$20 Sunflower Seeds, and Mark Teahen

I've been meaning to write about this for months now, but since it's Spring Training and I've been looking for something different to post, I figured I'd share a funny story about my favorite personal baseball memory of 2008.

It was September 9, and my youngest brother Evan had scored some incredible front-row seats -- basically right on top of Kansas City's dugout -- for the Royals-Twins game at the Metrodome. The tickets were my birthday present from Evan and his wife, and you really can't give a die-hard Royals fan like myself a better gift than that.

The seats were amazing! I mean, we could lean forward, and look down at the Royals' players milling about in the dugout. Attending the game were myself, Evan, and two of our friends -- Mike and Scott -- and our first comments when we all got to our seats were something about being worried whether we could safely drink beer and sit in such close-range line-drive territory. Yes, we were in a potentially dangerous spot, and all of us had seen people nailed by shots off bats before.

Needless to say, though, the threat of being clocked by a foul ball didn't stop us from indulging in a beer or three...or four. Let's just say we were feeling pretty good, and I wasn't even too bothered by the fact that Kansas City was on its way to a 7-2 loss that night in an awful game for Brian Bannister.

Ryan Shealy was playing first base for the Royals, and between Scott and myself, we collected a total of five baseballs from Shealy as he walked back to the dugout in between innings! I kept the one I got, and Scott gave the rest away to the little kids who quickly learned of his generosity. But that isn't even my favorite part of the evening.

Late in the game, and still feeling good from the close-to-excessive beverages we drank, Evan decided it'd be funny to take something and "accidentally" drop it onto the steps of the dugout below. We weren't dumb -- though, that can be argued -- and so we started thinking about things that a person wouldn't usually drop on purpose.

The first suggestion was to take his credit cards and most of his cash out of his wallet, and drop that, but he didn't like that idea. So then it moved to a discussion about cash, and we wanted to see whether the Royals would give it back, or if we could perhaps get something else back in exchange. But the idea was still that we were going to try to make it seem like it had been an "accidental drop."

So, after coming to the conclusion that a $20 bill was the right amount, Evan did the deed, and casually dropped the money. It slowly fell to a spot on the steps, right by the Gatorade, the gum, and the sunflower seeds. We watched for what seemed like ages -- probably about 30 seconds -- before an unidentified member of the Royals finally snuck up, grabbed the bill, folded it in half the long way, and teased us by holding it out and running off to the end of the dugout.

Just like that, we thought our experiment had ended with a disappointing result. But Mark Teahen, who was playing third base that night, came over before he went out to the field, grabbed a bag of ranch-flavored sunflower seeds, and tossed them up to me. Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Sure, it was a small bag of what were now $20 sunflower seeds, but it was something, and Evan laughed at it. It was a fun story to tell friends and family.

A few weeks later, in the final regular season game of the year at the Metrodome, the Royals were back in town. Before the game, I went down to a spot above the Royals' dugout during batting practice and got some autographs on the ball I had gotten from Shealy earlier that month.

One of the players who signed for me was Mark Teahen, and I chatted with him for a minute, quickly recounting the story and asking him whether he knew who it was who ended up with my brother's $20. He laughed at the account, and claimed that he had no idea who got the money. My guess is that it was a batboy or something, but we'll never know for sure.

But, as Teahen moved back out to the field for more pregame drills, he tossed me another bag of ranch-flavored sunflower seeds and smiled. I think he knows the answer to my question.

Blue Review: Week Three

Overall Record: 9-10 (Tie 2nd in A.L. Central)
Record in Week Two: 2-5 (1-1 at SEA, 1-1 at LAA, 0-3 at OAK)
Home: 0-0
Away: 2-5
Current Streak: Lost 4
Upcoming Games: vs. CLE (3), vs. TOR (3)

60-60-42: It was an ugly week of baseball for the Royals. A 2-5 West Coast road trip, that ended with a three-game sweep at Oakland, to drop Kansas City under .500 for the first time this season. Yuck. But my brother, Matt -- the Cardinals fan -- made me feel better by sharing a theory about Major League Baseball that he heard from a friend. This idea has probably been widely discussed, but it made me feel a little better about the bad week for the Royals. He said that, basically, every MLB team wins 60 games, and loses 60 games during the course of a season, and it's those other 42 games that determine how successful a season is. So, if you think about it that way, Kansas City's 9-10 mark at this early stage of the season doesn't seem bad at all. Sure, it would have been nice to have won two of three games in Oakland and headed into this week at 11-8, but it wasn't meant to be. I just hope the games last week weren't part of the "other 42."

Invisible Offense: During the seven-game road trip through Seattle, Los Angeles and Oakland last week, Kansas City's offense combined for just 25 runs (3.57 RPG) and struck out 45 times, while drawing just 19 walks. The team's OBP was just .319, and once they reached base, the Royals were just 3-for-8 in stolen base attempts.

Pitching Falters: Kansas City got off to a great start this season due, in large part, because of solid numbers from its pitchers. Through the first 12 games of the season, Kansas City owned a team ERA of 2.58, had held opponents to a .234 batting average, and allowed just 92 hits and 32 runs (31 earned runs) in 108 innings pitched, while striking out 78 and walking 31. But in the seven games last week, the Royals had a team ERA of 6.83, with opponents hitting .315, and they allowed 76 hits and 45 runs (44 earned runs) in 58 innings, striking out 46 and walking 27.

Guillen Showing Signs of Life: Jose Guillen, who was signed as a free agent during the offseason to help bolster the Royals' offense, headed into last week with a meager averages of .122/.157/.163 and just two doubles through the first 12 games. But the trip through three cities he used to call home seems to have sparked some life into hit bat, as he batted .269/.296/.577 with five doubles and his first home run in a Kansas City uniform last week.

Teahen Struggling: Left fielder Mark Teahen got off to a great start to the season, batting .343/.452/.571 with four runs scored, three doubles, one triple, one home run, three runs batted in, seven walks, and six strikeouts through the first 10 games. But over the past nine games, Teahen has batted just .200/.282/.229 with two runs scored, one double, four walks, and eight strikeouts.

Royals' Offense Needs a Jump Start

I went to a Storyhill concert last night with my wife -- I bought the tickets in January, and it was my Valentine's gift to her -- so I wasn't able to watch the Royals' 2-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins, but it doesn't seem like I really missed much.

Kansas City was shut out by the Twins for the second straight game, dropping its record to 6-5, and extending a streak of 26 consecutive innings in which the Royals have failed to score a run. Ouch.

For the first time in several years, the Royals have a solid pitching staff -- both rotation and bullpen -- that seems capable of having a successful season. Through 11 games, Kansas City's 12 pitchers have combined for a 2.82 earned run average to lead the American League. The Royals also lead the league with five saves, two shutouts, 89 hits allowed, and just 31 runs against.

Those figures are certainly the biggest reason behind Kansas City's 6-2 start to the season, but the offense has faltered in the last three games, resulting in the team's first three-game losing streak of the year.

Kansas City's offense ranks dead-last in the A.L. for home runs (4), bases on balls (24), and on-base percentage (.304), while ranking next-to-last in runs scored (33) and slugging percentage (.347).

New manager Trey Hillman has been tinkering with the lineup, trying to find the right combination, but nothing has seemed to work. Right fielder Jose Guillen, who signed a three-year, $36 million contract during the offseason in hopes of bolstering the middle of the Royals' lineup, is the target of many fans' ire.

Guillen, who hit 23 home runs and drove in 99 runs last year for Seattle, is batting just .133 with five RBI, three runs scored, and two doubles. His OPS is a miserable .348, and his OPS+ is -5.

It's difficult to have numbers much worse than Guillen's, but shortstop Tony Pena owns them. After opening the season with a game-winning RBI bloop-single to beat the Tigers in 11 innings, Pena has failed to record a hit. Entering today's game, he is batting .037/.071/.037 with eight strikeouts in 27 at bats.

This is not meant to be a rant about how bad Jose Guillen is. I understand that he has a history of slow starts in April, and that his numbers will eventually rise. You can't keep a player of his caliber out of the lineup, but I just hope that hitting coach Mike Barnett can help Guillen figure things out before he digs himself too big of a hole. Even if Guillen bats .300 over his next 20 at bats, his average would still be just .184, so it will take some consistent hitting to bolster his average.

On a positive note, several Royals players are off to solid starts. Designated hitter Billy Butler (.372), first baseman Ross Gload (.333), left fielder Mark Teahen (.316), and third baseman Alex Gordon (.311) all have plus-.300 averages and have played in all 11 games, while second baseman Mark Grudzielanek is batting .343 over nine games.

Teahen's numbers are most impressive in that group, as he's compiled a line of .316/.435/.526 with three doubles, a triple, and a home run for a 160 OPS+. But Gordon, who leads the team with six RBI, is tied for 28th-best in the A.L in that category.

The Royals will attempt to break out of their offensive funk when they play host to the Twins in the final game of their three-game series today at 1:10 p.m. Hopefully, the offense finds its way to the ballpark.

Mark Teahen Photo Credit: Duane Burleson/AP

Bannister Baffles Tigers, KC Improves to 2-0

If Wednesday's game against Detroit was a test for Brian Bannister, he wrecked the bell curve for the rest of the class.

Bannister (1-0) passed his first test of the season by completely mastering the Tigers' powerful lineup to help the Kansas City Royals improve to 2-0 on the young season with a 4-0 shutout victory at Comerica Park. The second-year right-hander pitched seven innings, yielding just two singles to Edgar Renteria, while striking out four and walking none.

Kansas City also was struggling offensively against Tigers' starter Kenny Rogers, but a series of doubles by Mark Grudzielanek, Jose Guillen, and Billy Butler plated two runs in the sixth to stake the Royals to a 2-0 lead. Butler's double would have been a home run in most ballparks, as he drove the ball more than 410 feet to center field.

In the eighth, the Royals stretched the lead to 4-0. Joey Gathright led off the inning by doubling down the left field line, followed by a walk issued to Grudzielanek. Gathright then scored on an infield single by Butler, and Grudzielanek scampered home to score on an RBI single to center by Mark Teahen.

Gathright and Butler each went 2-for-4 with a double, with Butler driving in a pair of runs, and Grudzielanek scoring twice for the Royals, who are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2003.

Leo Nunez took over for Bannister and surrendered a one-out walk, before getting out of the frame by getting Ivan Rodriguez to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.

Joakim Soria struck out the side in the ninth to close out the victory for KC, which will attempt to sweep Detroit on Thursday when right-hander Zack Greinke makes his first start of the season by facing Tigers' righty Jeremy Bonderman. First pitch is slated for 12:05 p.m. Central.

Brian Bannister Photo Credit: Tony Dejak/AP

Royals Looking to Run in 2008

In the past four seasons, Kansas City basestealers have been poor at their craft, ranking toward the bottom of the American League in stolen bases.

Last year, the Royals combined for 78 steals to tie with the Chicago White Sox for 10th in the A.L. Third baseman Alex Gordon was Kansas City's top threat to swipe a base, finishing his rookie season with 14 stolen bases in 18 attempts.

As a team, Kansas City's total last year was actually an increase over the previous three seasons. During 2006, the Royals tied for eighth in the A.L. with 65 stolen bases, while the 2005 Royals established a franchise-record low total of only 53, and they had 67 thefts during 2004. So it's been four years since Kansas City has reached triple-digits for stolen bases, something that has been accomplished 32 times in the organization's 39-year history.

First-year Royals manager Trey Hillman isn't going to stand for another meager season running the bases, and if Kansas City's first six Cactus League games are an indication, the Royals will be doing everything they can to become more aggressive on the basepaths once again.

Through those six games, the Royals have stolen 12 bases, with outfielder Joey Gathright leading the way with an MLB-best six steals in six attempts.

Gathright, long considered one of the game's fastest players, has struggled to steal bases at the Major League level. In four seasons with Tampa Bay (2004-06) and Kansas City (2006-present), Gathright has stolen 57 bases in 80 attempts, despite the fact that he was 196-for-256 in six Minor League seasons.

Gathright recently stated that he'd like to steal 30 bases for the Royals in 2008, a goal which seems very attainable if he can continue swiping bases like he has during Spring Training.

Kansas City hasn't had a legitimate threat on the basepaths since Carlos Beltran was traded during the 2004 season. Beltran had just 14 steals for the Royals that season, but he stole a team-leading 41 bases in 2003, when Kansas City finished 3rd in the A.L. with 120 steals.

In addition to Gathright and Gordon, left fielder Mark Teahen (13), infielder Esteban German (11), and center fielder David DeJesus (10) all reached double-digit steal totals in 2007. Teahen is considered one of the Royals' top baserunners, and has the potential to reach 20+ steals.

Due to the Royals' lack of power -- KC ranked last in the A.L. in home runs and slugging percentage in 2007 -- the team is going to have to figure out other ways to manufacture runs in 2008. Hillman would like to see his team be more aggressive running the bases, as well as more adept at advancing runners via sacrifice hits.

With Gathright, Gordon, and Teahen leading the way, an exciting Kansas City team might steal its way into the hearts of Royals fans in 2008.

Joey Gathright Photo Credit: Charlie Riedel/AP