Tigers#1
07-30-2003, 09:15 PM
Young Royals' winning attitude translates to winning game
Four months before this wild season began, Royals manager Tony Pena was riding in a van through Puerto Rico with general manager Allard Baird. They were off to see Chris George, one of the many young pitchers the Royals would count on after an offseason of salary dumping. The Royals won only 62 games in 2002. In the salary purge, they still managed to dump 27 of those wins and 26 more saves.
"So," Baird said softly, "I heard Chicago got Bartolo Colon."
"Colon?" Pena asked. More wonderful news. Colon was the prize of the offseason. He won 20 games with the Indians and Expos in 2002. He and Mark Buehrle figured to give the White Sox a devastating 1-2 pitching punch. The Royals already were being declared dead, long before opening day. Now this. And to top it off, the Royals were to open the season with Chicago.
There were a few seconds of silence in the van.
Suddenly, Pena smiled and hit Baird in the arm.
"OK, baby!" he shouted. "Bartolo Colon on opening day. Let's go!"
"We're a fastball-hitting team!" Baird shouted back.
"Let's get this thing started," Pena said. "Shock the world."
As it turns out, the Royals did not face Colon on opening day. But they beat Buehrle, and the next day, with Colon starting, the Royals won again. And they have pretty much shocked the world ever since. At the moment, Kansas City is in first place in the American League Central. And as remarkable as the story sounds, it actually is much, much more remarkable when you look closer. The Royals have won with the second-lowest payroll in the major leagues, with rookies scattered everywhere, with devastating injuries seemingly happening every other day.
On June 18, for instance, the Royals' one true superstar, four-time All-Star Mike Sweeney, felt a shooting pain in his back while he was swinging a bat. He hasn't played since. The day after the injury, the Royals lost to the Twins, 16-2, and dropped two games behind Minnesota. They were pronounced dead yet again, and they finished the month by losing four in a row.
The shocker came in July: The Royals won 12 of their first 16 and built a remarkable 7-game lead.
"How are you doing it without Sweeney?" Pena was asked by reporters.
"Come on, guys," Pena replied with a huge smile. "Before this, you wondered how we were doing it with Sweeney."
How are they doing it? "Sure, it begins with Pena. You can't give him enough credit," Baird says. "The way he has created belief with this team is absolutely astounding." The Royals began the season with two rookies in the starting lineup, a rookie closer and a rotation that did not have a single 5-game winner on it. Pena picked his opening day starter literally by flipping a coin.
Runelvys Hernandez, who won four games in 2002, got heads. Jeremy Affeldt, who won three, got tails.
Pena flipped and the coin landed heads.
And Hernandez pitched six innings of two-hit ball to win on opening day.
That has been the story all year. Pena believes. And his players deliver.
"It's just so contagious," Sweeney says. The Royals won the Cactus League in spring training. Then they won their first nine games, the first time that had happened in the majors in 16 years. They won their first 11 home games, the first time that had happened in more than 90 seasons.
"We'll go in a slump," Pena said then. "I know that. I'm not worried about it. We're a good team. This is for real." A couple of days after he said that, the Royals blew a seven-run lead in Toronto. After the game, the clubhouse felt like a wake. Pena walked in and saw his players for the first time wondering if maybe they just didn't belong.
Pena walked to the middle of the room. He then pumped up the stereo as loud as it would go.
"It's just one game, boys!" he shouted as he danced. "Nobody died. We're in first place. Dance a little."
"You would follow someone like that anywhere," Sweeney says.
The closer got hit with a flying bat. The shortstop hit .215 in the minors last year. The designated hitter has this bizarre motion where he actually wraps one hand over another in mid-swing. The most gifted pitcher keeps getting blisters. And the center fielder has been on the trade market since the season began.
Yeah, that pretty much wraps up the team. That closer, Mike MacDougal, was standing in the dugout in late 2001 when Carlos Beltran lost his bat on a swing and it clubbed MacDougal in the head. His skull was fractured, and he lost feeling in his right arm for three months. Even before the injury, MacDougal was considered an enigma. He could throw 100 mph and mix in the nastiest slider in the Royals' system. But he had been surprisingly hittable. After he regained feeling in his arm, he could not throw strikes.
The Royals decided to make him a closer. Improbably, everything clicked. He had his first bit of success in the minor leagues. Then he went to Puerto Rico for winter ball, and one scout clocked his fastball at 103. The Royals did not re-sign veteran Roberto Hernandez, so the closer's job was MacDougal's. He has had his share of rookie troubles, but he also made the All-Star team and had 24 saves by the break.
"Mac is this team," Pena says. "He's young. He's learning. But he will give you everything."
Angel Berroa, the rookie shortstop, may be an even more amazing story. The Royals insisted on getting him from the Athletics in the much-maligned Johnny Damon trade in January 2001. Shortly after the trade, Berroa was found to be more than two years older than advertised. Then he got hurt. Then he hit .215 in Class AAA Omaha and made a bunch of errors.
When Berroa showed up for a major league camp in the Dominican Republic, Pena worked him so hard that Berroa became ill on the field. He made 19 errors in his first 63 games this season, most in the A.L.
Since June 17, though, he hasn't made an error. He also has been stunning with the bat. He is hitting .286 and is on pace for 19 home runs and 35 doubles. "I know everybody talks about what a genius (Oakland G.M.) Billy Beane is," one scout says. "But Allard Baird absolutely robbed Beane. This guy is one of the best young players in baseball. And the Royals got him as a throw-in for Johnny Damon? You have to be kidding me."
Ken Harvey, the rookie DH with the odd swing, has been extraordinary in the clutch for the Royals. With runners on, he is hitting .305, and he has delivered five or six of the biggest hits of the season.
Jeremy Affeldt is the pitcher with the blister problems. He has a mid-90s fastball and a curve that sometimes resembles Barry Zito's, but every time he seems to get something going, a blister pops on his left middle finger, and it hurts too much to pitch. He has changed his grip, and he hopes that will make the difference.
Then there is the Beltran situation. The most talented player on the team is on pace for 92 RBIs and 92 runs scored despite missing the first three weeks with an injury. He also has 30 steals in 31 attempts.
Problem is, he's due big money in arbitration before next season, and he can become a free agent after it. It was made clear to Baird by Beltran's agent, Scott Boras, during their offseason that the Royals cannot afford him. "We know where we stand," Baird says.
So, everybody around baseball knows Beltran is available for the right price. But what is the right price? At the beginning of the season, it was two top prospects and what Baird called "one more piece to the puzzle." Nobody offered enough. And now, with the Royals leading the race, the price has gone up, at least until the offseason.
"We need instant production to replace Carlos, plus someone who can be a star for us in the future," Baird says. "Do I think we'll match up? Maybe not. But we have to keep our options open. We can't lose sight of the long-term goals here." How have all the trade rumors affected the Royals? They're still in first place. "Nothing," outfielder Raul Ibanez says, "distracts this team."
There's one more story. And it's a doozy. The Royals were faltering in June, dropping below .500 for the first time. Hernandez and fellow starter Miguel Asencio were injured, and a desperate Baird asked his scouts to find a pitcher. Any pitcher.
So, longtime Royals scout Art Stewart called his many friends around baseball. And in Newark, of all places, he came upon a crazy name from the past: Jose Lima.
The Royals signed Lima without ever scouting him. Sure, the guy was outlandish -- clownish even -- but he had won 21 with the Astros in 1999 before long home runs and a fading fastball knocked him out of the game. Why not? They sent Lima to Omaha, but before he could pitch there, another Royals starter, Kyle Snyder, got hurt. Up came Lima.
Lima started on a Sunday against the Giants, and the Royals won with a dramatic two-run single in the ninth. Thus began Lima Time. The Royals won his next start, and his next, and his next. In fact, they have won every time he has pitched. Lima has picked up a slider and a two-seam fastball and, after a month and a half, is 6-0 with a 2.42 ERA.
"I've been at the bottom," Lima says. "And now I've found my place. I love this team. It's destiny. This team is destiny."
Lima pulled a groin muscle in a victory against Seattle on July 17 and had to come out after 5 1/3 innings. He desperately wanted to make his next start, but Pena talked him out of it.
"I don't need to be a hero," Lima says. "This team doesn't need me to get hurt anymore. This team needs me in August and September."
"And October?" he was asked.
"You bet," he said with a big smile on his face. "October, too."
Four months before this wild season began, Royals manager Tony Pena was riding in a van through Puerto Rico with general manager Allard Baird. They were off to see Chris George, one of the many young pitchers the Royals would count on after an offseason of salary dumping. The Royals won only 62 games in 2002. In the salary purge, they still managed to dump 27 of those wins and 26 more saves.
"So," Baird said softly, "I heard Chicago got Bartolo Colon."
"Colon?" Pena asked. More wonderful news. Colon was the prize of the offseason. He won 20 games with the Indians and Expos in 2002. He and Mark Buehrle figured to give the White Sox a devastating 1-2 pitching punch. The Royals already were being declared dead, long before opening day. Now this. And to top it off, the Royals were to open the season with Chicago.
There were a few seconds of silence in the van.
Suddenly, Pena smiled and hit Baird in the arm.
"OK, baby!" he shouted. "Bartolo Colon on opening day. Let's go!"
"We're a fastball-hitting team!" Baird shouted back.
"Let's get this thing started," Pena said. "Shock the world."
As it turns out, the Royals did not face Colon on opening day. But they beat Buehrle, and the next day, with Colon starting, the Royals won again. And they have pretty much shocked the world ever since. At the moment, Kansas City is in first place in the American League Central. And as remarkable as the story sounds, it actually is much, much more remarkable when you look closer. The Royals have won with the second-lowest payroll in the major leagues, with rookies scattered everywhere, with devastating injuries seemingly happening every other day.
On June 18, for instance, the Royals' one true superstar, four-time All-Star Mike Sweeney, felt a shooting pain in his back while he was swinging a bat. He hasn't played since. The day after the injury, the Royals lost to the Twins, 16-2, and dropped two games behind Minnesota. They were pronounced dead yet again, and they finished the month by losing four in a row.
The shocker came in July: The Royals won 12 of their first 16 and built a remarkable 7-game lead.
"How are you doing it without Sweeney?" Pena was asked by reporters.
"Come on, guys," Pena replied with a huge smile. "Before this, you wondered how we were doing it with Sweeney."
How are they doing it? "Sure, it begins with Pena. You can't give him enough credit," Baird says. "The way he has created belief with this team is absolutely astounding." The Royals began the season with two rookies in the starting lineup, a rookie closer and a rotation that did not have a single 5-game winner on it. Pena picked his opening day starter literally by flipping a coin.
Runelvys Hernandez, who won four games in 2002, got heads. Jeremy Affeldt, who won three, got tails.
Pena flipped and the coin landed heads.
And Hernandez pitched six innings of two-hit ball to win on opening day.
That has been the story all year. Pena believes. And his players deliver.
"It's just so contagious," Sweeney says. The Royals won the Cactus League in spring training. Then they won their first nine games, the first time that had happened in the majors in 16 years. They won their first 11 home games, the first time that had happened in more than 90 seasons.
"We'll go in a slump," Pena said then. "I know that. I'm not worried about it. We're a good team. This is for real." A couple of days after he said that, the Royals blew a seven-run lead in Toronto. After the game, the clubhouse felt like a wake. Pena walked in and saw his players for the first time wondering if maybe they just didn't belong.
Pena walked to the middle of the room. He then pumped up the stereo as loud as it would go.
"It's just one game, boys!" he shouted as he danced. "Nobody died. We're in first place. Dance a little."
"You would follow someone like that anywhere," Sweeney says.
The closer got hit with a flying bat. The shortstop hit .215 in the minors last year. The designated hitter has this bizarre motion where he actually wraps one hand over another in mid-swing. The most gifted pitcher keeps getting blisters. And the center fielder has been on the trade market since the season began.
Yeah, that pretty much wraps up the team. That closer, Mike MacDougal, was standing in the dugout in late 2001 when Carlos Beltran lost his bat on a swing and it clubbed MacDougal in the head. His skull was fractured, and he lost feeling in his right arm for three months. Even before the injury, MacDougal was considered an enigma. He could throw 100 mph and mix in the nastiest slider in the Royals' system. But he had been surprisingly hittable. After he regained feeling in his arm, he could not throw strikes.
The Royals decided to make him a closer. Improbably, everything clicked. He had his first bit of success in the minor leagues. Then he went to Puerto Rico for winter ball, and one scout clocked his fastball at 103. The Royals did not re-sign veteran Roberto Hernandez, so the closer's job was MacDougal's. He has had his share of rookie troubles, but he also made the All-Star team and had 24 saves by the break.
"Mac is this team," Pena says. "He's young. He's learning. But he will give you everything."
Angel Berroa, the rookie shortstop, may be an even more amazing story. The Royals insisted on getting him from the Athletics in the much-maligned Johnny Damon trade in January 2001. Shortly after the trade, Berroa was found to be more than two years older than advertised. Then he got hurt. Then he hit .215 in Class AAA Omaha and made a bunch of errors.
When Berroa showed up for a major league camp in the Dominican Republic, Pena worked him so hard that Berroa became ill on the field. He made 19 errors in his first 63 games this season, most in the A.L.
Since June 17, though, he hasn't made an error. He also has been stunning with the bat. He is hitting .286 and is on pace for 19 home runs and 35 doubles. "I know everybody talks about what a genius (Oakland G.M.) Billy Beane is," one scout says. "But Allard Baird absolutely robbed Beane. This guy is one of the best young players in baseball. And the Royals got him as a throw-in for Johnny Damon? You have to be kidding me."
Ken Harvey, the rookie DH with the odd swing, has been extraordinary in the clutch for the Royals. With runners on, he is hitting .305, and he has delivered five or six of the biggest hits of the season.
Jeremy Affeldt is the pitcher with the blister problems. He has a mid-90s fastball and a curve that sometimes resembles Barry Zito's, but every time he seems to get something going, a blister pops on his left middle finger, and it hurts too much to pitch. He has changed his grip, and he hopes that will make the difference.
Then there is the Beltran situation. The most talented player on the team is on pace for 92 RBIs and 92 runs scored despite missing the first three weeks with an injury. He also has 30 steals in 31 attempts.
Problem is, he's due big money in arbitration before next season, and he can become a free agent after it. It was made clear to Baird by Beltran's agent, Scott Boras, during their offseason that the Royals cannot afford him. "We know where we stand," Baird says.
So, everybody around baseball knows Beltran is available for the right price. But what is the right price? At the beginning of the season, it was two top prospects and what Baird called "one more piece to the puzzle." Nobody offered enough. And now, with the Royals leading the race, the price has gone up, at least until the offseason.
"We need instant production to replace Carlos, plus someone who can be a star for us in the future," Baird says. "Do I think we'll match up? Maybe not. But we have to keep our options open. We can't lose sight of the long-term goals here." How have all the trade rumors affected the Royals? They're still in first place. "Nothing," outfielder Raul Ibanez says, "distracts this team."
There's one more story. And it's a doozy. The Royals were faltering in June, dropping below .500 for the first time. Hernandez and fellow starter Miguel Asencio were injured, and a desperate Baird asked his scouts to find a pitcher. Any pitcher.
So, longtime Royals scout Art Stewart called his many friends around baseball. And in Newark, of all places, he came upon a crazy name from the past: Jose Lima.
The Royals signed Lima without ever scouting him. Sure, the guy was outlandish -- clownish even -- but he had won 21 with the Astros in 1999 before long home runs and a fading fastball knocked him out of the game. Why not? They sent Lima to Omaha, but before he could pitch there, another Royals starter, Kyle Snyder, got hurt. Up came Lima.
Lima started on a Sunday against the Giants, and the Royals won with a dramatic two-run single in the ninth. Thus began Lima Time. The Royals won his next start, and his next, and his next. In fact, they have won every time he has pitched. Lima has picked up a slider and a two-seam fastball and, after a month and a half, is 6-0 with a 2.42 ERA.
"I've been at the bottom," Lima says. "And now I've found my place. I love this team. It's destiny. This team is destiny."
Lima pulled a groin muscle in a victory against Seattle on July 17 and had to come out after 5 1/3 innings. He desperately wanted to make his next start, but Pena talked him out of it.
"I don't need to be a hero," Lima says. "This team doesn't need me to get hurt anymore. This team needs me in August and September."
"And October?" he was asked.
"You bet," he said with a big smile on his face. "October, too."