Kansas City's Money Pit

(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

True Royal fans continue to watch.

True Royal fans continue to read.

True Royal fans continue to attend games (on Buck Nights and T-shirt Tuesdays, at least).

True Royal fans continue to voice their opinions.

We continue on because we love the game of baseball. By this point, you have to.

Given our road ahead—the struggle to stay below 100 losses and the possibility of landing wunderkind Bryce Harper—certain matters need to be addressed.

In a prior article I addressed the Royals lack of apparent spending direction and need to dump salary at the catcher position.

This time I would like to address their lack of lineup balance.

In Monday's game against Cleveland Indians lefty Jeremy Sowers, Manager Trey Hillman ran out an incredibly anemic lineup in an effort to stack right-handed bats.

We're going to have to address this aspect of lineup overemphasis Hillman has another time, because Monday's lineup deserves its due attention:

DeJesus

Bloomquist

Butler

B. Pena

Callaspo

Teahen

Buck

Maier

Betancourt

This lineup card has produced a whopping 52 home runs all season—remember it is LATE AUGUST!—while not a single member was hitting .300 by game's end.

There is no way to win with this lineup. Especially when your starting pitcher (Gil Meche) doesn't look like he can bend over and tie his shoes because his back is so sore.

True, the Royals managed to put six on the board with this card, but much of that can be attributed to the inabilities of the Indians as opposed to signs of Royal life.

Monday's lineup was no better than the one the Royals rolled out against another lefty from Cleveland (now in NYC) on August 24, 2006—another 100 loss season and Dayton Moore's first Summer on the job.

DeJesus

German

Sweeney

Teahen

E. Brown

R. Sanders

R. Shealy

Buck

Berroa

No matter if the Royals are tanking the rest of the season for a chance at Bryce Harper or if they're just inept, the way they are closing out this season is a joke.

They need to make better use of their time and assets.

If the Royals are rolling out the above despicable lineup because their left-handed bats are not good enough to face left-handed pitching, then the Royals need to get better left-handed bats. Period.

For that matter, they also need better right-handed bats.

If Mike Jacobs is not going to be sent to the plate in high leverage situations, I want Kila Ka'aihue to replace him on roster.

And please, even though I have placed myself firmly in the corner of Brayan Pena for Kansas City catcher, I don't ever want to see him hitting cleanup again!

Say what you will about ownership in Kansas City, but these results are unacceptable given the payroll increases allotted. 

That places the blame square on Dayton Moore's shoulders. He is building a poorly structured team, and despite his pedigree I am beginning to doubt his ability.

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