April 12

They got walk-off home runs in three consecutive games this week, and two of them were hit by Brian Johnson and Rey Sanchez. What that tells the outside world is what the Kansas City Royals sensed inside their clubhouse since the middle of March -- that this long trounced-upon team is awakening.

Not that most teams in the American League didn't already know this. Suddenly, teams don't want to play the Royals. Not that Kansas City is going to take on Cleveland, but one general manager says, "They make slow teams look old. They run the bases -- first-to-third, first-to-home -- better than any team in the American League. Offensively, they seem to be on the attack all the time."

	Joe Randa and the Royals have had a lot to celebrate so far this season.

They haven't yet got enough pitching, although rookie Chad Durbin has presence and reliever Dan Reichert is a year from being a premium closer with his running fastball and Frisbee slider. But they have one of the game's best outfields in Jermaine Dye, rising superstar Carlos Beltran and Johnny Damon. They have a future 40-home run batting champion in Mike Sweeney at first base and a rising star in second baseman Carlos Febles. The energy and aggressiveness is fun to watch. The provincial arrogance of some of the richer markets trashes anyone who plays for a Kansas City or Minnesota, but Joe Randa would be starting for a lot of clubs, like Boston.

Muser is to the Kansas City Royals in 2000 what Tom Kelly was to the Minnesota Twins in 1986. When he interviewed for other managerial jobs, he was considered too hard, too serious. When he assumed the Royals job upon Bob Boone's dismissal, Muser bought into the notion that the Royals had to stop trying to play enough veterans in an attempt to finish .500, that they needed to strip down to the essentials -- which included a lot of very good young players -- and trusted the evaluations of Baird, Bob Hegman, Art Stewart and the organization's baseball people.

Muser has worked on every level, going to the Instructional League and winter ball to work with young players and make it clear that the entire organization is on the same page. During spring training, he brings minor leaguers to the major league fields to encourage the synergy; this spring, the minor-league people had some off-field problems with a talented young player, so Muser agreed to sit next to him during an exhibition game.

During the season, he makes several calls a week to minor-league players to let them know that the major league staff cares enough to watch.

Has he been tough on Beltran, Damon, Sweeney, Mark Quinn, et al? Absolutely, and it hasn't always been easy with the pitching he's had. But with Reichert, Jose Santiago and Ricky Bottalico, who hasn't yet found the consistent curveball that made him so good in Philadelphia, the bullpen shouldn't blow more than half their save opportunities, as happened last year.

	A tough decade
	The Royals' year-by-year record in the '90s:
	Year	W-L	Pct.	GB
	1990	75-86	.466	27.5
	1991	82-80	.506	13
	1992	72-90	.444	24
	1993	84-78	.519	10
	1994	64-51	.557	4
	1995	70-74	.486	30
	1996	75-86	.466	24
	1997	67-94	.416	19
	1998	72-89	.447	16.5
	1999	64-97	.398	32.5

There are two lessons to be taken away from the status Muser has carved for himself in Kansas City. The first is that, in most cases, what makes a great manager is his situation. Oh, maybe Dusty Baker and Felipe Alou would be great managers anywhere, because they understand the respect they earn is equal to the respect they give. The same may well be true of Jimy Williams, because his respect, teaching abilities and -- this is so important -- evaluation skills are a rare combination.

There were a lot of people who believed Joe Torre was a tremendous manager in St. Louis, but the team was owned by a beer salesman who hated baseball and treated the team and the best baseball town in America as if they were the Bridgeport Bluefish. Torre now is the perfect man for the Yankees, sets the perfect tone for an extraordinary group of players and is a key balance in the power structure George Steinbrenner utilizes.

Bobby Cox built the Braves organization, then knew enough to have John Schuerholz take it to the top for a decade, and while one might feel that Cox would not want to manage in a big media town, he has been a perfect blend with Schuerholz because he's never been afraid to play young players like Rafael Furcal despite the expectations to win every year. There are many who believe Phil Garner is a great manager, but hasn't had the situation to prove it, although the Tigers could be it if they could get lucky with some young pitching. The Padres organization knows what it has in Bruce Bochy, so do the Astros in Larry Dierker. Whether or not the Pirates manager knows it, most people in baseball feel Gene Lamont deserves that status in Pittsburgh.

The Royals, on the other hand, appreciate that they might not have these young players where they are were it not for Muser.

The second lesson here is that these Kansas Citys and Minnesotas are human. They get sick and tired of losing and being beaten down by constant reminders that they aren't supposed to win because they have $20-30 million payrolls. "Oakland won 87 games last year and was in the wild card hunt until the final two weeks," Muser said this spring. Twins GM Terry Ryan looks at it the same way. OK, the A's and Twins and Royals can't afford $15 million in deadbeat contracts like the Dodgers or Red Sox, but if they make the right evaluation decisions, sign their young players to the right long-term deals and add the correct pieces, then if they get $30-35 million budgets, they could compare favorably to teams like Astros, Giants and Reds, who are competing with $45 million payrolls.

But at this point, the Royals believe success can happen, and that Bud Selig will find a better means of levelling the green fields and that sharing Internet revenues will make it possible for Kansas City to stack its evaluation skills up against the raw revenues of the Dodgers, Yankees or Red Sox.

That's what Ryan believes in Minnesota, as well. "The A's and Royals have shown that if you start winning, a lot can happen," he says. "I keep getting asked about (Brad) Radke. I keep saying I want to sign him (and could, if Radke's agent would back off the demand of giving Radke the right to walk after the first year). We need him if we're going to start winning, and if we start winning a little, I think he'll feel better about our situation. He's not the only free agent pitcher at the end of the year. There's (Mike) Mussina, (Darren) Dreifort, (Chan Ho) Park, (Mike) Hampton ... " Add Rick Reed, Kevin Tapani, David Cone, Andy Ashby, Kevin Appier and others. "We're all in different situations," says Ryan, "and in ours, we need to start winning again for the good of the franchise and the fans. Look what's happening in Kansas City."

All of a sudden, everyone is looking at the Royals.

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