That's a 1-7 homestand the Royals just finished, part of a one-win-in-12-games stretch, and there is virtually no change.
Nobody's demoted to Omaha, nobody's traded, nobody's benched*, and nobody's screaming, at least not that we can see. This is a team that needs change, needs a shake up, needs something more than Yuniesky Betancourt and Ryan Freel.
* Well, unless you count Mike Jacobs. He is by all accounts a "good clubhouse guy," and when Jose Guillen went to the disabled list with his knee injury, Jacobs figured to be one of the guys to get more at bats. Instead, he's started two of the six games since, and one of those was the second game of a doubleheader.
Jacobs expressed his frustration in this story, saying, among other things, that maybe the organization has lost faith in him.
Alberto Callaspo makes a stupid play trying to stretch a single into a double with the Royals down two with two outs in the ninth on Friday. He was called safe, which was probably a bad call, but definitely doesn't excuse the decision. Callaspo was in the lineup the next day.
Alex Gordon drops a popup because he's always trying to catch them with one hand, off to the side. He stays in the game, and hasn't had his playing time impacted.
There are examples like this that stretch throughout the season. The Royals are mostly terrible at fundamentals, which is frustrating enough for fans who know their team doesn't have much margin for error to begin with, but it becomes even more frustrating when there are -- seemingly -- no consequences for the mistakes.
The Royals aren't going anywhere but down this season. That's pretty obvious. So why not use the opportunity to establish a standard?
I'm not talking about Bobby Cox pulling Andruw Jones in the middle of an inning, or Billy Martin with Reggie Jackson. But why not sit Callaspo for a day, or pull Gordon at the end of the inning?
There should be an understanding among the players that if they don't perform to a certain standard, they'll sit. Playing time is the one hammer a manager has, and sometimes it's hard to figure how Trey Hillman uses his.
This is different than saying the Royals don't care. Of course they care. But they're searching right now, in need of some direction, and with the season going so horribly wrong, there just isn't any risk in using the rest of the season to make some points about how guys will be expected to play.
Toward this end, why not do some roster shaking? The options aren't terrific, but there are moves that could be made.
Kyle Davies has a 2.06 ERA in seven starts. If the Royals' front office is really convinced they can compete next year with the right tweaks, are they better served with Bruce Chen pitching tonight or Davies?
Doug Waechter has pitched four consecutive times without giving up a run. Carlos Rosa gave up three runs in his last outing, but still has a 1.89 ERA in his last 10 games. Internet favorite Chris Hayes has a 3.08 ERA and just two walks in 26 1/3 innings. Hell, Yasuhiko Yabuta has 39 strikeouts and a 3.48 ERA in 33 2/3 innings.
Couldn't any of them give up runs just as well as the current Royals' relievers?
The point is that in a miserable and lost season, the Royals' leadership -- Hillman and GM Dayton Moore -- can still make sure the right messages are being sent to their players.
Right now, it's hard to see where that's happening.
You're proposing to sit the team's ONLY .300 hitter when he's called safe (bad call or not, he was called safe)?
Callaspo has more positives than negatives during his 1st full season as a starter but the constant vibe we have been getting is he should be Frank White with the glove already.
With all the gaffes and poor play we've seen this season, penalizing a player for stretching a single to a double in a 7-1 game seems a bit excessive and far reaching.
I guess Gordon can't be called out by himself.