By ERIC BARTON
In one moment on Sunday, in this play at the plate, it became clear what
most of the Royals are missing.It came in the bottom of the first during the Royals loss to the Cardinals. Royals outfielder David DeJesus came barreling toward home plate as Cards catcher Jason LaRue got a bullet of a throw from left field. DeJesus put his shouder down into LaRue. LaRue went toppling backwards, holding on to the ball, and DeJesus bounced off of the catcher's chest. Still in the air, DeJesus landed on LaRue's helmet, the metal cage catching him right between the ribs. It looked painful. Really, it looked like it hurt like hell.
But during the multiple replays of the out that followed, you could see DeJesus turning his head awkwardly just after he fell on the mask.
He appeared to be looking back to see if LaRue had managed to hold on to the ball. There he was, possibly breaking a rib or two, and DeJesus is spinning around to see if he's safe.
And that's also what's missing from most of the Royals. If it had been underachiever-of-the-year Billy Butler who took that tumble, would he have really cared enough to check the call instead of checking his injury? Or how about the chronically bored-looking Mark Teahen? Forget about Tony Pena Jr., who appears to possess great fielding prowess some plays but a lack of attention on others. Even this year's surprise ace, Zach Grienke, rarely shows a passion for the game.
No, it's only the Royals lead-off man who regularly smiles during interviews, who busts his ass to first on routine grounders, and who has quietly endured multiple 100-loss seasons.
Here's hoping the rib injury doesn't keep his enthusiasm on the bench.
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It wouldn't hurt to have a third base coach with some sense. Shumaker has played on that team off and on for three years, and full time this year. Surely his above average arm strength and accuracy are in a scouting report somewhere.
Disagreeing slightly with the notion that David shows passion, I'd know more about his passion if he dropped 38 F-bombs after the game about what a crappy coach Luis Silverio is. In all seriousness, a team that is already well behind most of its opponents on talent cannot afford those kinds of mistakes from base coaches, not just because they can't waste outs. You can't be having your best players getting hurt because they're coach hung them out to dry.
Billy Butler probably would have slowed up mid-path and let LaRue tag him on the ass.
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