18-game losing streak ends apathy in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In a bizarre twist that no one expected, this long, miserable losing streak which has turned Kansas City into a national joke may wind up doing the Royals some good.

At least people do, for a change, seem to care.

Embarrassment and anger have shocked fans out of their apathy. Instead of just shrugging off one more losing year, they're demanding action.

Their team has lost 18 in a row. That's one more than the longest losing streak of the 1962 New York Mets, who lost 120 games.

They're 38-81, the worst in baseball. They're finding a new way to lose every night.

But instead of plunging, interest in the team actually seems to be picking up.

"Our radio ratings are through the roof," said Kevin Kietzman, who hosts a drivetime sportstalk show on WHB, the Royals' flagship station. "Unbelievably. Unexplainably. People are following them."

Since the Royals last won on July 27, the Kansas City Chiefs have traveled to River Falls, Wis., conducted their entire three-week training camp, and headed back home.

Three more losses and Angel Berroa, Mike MacDougal and their bumbling teammates will tie Baltimore's American League record. Two more after that, and they'll match the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies' for the longest streak of unbroken futility any major league team has experienced since 1900.

"It's sad. It's infuriating," 21-year-old Heather Miller said between bites of her barbecue sandwich at a local sports bar. "Something's got to be done. Somebody's got to be fired."

Having a lousy team is one thing. Kansas City has missed the playoffs 20 years in a row, speaking of streaks. It knows how to be humble.

But now the team and its city are becoming a national laughingstock. ESPN leads SportsCenter with streak updates throughout the day.

In between jokes about misbehaving politicians and the price of gas, even late-night comedians are taking their whacks.

"I heard Jay Leno was talking about us last night again," said Danny McCarthy, a waiter at the 810 Zone, a sports restaurant and bar.

"That's when you know you've hit rock-bottom."

Normally this time of year, radio sports-talk shows can hardly get anyone to discuss anything except the Chiefs.

But day after day, callers attack owner David Glass for being cheap and general manager Allard Baird for being incompetent.

Manager Buddy Bell, on the other hand, is almost never mentioned.

For one thing, he didn't come on board until Tony Pena departed on May 31. For another, his Marine nephew was killed in Iraq during the early stages of the streak. It's as though there was an unspoken agreement to give him a pass.

"Everybody is blaming Baird and Glass," said Kietzman. "And whatever player fouled up the worst the night before."

Tom Coatney, a lifelong Royals fan, sometimes feels there's no hope for a return to the glory days of the 1970s and 80s when the Royals were contenders.

"People used to schedule their world around the Royals," said Coatney, the owner of a sales promotions company.

"Now it's intriguing just to see how they're going to blow it next."

Like many fans, he hopes the streak will shake fans and front office executives alike out of their lethargy.

"Maybe something drastic like this needs to happen to light a fire under everybody. Kansas City is a baseball town. I know it. I lived it. And it can come back."

In the meantime, he'll have to put up with scorn that has even reached international scope.

The most appalling moments came in the 13-7 setback to Cleveland for streak loss No. 11. The Royals took a 7-2 lead into the ninth but stumbled and fumbled and let the Indians become the third visiting team in major league history to score 11 runs in the ninth.

The next day, Kietzman got a call from a young Kansas Citian who had just heard from his father in Moscow.

"He was reading a Russian newspaper translated into English and the only mention of sports in North America was the Royals' ninth-inning meltdown," Kietzman said.

"He e-mailed his son and asked him, 'Did the Royals really do that?"'