Ugh, Part Two

No lead is safe from the Orioles…

• What’s more frustrating that scoring three runs in the bottom of the second and then turning around and allowing the opposition three runs in the top of the third? I think I know…

• The Orioles scored every one of their seven runs on Wednesday with two outs. TWO OUTS! I know they are the best hitting team in all of baseball, but damn. Perhaps most frustrating of all is the fact that when they scored in the fifth and sixth innings, the Orioles didn’t even get their first baserunners until there were two down.

• WTP Favorite Andy Sisco struggled. Brought in by Bob Schaefer in as a LOOGY (who doesn't like that term?) in the sixth, he gave up his first major league home run to David Newhan. He followed that by allowing another homer to Javy Lopez.

There were a couple of times in the Pena regime where I thought Tony had been tempted to use Sisco as a one-out lefty specialist, but for the most part he avoided that. Not the case last night. We know that when Sisco is “on,” he has electric stuff. We also know that his future is as a starter. The Royals need to make sure he is properly taken care of which means giving him an inning or two (or three) a couple of times a week. I don’t think his or the team’s best interest will be served if he’s asked to be Jesse Orosco.

• John Buck, who I was a disappointment on Tuesday, came up big on Wednesday delivering a two-out, two-run double. Really, there’s nobody I feel happier for than Buck when things go his way. It’s no fun to watch a guy struggle the way he has over the first month and a half of the season.

• Matt Diaz was another Royal who had a good evening at the plate, going 3-4 with a run and an RBI. He said he was heating up toward the end of his visit to Omaha and it showed Wednesday. He needs to stay in the lineup for the next month just to see what he can do with regular MLB playing time. We know he’s not an All-Star, but let’s see exactly how much he can contribute.

• The Royals announced before the game that Jose Lima (he will no longer be referred to as Lima-Time for reasons that should be obvious) will have his start moved up one day and will take the mound on Saturday. That analogy about deck chairs and the Titanic can be applied here.


THE SEARCH

There has been almost no movement on the managerial search. Allard Baird says there is no “shortlist” of candidates and doesn’t expect to have one until the end of the week. Interviews, for the purpose of secrecy, will most likely not be held in Kansas City.

Buck Martinez says he was contacted by the Royals. I hope this isn’t true.

Joe Posnanski of the Star called Bobby Valentine in Japan to see if he is interested in the job. Looking at the length of the column, I hope Joe is on one of those cell phone plans where you get free international calling.

I'm kind of ambivalent about Valentine, mainly because I don’t think he would be interested. As they say, “He’s big in Japan.” But for fun let’s add him to our “Field” entry of the managerial odds.