroit because he was making sure that everything was all right with his wife and new family.  He stayed behind in KC last night with his wife as their family grew, and was placed on temporary leave by the Royals.  Regardless of how anyone felt about him, you have to admire a man who has his priorities in order.  John Buck definitely does.  Congratulations to him, Brooke, and their new little boys.

The lesson I learned about John Buck was this - regardless of the batting average, as long as priorities are in order, you have to admire the total person.

After listening to reports from KMBC's Nick Griffith and KSHB's Jack Harry last week, it seems to me that Kansas City's sports reporters are wanting to say something nice about this year's Royals, but are afraid of saying too much.

I will grant you that the Royals are 17-21, and in 4th place in the AL Central.  I will also grant you that the Royals' offense has been very inconsistent.  However, as KCSP radio's Neal Jones pointed out this afternoon, the Royals have been more competitive this year than in recent years.  In spite of the two losses that I've personally witnessed so far, I think that Neal is right.

For years, the Royals have been a sports afterthought.  This year, they've improved.  To me, it's high time that more people in the KC sports media noticed.  It's all right, folks.  This is a team on the rise.

I've been a baseball fan for most of my life, and I've heard several million catch phrases.  While I accept most, there's one that I'm really getting fed up with, especially where the Kansas City Royals are concerned.

The phrase goes like this - Games are won with pitching and defense.  Although the Royals have shown improvement in both since last year, there is one element that is currently missing, which is offense.  In the last three games, one with Cleveland and two here against the L.A. Angels, the Royals have scored a grand total of 5 runs.  That, ladies and gentlemen, will not win a lot of ballgames.

Jose Guillen, a frequent target of this series of blogs, has been inconsistent, to say the least.  In addition, the Royals hitters, in general, have not been very patient at the plate.  Both of these facts, to me, are a big reason why the Royals are currently 14-18 leading into tonight's series finale against the Angels.  Like fans that I've listened to on sports radio, I truly believe that something needs to be done.  Another bat would be nice, but what I think would be nicer would be a power hitter who doesn't strike out as much.

It's true that pitching and defense win SOME baseball games, but not all.  The way I see it, the Kansas City Royals need a more balanced attack.  They're on the move, but, as Trey Hillman himself has said, they can be better.