Inside Baseball

Royal Flush  

After losing 100 games in 2002, how did Kansas City start 9-0?

By Albert Chen

Last Saturday morning Royals righthander Runelvys Hernandez was having a near out-of-body experience as he watched himself on television. The 24-year-old stood wide-eyed and still as highlights of his seven shutout innings in Kansas City's 1-0 win over the Indians the night before flashed on the four TVs in the clubhouse at Jacobs Field. "Everything that's happened so far this season, to me and to this team, is pretty surprising," said Hernandez, who entered the year with 12 career starts but that morning led the American League in wins (three) and ERA (0.45).

Ken Harvey (above) and the Royals enjoyed a wild early-season run, thanks in part to Hernandez. Dick Whipple/AP

Hernandez's comment was the biggest understatement of the young season. Who would have thought that the Royals, coming off a franchise-worst 100-loss season, would be the first team to open 9-0 since the Reds did it in 1990? (Kansas City's streak came to an end on Sunday with a 6-1 loss to Cleveland.) "Sure, we were optimistic about our team," says leftfielder Raul Ibañez, "but I don't think any of us could have foreseen this."

A favorable April schedule, front-loaded with 13 games against the Indians and the Tigers (5-17 combined through Sunday), was a big reason why the Royals had their best start in team history. But playing an equally large role in the surge was the startling poise of the Royals' young pitching staff. Kansas City's top four starters -- Hernandez, Jeremy Affeldt, Miguel Asencio and Chris George -- are all under 25 and entered the season with a total of 15 career victories. That foursome was a combined 7-0 with a 2.53 ERA over the first two weeks. What's more, closer Mike MacDougal, a 26-year-old righthander with 24 1/3 career innings heading into 2003, led the majors with six saves.

Throwing first-pitch strikes, something pitching coach John Cumberland stressed this spring, has become the M.O. of the staff. Royals pitchers had thrown first-pitch strikes in 61.6% of their opponents' at bats, fourth best in the majors, compared with 56.1% last year, third worst.

Still, it's hard to believe that the Kansas City staff can sustain such dominance against better teams. "We're in store for some bumps, and we can't forget that we're rebuilding here," says general manager Allard Baird, who over the winter was ordered by owner David Glass to cut the team's $47 million payroll by $10 million. (Baird has it down to $40.5 million, second lowest in the majors.) So despite his team's promising start, Baird continues to shop centerfielder Carlos Beltran, the team's 2002 leader in home runs (29), runs (114), RBIs (105) and stolen bases (35).

Beltran, who will make $6 million this year and can become a free agent after the 2004 season, has been sidelined since spring training with a strained muscle in his right side. His teammates eagerly await his imminent return, but Beltran, who rejected a three-year, $25 million offer from the club in December, is unlikely to remain in Kansas City past the July 31 trading deadline. Beltran says he won't consider re-signing until after the season, when he'll evaluate whether the Royals can contend for a playoff spot in the near future. "The longer we wait," says Baird, who is seeking a young third baseman as well as a top prospect in exchange for Beltran, "the more he becomes a one-year rental for a team and his value diminishes. So there is an urgency."

Beltran should rejoin the team in time for a three-game series against the defending Central Division-champion Twins beginning on April 22, the Royals' first series against a club that finished better than .500 last year. "This has been a great start," says first baseman Mike Sweeney, "but we'll soon find out how good we really are."

Issue date: April 21, 2003

For more Inside Baseball see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, April 16. Click here to subscribe to SI.

 

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