Is this the improvement we've been waiting for?

Boy, did we ever get handed a bill of goods.

I'm sure that most of you, like me, were led to believe all winter that the 2007 Kansas City Royals would be a vastly improved ballclub.

It's kind of like global warming. If they tell you something often enough, you are inclined to believe it. Then you get a wake up call, like a snowstorm on April 14. But by April 14, we already knew what they had told us about the Royals was just as bogus as the supposed heat that's going to bake us all and drown the Polar bears.

The Royals did, after all, have an energetic new general manager who had gone out and spent millions of David Glass's bucks for starting pitcher Gil Meche. Alex Gordon was a budding star who would soon step into the empty shoes at third base because last year's Player of the Year Mark Teahen was suddenly a right fielder.

Mike Sweeney was hoping this would be the year he could avoid injury. There finally appeared to be some depth behind the plate. Finally, in spring training, Dayton Moore (the new general manager) had seen enough of Angel Berroa swinging at everything thrown in his direction and forgetting how to field. Moore went out and acquired Tony Pena Jr. to play shortstop.

There was only one thing that bothered me, as Lt. Columbo might have said. And it didn't take long for it to rear its ugly head. The relief pitching is still as horrible as in the past. Once again, relievers are handed leads they are unable to protect. It has happened again, and again, and again, ad infinitum.

Last season I went apoplectic when the Royals traded the only relief pitcher who could retire batters, Mike MacDougal to the Chicago White Sox on July 24 for a pair of minor leaguers. Huh? Here was the only relief pitcher on the entire team who could retire people and get out of jams, and they dealt him off. Well, look where the White Sox are in the standings as compared to Kansas City. Enter Ambiorix Burgos, quite possibly the most ineffective closer in baseball history last year. The guy blew something like three dozen saves. He was awful, and nearly single-handedly made it possible for the Royals to lose 100 games again last year. How many more might they have won with MacDougal closing?

I guess from what I've heard, Burgos isn't nearly as bad this year as last. But then, he's no longer in Kansas City. The same might be said of the corpulent Runelvys Hernandez, who ate himself right out of the majors. When he was good, Hernandez was really good. Unfortunately, that wasn't often. The Royals decided to release Hernandez and he signed a Triple-A contract with Pawtucket, where he has been pitching lights out thus far.

I have to admit that the Royals are far more interesting than in recent years. But with the pitching they have, contention is still light years distant. Sure, Gil Meche might turn out to be a competent starter, as will others. But as long as manager Buddy Bell refuses to allow pitchers to complete games, he is going to turn potential victories into blown saves. While it's not happening as often as it did last year, it's still happening too much. After all, look at Kansas City's record. How much is too much? After 20 games, relievers on Kaycee's team were 0-6. In the meantime, they'd blown seven saves. It would be difficult, nearly impossible, to get much worse, except when MacDougal took the mound against his former team and blew them away. Oh, he did walk one man.

While a lot of this was going on, people were out there attempting to hide the situation by blaming the weak start the offense was off to. Well, you have to have a lead to blow a save.

One other thing that bothers me, is what has happened to the Kansas City Chiefs. They were 9-7 last year, and people are still foolish enough to be excited. I was surely hoping the Royals would be better this year, because I feel the Chiefs are on the way down.