Can You Please Just Coach Your Team?

Well over the past few weeks many things have really irked me in the game of baseball. Of course the Royals are at the top of the list but they are an easy target. Most of my frustrations come with the game at the lowest levels.

For those of you who do not know I am an umpire for high school aged baseball, every now and then I make a mistake and decide to do some games for youth baseball. A week ago I was in Council Grove, KS for a tournament it was hot and the parents and coaches were just as hot. Between whining and complaining there are lots of issues with youth sports in America, but the worst is when 11 year old kids are playing a game and just seemed like it was torture. Parents/coaches yelling at 11 year olds expecting them to be professionals. As a coach I find it embarrassing. I was a head coach for 4 years at the high school level in different sports I found out real quick that yelling, screaming, and degrading players does not work. NO coach, not Bobby Knight or anyone who yells all the time can get their point across. The message is lost very quickly on the players at all levels especially the youth level.

Adults who were not successful when they were younger are now throwing a fit because an 11 year old swings and misses at a high pitch. Or throwing a fit because a runner sent home when they shouldn't have been he gets thrown out by two steps and he is called out. The coach must have the best view to see that there was a missed tag right...well that is what he though so the 35 year old runs his fat rear down to home plate (while the play is still going on) bumps me and starts screaming. If you know baseball you know what happens next, coach tossed within seconds, he screams profanities, wont leave makes a scene. By the way while this is happening one of his players take an extra base, a great baseball play. Why would he want to cheer on a good play when he can argue with an umpire and get everyone fired up about a call that wasn't close.

What I have found is that the older the level of sport the more behaved the coaches are. While umpiring the KSU clinic where there was a very high level of baseball there was one coach who questioned a call. ONE...did he come out screaming and yelling...no very calmly he went to talk to his pitcher waited for me to break up the conference and asked me why I was not calling an inside strike. I told him that the catcher was blocking a good view of the pitch...did he yell and scream? Not a chance he said thank you and shockingly "Coached" his player and guess what I was able to see the pitch better and called the strike.

So what is the moral to the story? As a coach I learned a few things:

1. NEVER yell at an official. I tried it and it always is counterproductive. Ask questions and let them know what you see in a positive way and you will get the call 90% of the time.
2. It is OK to yell at your team...just not all the time. This comes from coaching girls, you find out early that if you scream all the time they will check out but if you yell once and a while and its just a tool for you it work wonders! This does not mean that you must sit and be quiet all the time in fact just the opposite. I was/am crazy excited to be there and am always pumped for a game, usually up yelling and cheering on. I am loud but positive. Even when there is a screw up I can be positive when I am INSTRUCTING.
3. MOST IMPORTANTLY go coach the players to improve their skills not to stroke your ego. The best coaching job I ever did was a 2-22 season (or something like that) when I started 4 freshmen most games (in Volleyball where there are 6 starters) we improved each day and were a dramatically better team at the end of the year and almost knocked off the 1 seed in the Regional tourney.

Please coaches go out and have fun. Talk to your players and the officials and don't yell. This will make those 11 year olds want to play and not dread each and every game.

The Same Old Royals...

It has been a long, frustrating, time since I last decided to blog on the Royals, and it is time to vent.

Positives: Zack Grenke. 8-2 | 1.55 ERA | 91 K

What can you say about a guy who gives up 5 earned in his first "poor" start and is ERA is still 1.55, leading the league by a large margin. Zack is the lone reason to watch the Royals. If he is on a team that scores runs he may win 25 games, a Cy Young, and contends for a MVP. On the Royals he is good for an additional 7500 butts in the seats and hopefully approaches 20 wins. My prediction is that Zack wins 18 but should win 25 with an ERA around 2.2. Go to the K on nights he pitches check out something else the rest of the time. Unless it is T-Shirt Tuesday! (just heard the commercial)

Negatives: This could take a while...

• 18-11 Start, 6-21 Since
• Entire Offense
• Entire Defense
• Trey Hillman's Lineup
• The "New K"

Well it is easy to pick on the team for the complete collapse since a good start. Is the team as good as 18-11 or as bad as 6-21? I still think it is somewhere in between...this team should be around .500 but with NO offense, partly but not completely attributed to the interesting Trey Hillman lineup. Not all of this can be Trey's fault, he is working with a bad hand of cards. The pieces of this team are better than they have been but still not good enough. The check book needs to be opened and a real shortstop, catcher, and big bat corner outfielder needs to be brought in, one that can move see Jose Guillen. I could go on for days and that is easy but it would be all venting. Here is what I would do for a lineup and I would stick with it and allow each to settle in.

1. David DeJesus (LF)- He gets hot in June and hits best in the leadoff spot.
2. Coco Crisp (CF)- Good but not great on base guy but speed and bat control good in the 2 hole.
3. Billy Butler (1B)- Best pure hitter on the team.
4. Jose Guillen (RF)- Best RBI guy on the team with power. He has been a good boy let him hit.
5. Mark Teahen (3B)- Now but when Alex Gordon is back this is were the Royals need him to hit.
6. Mike Jacobs (DH)- This is by default, good power guy but thats it. I would love to bat him in the 7 hole or lower.
7. Alberto Callaspo (2B)- Has been ok at 2nd but needs to return to the lower third where he was successful. Hit over .330 early in the season now batting .296.
8. Miguel Olivo/John Buck (C)- Catcher hits here doesn't matter who is in the spot the options are not good enough to hit higher in the order.
9. Enter Bad Shortstop Here (SS)- There is not a good shortstop in the organization don't look for improvement here. Bloomquist is the best but needs to be a fill in not an everyday player.

Just my thoughts, now on to the "New K." First it has always been one of the best parks in the country, but not one of the best stadiums. The "New K" just doesn't look good to me, all the new then 35 year old concrete around it. Go to Home Depot and buy some paint or something. This will be a revenue boom for the team since it distracts you from the poor team on the field, but for how long. Once it is just the "K" again and the new wears off look for it to be just as empty. I am still mad that Kansas City didn't have the foresight to build a downtown stadium. The newer stadiums that I have been to in Denver, Cincinnati, and St. Louis are amazing and you can make a day of it by having fun in the area of the stadium. Yes they spent $250 million to and a new stadium would have cost double that but in 10 years when the "New K" is not up to par how much will it cost then to update it or build a new one (1 billion?) I like what they have done in the outfield but its not for me the baseball fan who comes to watch the game. I hope it works, I hope they make money and spend it on the field. That will make me happy because I don't care about the stadium as long as the lineup above looks much different.

Here is to more wins in June!

One Week In...

Well the Kansas City Royals are six games in and they stand at .500. Where do they stand? As Kansas City moves in to the renovated "K" can we say that the team has improved like the stadium? The short answer is yes, but the long answer maybe they are not quite where many thought they would be this season. Well the Kansas City Royals are six games in and they stand at .500. Where do they stand? As Kansas City moves in to the renovated "K" can we say that the team has improved like the stadium? The short answer is yes, but the long answer maybe they are not quite where many thought they would be this season.

Lets start with the positives. Pitching. No doubt the staff has drastically improved in the past 5 years, I cant remember when the top 3 in the rotation was this good. Meche, Grenke, and Davies are actual major leaguers and looking at the rotation in Omaha they are better than some rotations the big league club ran out there in the past few years. Soria is a stud...one of the best closers in baseball no doubt...now it is up to Hillman to not overwork his best player.

Now for the problems. Pitching. Yes it is a major issue, first the 4th and 5th starters are a joke. Seriously Sidney Ponson opening the new "K" simply terrible, however at least he is a 4th starter and not a number 1 like he would have been in the years past. Middle relief has not been great but not as good as one would like, Kyle Farnsworth must be a bridge to Soria if the Royals want to be successful. With that being said the boys in blue could get away with this if they pick up their offense. Somehow they (John Buck) were able to score more than 2 runs to beat the hated Yankees yesterday but here are a few embarrassing stats. Batting average .201, 14 runs scored, and an average of 7.7 runners left on base. In the first 6 games KC couldn't find a timely hit or lets be honest even a hit. Oh by the way the league average is 30 runs and .256 batting average.

Until the Royals quit killing themselves with a terrible roster (wasting 2 spots for players who will never see the field) they don't stand a chance. I think Dayton Moore has the team headed in the right direction but until the team finds some way to score runs it does not matter who is on the bump.

Mr. Obama Time to Put Up or Shut Up

As a moderate Republican who feels the party is leaving him behind I do not care who is leading this country as long as we are led into the future a proper direction. President Bush was not a great leader to say the least but there is no way we can be sure what President Obama brings us either. In the past few days he has been confronted with two very troubling items: North Korea launching a long range missile and pirate attacks on an American Ship.

These issues are very different, but both will show us what the new president will do when faced with international crisis. The U.S. and North Korean governments need to find a way to talk...this is one of the major flubs of Bush's Administration, failing to talk to "enemies" around the globe. Reagan talked to the Soviets and that is one of the ways the USSR started to come out of the darkness. Our current Administration seems to be going in the right direction on this point, however what about these pirates?

I feel like its 1750 and Johnny Depp is looking for gold...too bad its 2009. For the first time in 200+ years an American flagged ship was attacked by pirates...200 years. These rouge thugs in a lawless nation are "Ship jacking" multi-million dollar ships and we have done little to stop them. Yes our Navy along with other world powers is patrolling the areas but has it slowed them no...this is not because we don't know what we are doing but the resources we have will never be enough. Why are world powers including the United States sitting idol why street gangs take to the water in speed rafts and take these ships, hold sailors hostage, and ransom millions from companies around the world. There is no excuse for the U.S., Great Britain, China, Russia, and all the world powers to sit on the sidelines and let this go. This is effecting all of them, this should be an easy agreement between them all. Law and Order needs to be installed in Somalia, either by a government of their own or the rest of the world.

Mr. Obama you said you will bring Change, Hope and the rest of your one word slogans that united the dolts around the nation. I say put up or shut up, lead the world like the rock star you are and find a solution to these problems. These two problems will not be the only ones faced in the next 4 years...and most likely will not be the most serious. However, the world and us will find out soon how Mr. Obama will lead the world.

Seriously Trey what were you thinking???

Well you know it is spring when the boys in blue hit the diamond and Royals fans (including me) feel like the team has a chance to compete. Even though it was 38 degrees and Opening Day was pushed a day for snow I was pumped up and excited for what could be a special season for the Royals...then like always I was quickly proven wrong.

I may not be a great baseball mind but Trey Hillman has a long way to go to catch up with the great baseball minds. Maybe I am just old school (at the wise old age of 27) but 91 pitches from your ace who made a batter look foolish in his last inning of work is a pretty light day. Gil Meche was cruising and if it said Brinkman on the back of the jersey Gil would have come out for the 8th...no questions asked. There would be two arms warming in the frigid weather...Ron Mahay and Jokim Soria.

I heard people say there are 161 left...true...its only one game...correct...but its Opening Day. Its the beginning of a new season. The new K, hope for a good team, actual excitement pre-season for the first time in my memory. Trey you do everything to win the game...pull out all the stops. Kyle Farnsworth wasn't effective and you leave him in to face a hall of famer who OWNS the Royals. When Thome took the 2-0 pitch there was one thought in my mind...don't throw the heat, the rest is history.

Is this the "New Royals" or just another team that will raise the hope of Kansas City fans just to beat them down. I am hoping for the first option but really think this team will tease me for a while, get me excited and knock me out. I plan to visit the "New K" as much as possible this season and hope I don't see "Fire Trey" signs before the summer heat erases our memory of a freezing/disappointing Opening Day.