Well another baseball season is just around the corner

It only took until May last season before I no longer felt compelled to speak about the Royals, so let's see how long it takes this season.

If nothing else, the offseason has been busy for the Royals. Opinions are mixed about the Gil Meche signing, but I'm at least glad to see Glass and company giving Dayton Moore the chance to change this team to his liking. This signing could be the signature contract for Dayton, so I hope it turns out for the best.

I believe this upcoming season is the final year of Mike Sweeney's contract. Will this be the year that he finally stays healthy and shows everyone why he got that contract in the first place? And if he does, will he be gone by the trading deadline? My gut reaction is that Mike will be traded, if he's healthy.

Octavio Dotel. He's been an excellent setup man in the past, but correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think he's ever been an outstanding closer. Guess I should put in some research time on that, before I comment more...

Does Dougie Baseball understand now?

Welcome to Royals baseball purgatory, Dougie Baseball! Now do you understand why the fans were booing from the start this season?

This isn't a fluke thing happening here, Dougie, it's been this way for a long, long time now.

Still feel like telling the fans that they don't have the right to boo? If so, you should damn sure shut your mouth right now as well.

You've been in this quagmire for what? Two or three full months counting spring training? Now you know how the fans of the Royals, what few of them are left, feel about the players, coaches, front office and ownership.

But you know what, Dougie? You're getting compensated for being on this team and you won't have to be here long. It's not like you won't just go on to another team once your contract is up.

Royals fans, real Royals fans, don't have that luxury. We live and die a little bit with win and loss. Lately we've been dying more than living.

And it sucks, to be sure, Dougie.

At least you're not paying to watch this team of castoffs.

Barry Bonds Ties Ruth

714.

One of the most revered numbers in baseball history has another name connected with it today and that name is Barry Bonds.

I'm not going to get into the "did he or didn't he" debate that has been swirling around him for the past months, but rather I'm going to look at it like this.

He's only the third man in the history of major league baseball to have that homerun number beside his name and that's really impressive.

Will we ever really know if Barry took steroids knowingly? I guess only time will tell, but I can tell you this much. On May 20th, 2006 the baseball world saw a little piece of history.

And the names Bonds, Ruth and Aaron will be inextricably linked forever.

Now, can Barry keep going and get to 756?

THAT is the question now!

It's been a couple weeks

Well, David Glass? Where are the sweeping changes that you talked about the past few weeks?

I guess it doesn't really matter at this point though, does it Mr. Glass? It's obvious that you don't really care how this team performs on the field or in the standings, only in the bottom line and as long as you have the luxury tax revenue to line your pockets, you're more than content to let the losing go on in Kansas City.

I remember being excited when the Royals got a new owner a few years back. I remember thinking that finally we'll have a direction to go now, rather than the directionless decisions that were made by the committee that ran the Royals between the time the Kauffman's died and when you were sold the Royals.

Unfortunately, I forgot that you were one of those committee members, Mr. Glass, and the direction this team took is one straight down into the ground.

And now, the Royals are nothing more than a punchline on Leno or Letterman and let's not even discuss ESPN's snide comments when even discussed at all.

And it's all thanks to you, David Glass.

Well, to be fair, it's also the blame of your son Dan Glass as well. Afterall, the jewelry tycoon must be able to run a professional baseball franchise, right David?

Thanks for nothing, David Glass. Why don't you go back to Bentonville...oh wait, that's right, you're probably still there aren't you.

Meanwhile, the Royals are the laughingstock of professional sports.

Don't go back to Bentonville, David Glass.

Go to hell!

April's finally over

And just in time for the Royals too. Yeesh, what a horrible start to the season. It's likely that the Royals will lose 100 games for the fourth time in the past five seasons.

Sigh.

Let's take a look at the gory offensive numbers so far on the season

Runs - 14th (last) in AL with 83 - next closest Minnesota 97
OBP - 13th in AL with .303 - next closest Minnesota .311
SLG - 13th in AL with .378 - next closest Seattle .389
AVG - 13th in AL with .244 - next closest Tampa Bay .247
Total Bases - 14th (last) in AL with 273 - next closest Minnesota 296

Add that together with the horrific pitching that's been done and you have the recipe for a 5-17 month of April.

Let's hope May isn't more of the same!

Something positive for a change!

Well, I think we saw a little of what Allard envisioned from Jeremy Affeldt today. His tempo was good, he kept the ball down for the most part and he worked ahead in the count. That's two consecutive nice starts for the southpaw, and while I gripe about him when he does bad, that just means that I should give credit when he does well. Nice job today, Jeremy. Please keep it up!

Johnny Buck (who is my favorite current Royal) is looking more and more like a frontline catcher in the majors. I'm sure his power will come, but he's more of a line drive hitter, so he might not hit much more than 15-18 homers per year. Add that to a .250-.260 average and hopefully 60-70 rbi's? I'd take that in a heartbeat. We haven't seen those numbers (which I believe would have him in the top ten of catchers the past couple seasons) since the days of Mike Macfarlane or Darrell Porter.

Angel Berroa continues to make the spectacular plays look routine. Another sparking double play today after last night's effort shows all the Royals fans why Allard and the Royals signed him to that extension a couple years ago.

Two out of three is a good start to the homestand. And after that winless roadtrip, it's a fantastic start. Hopefully, the boys got their really bad play (and luck when you consider all the injuries) out of the way early.

Okay, enough positive stuff for the day...it's just not natural for me!

GO ROYALS!!

Obnoxious fans

I was at the game last night and while it was nice to see the Royals win for a change, I've got something I need to get off my chest.

I understand that people like to have a good time at the ballpark, but for crying out loud, do you have to shout out profanities to do it?

Maybe it was the fact that it was buck night that brought out some rude people (beer induced maybe?), but I cringed every time I heard the bs, mf or f words being bandied about.

I didn't even see an usher around to talk to about this and that's what's really annoying. So, I let them know that I didn't appreciate their vulgarity and tried to tune them out the rest of the night.

This is why I don't care to come to the park on buck nights. And I wouldn't have this time except my partial season tickets fell on it this day.

At least the Royals won!