Getting to First Base

So those hapless Royals lost yet another game today. So what? What’d anyone expect?

I can see why a non-Royals fan would be baffled by the despair of Royals fans (like me) after today’s 5-4 loss to the Twins. It’s not like the Royals were playing for a spot in the postseason, like Minnesota was. It’s not like they haven’t lost before. Heck, shouldn’t fans be happy it was at least a close game?

But here’s the thing. The Royals haven’t made the postseason since 1985. They’ve been dead last or close to it for many seasons in my life, and have therefore had high draft picks almost every year. It’s pretty much a given. Howevah, they spent many years wasting those high draft picks on cheap guys they could sign, rather than talented players who might have a higher price tag.

The cycle of “getting what we’ve paid for” is a tiresome one for fans. Moral victories tend to be the only victories Royals fans get.

A visual representation of Royals fandom.

The team finally, unquestionably, got a draft pick right with Zack Greinke. He’s our home-grown golden boy, the best pitcher in the league, maybe in all of baseball…and the one thing we have left to look forward to after yet another exhaustingly awful season of Kansas City “baseball.”

The five or so days between Greinke starts are eternal. Greinke himself usually makes the wait worth our while, even if the team of failed front office decisions around him ruins his chance at a victory. Finally, I can point to a Royals player with pride and tell other baseball fans, “Watch this guy. He’s good, and he’s ours.”

In my 21 years of life, it’s pathetic that he’s been the best thing to happen to me as a Royals fan. It’s illogical that I’m still a fan of an organization that has given so little in return. But dang it - I finally have something that doesn’t suck.

So today should have been a shining day for Royals fans. Zack was pitching in front of a national audience, hoping to wow the Cy Young voters one last time before they send in their votes Tuesday. He had the chance to lower his season ERA to 1.99, the first time in a decade a starting pitcher could boast that. He was a very-attainable 8 strikeouts away from breaking the Royals record for Ks in a season. And the AL Central was pretty much in his  hands. If he beat the Twins, the Tigers could have wrapped up the decision tonight.

And through five innings, all those things were in Greinke’s sights. He had five strikeouts. He had only thrown 60-some pitches. He wasn’t his very best, but he was still better than the Twins’ lineup.

Meanwhile, naturally, the Royals offense did nothing. They were the pathetic excuses for a baseball team that usually takes the field when Greinke starts - he has the worst run support imaginable - so Zack’s margin for error was nil, and fans’ nerves were fraying fast.

The 6th inning was the worst thing that could have possibly happened. It was Murphy’s Law, and it was playing out in front of a national audience. Royals fans could not hide in the relative obscurity they normally enjoy when things go wrong. Instead of more strikeouts, Zack gave up a walk to start the inning off, and everything got worse from there.

His “defense” - and I use that term generously - let him down, and before I could convince myself this was only a nightmare, Greinke had given up four runs in one inning, for the first and only time all season.

The one thing that has been right all year went so mortifyingly wrong, and there is not another Greinke Day left to take away the sting. We’ve spent all season counting on Greinke Days making all the other crap seem less bad, and our one security blanket is done for the year. It stings more than ever.