The Royals and Athletics have been two intertwined franchises throughout the years. The Athletics of course, once played in Kansas City, preparing the city with over a decade of god awful baseball the city would get to re-live forty years later with the Royals. The two teams were the dominant forces in the American League Western Division throughout the seventies, with the two teams combining for eight of the ten division titles that decade. The two were again briefly rivals in the late 80s when the Bash Brothers brought Oakland back from irrelevance.

Since then however, the only notable A's/Royals moment was Scott Hatteberg's game-winning home run off the Royals as part of Oakland's insane winning twenty-game winning streak in "Moneyball." And now the A's might be leaving Oakland. Is nothing sacred?

Bartolo Colon

#21 / Pitcher / Oakland Athletics

Height: 5-11

Weight: 265

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: May 24, 1973

Felipe Paulino

#59 / Pitcher / Kansas City Royals

Height: 6-2

Weight: 270

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Oct 05, 1983

540 pounds of love hits the Kauffman Stadium pitching mound tonight. The New Madrid fault line has never been in more peril.

What the mainstream media likes to focus on is fundamentals. Baseball is sometimes a game of inches, and sometimes its one play - Derek Jeter tagging Jeremy Giambi out in 2001, Lonnie Smith hesitating rounding second in 1991, Jack Clark dropping a foul pop in 1985 - that can make all the difference. But those are usually when you have two great teams, evenly matched.

Royals fans, sportswriters, coaches and players will talk tonight about fundamentals. How if they executed plays better today, they would have won. And no doubt, the Royals looked silly in the fifth inning, twice picking off a runner at first base, only to have that runner advance to second safely. The Royals committed errors. They failed to move runners over. They were 0-5 with runners in scoring position. Despite a strong emphasis in spring training on fundamentals by Ned Yost (much like Trey Hillman and Buddy Bell and Tony Pena and Tony Muser and...) the Royals stink at fundamentals.

I think it was Rob Neyer that wrote once that it was silly for fans to call in expecting crappy players to somehow be good at fundamentals. Baseball is a skill, and if you're not good at a skilled aspect like hitting a baseball, you're probably also not good at turning a relay or bunting a runner over. These things are not as easy as fans think, and it requires a level of skill, and if you're a crappy player, well, you're a crappy player, and no emphasis of fundamentals in spring training is going to change that.

My friends, I think we're looking at a roster full of crappy players.

While Lee Judge warns against us "playing GM", it is natural for any sports fan to think they might be able to do better than the people in charge, much like it is natural for any constituent to to think they can do better than their elected leaders. However there is much about the job of general manager that the average fan is not really privy to, that has nothing to do with whether or not Johnny Giavotella plays second base.

via www.i70baseball.com

General managers are managers in the truest sense of the word, presiding over the entire baseball operations-side of the organization. They must sooth egos of long-time scouts, former ballplayers, up-and-coming MBAs, and nerdy stat guys, all while keeping all of these actors with their own self-interests steering in the same direction towards winning more baseball games. To paraphrase Keith Law, if the average fan was made GM of his favorite team, he'd be whimpering in the corner in the fetal position by lunch-time of his first day.

However, in the pure decision-making of rosters management, it might be fun to think whether a consensus of Royals Review posters might steer this franchise in a better direction than our fearless General Manager. Would we? Let's take a look at some past roster decisions.

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On a night of no-hit bids, where Justin Verlander took a no-hit bid into the ninth, and Kevin Millwood of all people had a no-hitter into the sixth, it should come as no surprise that Royals Cactus League All-Star Luis Mendoza was able to carry a no-hitter into the first inning, retiring the first two hitters he faced until Miguel Montero broke up the no-no bid in the first, scoring a run.

Undaunted, Mendoza did give the Royals five solid innings, but fell apart in the sixth when once again, Ned Yost seemed determined to allow his starting pitcher to allow runs well after everyone else in the ballpark knew it was time to go to the pen. Mendoza gave up singles to the first three hitters he faced in the sixth, and like clockwork, Ned kept him in to "figure things out", leading to a big two-run double by Chris Young to give the Diamondbacks the lead.

The plucky Royals would scratch back to tie the game on a clutch RBI single by Alex Gordon, but the Royals would cough the lead back up in the eighth on Miguel Montero's two-run double off Tim Collins.

On the plus side, Country Breakfast homered again, giving hope that we may indeed be seeing a power surge out of him. Irving Falu kept up his insane hot streak, ensuring he'll stay in the lineup. Johnny Giavotella even had two hits, which means he'll watch the rest of this weekend's games from the bench.

Mendoza was pretty "meh" which was the worst of all outcomes since he wasn't bad enough to finally prove to Dayton he doesn't belong in the big leagues, but he wasn't good enough to win. In fairness, he probably should have been pulled a batter or two into the sixth inning, but Ned has to teach these kids a lesson.

Interleague warfare is on. Sides must be taken. American vs. National. Good vs. Evil. Actual professional hitters vs. pitchers trying to bunt like eight-year-old girls.

Brothers will fight on opposing sides. There will be no prisoners. Only one league will emerge victorious.

Joe Saunders

#34 / Pitcher / Arizona Diamondbacks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 210

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Jun 16, 1981

Luis Mendoza

#39 / Pitcher / Kansas City Royals

Height: 6-3

Weight: 235

Bats: L

Throws: R

Born: Oct 31, 1983

Alcidies is hitting leadoff with Irving Falu in the #2 hole as he continues his quest to become the first hitter since Ted Williams to hit .400 in a season.

Moose hits seventh, presumably as punishment for releasing a bra-bomb on campus, which really steamed Dean Ned Yost. "MOUSTAKAS! I'LL GET YOU!" he yelled in anger in the trailer for "Boner Academy, Part II", hitting theaters everywhere this July.

For weeks, everywhere you go, people have been asking "are the Orioles for real? Are the Orioles for real?" The Royals found out the answer today, and it is a resounding YES. The Orioles, my friends, have arrived, and they showed our boys in blue a thing or two about winning baseball in a quick two-game sweep at Kauffman. Buck Showalter just gets results.

Luke Hochevar looked shaky in the first inning, but worked his way out of a jam and gave us six full innings. Ned pulled him after he gave up a single in the seventh and then Aaron Crow just defecated on the mound. Walks to the immortal Luis Exposito and Xavier Avery set up a bloop two-run single to give the O's the lead for good.

One might have thought Humberto Quintero would be exhausted after catching fifteen innings of baseball just over seventeen hours ago, but Bert got the start again today, collecting two hits, driving in two, and throwing out Chris Davis on a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play. Suspicions arose that perhaps he was not a mere mortal, but a cyborg sent from the future to emit veteran presence, but Quintero alleviated those concerns by leaving late in the game with a minor malfunction injury.

Jarrod Dyson followed up a nice game last night by going 0-5, with two strikeouts and an awful error on a line-drive to score a run in the seventh. Its almost as if being speedy doesn't automatically make you a terrific defensive centerfielder.

Eric Hosmer is getting a couple of days off to clear his head. Meanwhile, Billy Butler did not embarrass himself at first base and collected two hits, including a double.

When does the "Irving Falu Could Be the First Player to Hit .400 since Ted Williams"-hype begin?

Enough of this American League nonsense. Let us join hands with our brothers in the National League this weekend and look forward to a better tomorrow.

When I was 11 years old, my Royals fandom really began to take off. 1989 seemed like a year full of such promise, with older veterans like George Brett, Frank White, and Willie Wilson mixed in with some young blood like Bo Jackson, Danny Tartabull, and Kevin Seitzer. The team seemed loaded with pitching with guys like Bret Saberhagen, Mark Gubicza and a young pitching phenom named Tom Gordon. This was perhaps the last season in Kansas City where you really felt like the team could contend for a championship.

My mom is a Korean immigrant and while baseball is probably bigger in Korea than in most countries, she didn't exactly come here a big baseball fan. But she met my dad, a huge Tigers fan, and two nights before I was born they enjoyed a game from Tiger Stadium. By the time I was seven, she was screaming at the TV set "ahn-tah!" (which means "base hit" in Korean) at Dane Iorg as he laced a blooper to score Jim Sundberg to win Game Six of the 1985 World Series. Here she was, from a small village in war-torn Korea, to watching a baseball game in Missouri, not more than a few miles from the birthplace of President Harry Truman.

My dad was on the road a lot when I was a kid, leaving mom to tend to four kids by herself a lot of the time. In 1989 I was digesting everything Royals-related I could get my hands on, which back then meant the Kansas City Star, "The Sporting News" when we went to the library, Karen Kornacki's stadium report at 6 p.m. and the three hours of sports talk radio on 980 KMBZ hosted by John Doolittle, the only sports talk radio at the time. Had there been "Royals Review", I would have been a regular Jack Marsh.

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Well so much for Nedmentum.

The Royals followed up a pretty impressive homestand against the TWO MOST IMPORTANT TEAMS IN BASEBALL ACCORDING TO ESPN with a markedly uninspired offensive effort in Chicago. Felipe pitched well enough over five innings, but the wheels began to wobble in the sixth and Ned again probably left a pitcher in a batter or two too long. He has an amazing feel for that now.

The Royals collected just five feeble hits off Gavin Floyd and two relievers. They did manage to bunch their hits together, twice loading the bases. But the team was decidedly un-clutch, with Alcides grounding into a force-out in the second, Humberto following up with a comebacker to the pitcher, and Billy striking out with juiced bags in the eighth. The Royals went down 1-2-3 six times tonight and were shutout for the third time this year.

I know we like to focus on how groin-grabbingly bad the starting pitching is, but let's not overlook how disappointing the offense has been. We know Hosmer and Frenchy are majorly struggling, and we're getting empty averages out of center field and second base, with pretty much no production from catcher. The Royals came into this game ranked tenth in the league in runs scored per game. They are now averaging 3.84 runs per game, which puts the team on a pace for 622 runs scored, which would be the fewest this franchise has scored since 1992. Now I know bats are cold in April and heat up in July, but I'm just saying there is a bit of reason to be concerned.

The Royals are now 2-9 in series openers, so its nice they let opposing fans know they suck right away.

Felipe Paulino

#59 / Pitcher / Kansas City Royals

Height: 6-2

Weight: 270

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Oct 05, 1983

Gavin Floyd

#34 / Pitcher / Chicago White Sox

Height: 6-6

Weight: 240

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Jan 27, 1983

Robin Ventura has had 31 games to hone his managerial skills, but he faces his first big test tonight when he squares off against the master of the surprise steal - Ned Yost. Ned will look to put Robin in a managerial noogie the likes of which Robin has not seen since facing Nolan Ryan.