Royals drop tenth straight - Guillen's had enough

Jose Guillen has had enough. After the Royals blew an 8-3 lead in the ninth inning and went on to lose their tenth straight – Guillen erupted in the clubhouse. I heard clips of his comments this morning on my drive to work, and I loved every second of it. Laced with “f-bombs”, the frustrated Guillen laid it all out for the media. To sum it up – don’t blame Trey Hillman, and we have a team full of “babies” who need to grow up and learn how to play the game.

Here are a couple of quotes from an article at mlb.com (I think they’ve cleaned the profanity out):

"This is all on us," Guillen said. "This is not about what kind of moves the manager made. He cares about us, and he wants to win more than anyone. He's preparing every single day to win and works hard every day. And we've been letting him down."

"We've got 25 people," he said. "We've got to play as a team, win as a team and lose as a team. We've got too many babies here. They don't know how to play the game and play the game right, the way it's supposed to be played."

"That's the problem here. Now I know why this organization has been losing for a while."

I couldn’t agree more, Jose. While this team does seem to be moving in the right direction – the hiring of a legit GM in Dayton Moore and a very good managerial prospect in Trey Hillman; the young pitching staff that could be among the best in the AL in another year; making a couple of free agent signings in Guillen and Gil Meche; and of course, the arrival of youngsters like Alex Gordon and Billy Butler – there still seems to be this acceptance of losing among some of the players.

I’m not sure what needs to happen. Do we need to cut ties with some of the guys who have been here during the losing period? Are they too comfortable with losing? Some of the guys like DeJesus, Teahen, and Buck – are they going to help push us over the hump, or are they just going to keep saying “Oh well” when we drop 10 straight? Where were these guys after the game? Where were their fiery comments? I know these guys are quiet, and that’s part of the reason Jose Guillen was brought in – to bring some fire to the team – but still, shouldn’t these guys who have been around KC for a while speak up at some point?

Until they do – here’s hoping that Guillen keeps letting all the “babies” on the team have it. Someone needs to call them out, and having a competitive veteran like Guillen around to kick these guys in the ass is just what the doctor ordered.

Now, as Guillen might say, “let’s go out there and win a fu*#ing game you damn babies!”

Pain in the neck

I keep waiting for Jose Guillen to get hot. We need his bat to come alive...our offense is anemic, and a hot streak from our big free agent acquisition is the cure. Unfortunately, Guillen's got a neck pain that held him out of last night's game.

Just when he was (maybe) about to go on a hot streak. I went to the game Wedensday night to see our boys take on the the Angels (and too see the Greinke vs. Weaver matchup). The Royals bats woke up - especially Guillen's; he had three hits - three SOLID hits - before coming out of the game with a pain in the neck.

According to the KC Star, he may be able to play tonight. If not, it looks like Callaspo will be back in left field again - which is fine, as he hits when he plays. Hopefully, though, we'll see Guillen get back in the game and stay hot for an extended stretch of time.

On a positive note - nobody is running away from the pack in the AL West, here are the current standings:

Minnesota 17-16
Chicago 16-17
Cleveland 16-18
Kansas City 15-19
Detroit 15-21

It's still anyone's for the taking....