Name's Roy. Roy F. Almania

Editor's Note: This post was put together by the cousin of yours truly. I can't vouch for him; he lives in Joplin, Missouri, was home-schooled (still lives with my aunt and uncle who, by the way, vacation in Arkansas every year), has never been west of Kansas City or north of Omaha or east of Jefferson City, and I'd imagine the only form, if any, of sex he's ever had probably shares some strains of DNA with the both of us.

That said, he lives and dies with the Kansas City Royals, and I've given him the keys to the House so that he may voice what one might call bumpkin fandom of said ball club. We'll see how it goes.

The man pictured here has more power over my mind than my mama, my pops, and the Playboy channel combined. He sometimes appears in my dreams, he's frequently mentioned in my sports page, and he has offered me something I ain't had in some time: hope.

There's been lots I've wanted to say about the Kansas City Royals under his now one-year-old tenure. He's gotten the Glass family to increase payroll, shuffled staff and personnel in ways that caused folks to chuckle and look at one another funny, and, perhaps most surprising, he's kept the skipper aboard.

I couldn't very well let this weekend's failed trade go unmentioned, though. Especially after the Royals put together a great stretch of inter-league play. Trouble is, they've now lost four in a row, and Royals' GM Dayton Moore must've figured he was fed up.

In typical trade-like fashion, secrecies were swirling, and the trigger was almost pulled on a deal that would've sent Royals pitcher Leo Nunez to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for Milton Bradley. Turns out, safety was on; Moore didn't fire. Fox Sports talks about it here. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported on it, and of course, The Kansas City Star's Joe Posnanski had something to say about it.

Check out each of these accounts in that order. They're brief enough, and I like to think Posnanski's take on Moore's as soothing as the smell of apple pie cooling in the window of mama's kitchen. I especially like "Reason No. 3" where Posnanski writes about Moore being fed up with all them Ls.

"And it seems to me that hits closest to home. The talk about plans is all well
and good. It's wise to have a long-term philosophy. But at some point, I think,
human nature kicks in. Dayton Moore has seen enough losing. He's heard too many
excuses. He wanted to make it clear to everybody that he's mad as heck and he's
not going to take it anymore."

I reckon the only thing I can rightfully say about Milton Bradley is that my folks got me lots of toys with that name on it when I was a kid. Lest, I find it funny there's a ball player called that. As you can imagine, I found it funny (albeit a waste of fine adult beverage) when the guy chucked that bottle back at the fan a few years ago.

Anyhow, June's been a peculiar month for us Royals fans, and word is that Bradley himself told the Royals he wasn't healthy, and the Royals backed out. Doesn't really matter to me whether or not Bradley was healthy, and just didn't want to play for Kansas City, or if he was telling the truth. What's important is that Moore continues to have the feelers out there that search for pieces that will help the Royals steer themselves back towards the winning avenue.

My guess is that the second half of the season will be a busy one for the Royals' front office. I'll have my eye on Moore's future moves and mix-ups.

--Roy F. Almania

Editor's Update: In the bottom of the fifth, the Royals, playing game three of three against the Brew Crew, are well on their way to a series sweep. While usually having decent pitching and bad hitting or vice-versa, the Royals have managed to throw crap from the hill and swing with anvil-laden bats while in Wisconsin. Awesome.