Long losing streaks: can be stressful as well as embarrassing

Baseball Digest, Nov, 2005 by John Kuenster

BASEBALL'S LATE COMMISSIONER BART GIAMATTI ONCE EXPRESSED HIS DEEP feelings about the game in an essay entitled "The Green Fields of the Mind." In the essay, published in the Yale Alumni Magazine and Journal in 1977, he wrote this line about America's summer pastime: "It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart."

Giamatti was expounding his views on how defeat affects a fan, but his observation also applies to teams and individual players who have suffered emotionally crushing or embarrassing losses throughout the storied history of the major leagues.

Such was the case with the Kansas City Royals last August 17 when they dropped their 18th straight game, falling to the Seattle Mariners, 11-5, to leave them three defeats shy of the longest skid since the American League's founding in 1901.

"It's not like we're incapable of winning," said first baseman Mike Sweeney. "We're just in a rut right now. It's a big rut, though."

"I'm embarrassed," said pitcher Jose Lima of the team's extended failure. "I'm embarrassed to go into a bar. People say, 'They lost 18 in a row. They really stink this year.'

"This is tough. This is something we didn't plan. Nothing is going our way."

Lima had a chance to wipe out some of his and the team's frustration on August 19 when he started against Oakland, but the A's won, 4-0. making it 19 consecutive losses for the Royals.

Finally, the 25-day slump ended on August 20 with a 2-1 victory over the A's in Oakland. When the final out was made, Lima led a congratulatory charge from the dugout to the mound where reliever Mike MacDougal had recorded the save.

With the second lowest player payroll in the majors, amounting to $36.9 million or $169 million less than that of the Yankees, the Royals shouldn't be hammered too much for their dismal showing, but losing so many games in succession still hurts.

Such lengthy futility, however, is old as the game itself. The 1899 Cleveland Spiders of the National League, for instance, lost 24 straight games and finished with an atrocious 20-134 record at season's end.

Bill Veeck might have been thinking about the Spiders or about the 1961 Phillies when he said, "Baseball is a boy's game that makes grown men cry."

Those Phillies, managed by Gene Mauch, lost 23 consecutive games, from July 29 through the opener of a double header on August 20 against the Braves in Milwaukee.

"That 23-game losing streak wasn't too nice to go through," said pitcher Chris Short. "I lost the 23rd game, but John Buzhardt won the second game, 7-4. Sometimes you have to go through things like that, but it molded us into a better ball club."

Perhaps, but when the team returned to Philadelphia, the players weren't sure how they would be received by fans awaiting them at the airport. The fans were there actually to cheer the team for finally snapping the losing streak.

Phillies pitcher Frank Sullivan wasn't certain of the fans' intentions, thinking they might express their displeasure over the team's dreadful performance in a violent way, perhaps to the extent of throwing missiles at them.

A noted quipster, Sullivan peered through a window while awaiting to deplane. Seeing the crowd of several hundred fans, he yelled to his teammates, "Get off in twos and threes so they can't get us all with one burst. They're selling rocks at a dollar a pail."

As baseball author John Tunis once remarked, "Losing is the great American sin" and baseball loyalists lend weight to his observation when they say nasty things and act as though the world is coming to an end if their favorite team keeps falling on its face.

Even Manager Casey Stengel said of the woeful 1962 Mets, "Can't anyone here play this game?"

Yet, harsh comments about the Royals aren't fully deserved since the club is in a rebuilding phase and fan expectations weren't too high this year anyway in view of the team's 104 defeats in 2004.

"We've got a lot of young players," manager Buddy Bell said, "and it's tough (for them) learning up here."

General manager Allard Baird added, "Most of our players should be in Double A or elsewhere in the minors. If they were, people would be saying how good our minor league system is."

Long losing streaks, of course, have a greater impact on contending teams than on a-team such as the Royals who had the majors' worst record (42-86) going into the final five weeks of the season.

For example, also in August, the White Sox, who were leading the race to win the Central Division title by a large margin, went into a seven-game tailspin that had their fans and certain media skeptics envisioning all sorts of dire consequences for a team chasing its first American League pennant in 46 years.

Manager Ozzie Guillen assured one and all there was no need to panic, although he admitted he was "embarrassed" by the losing streak.

"We won before and we'll win again," he said. "In 162 games, even the best teams go through this."

In 2000, the Yankees had a nine-game lead over the Red Sex in mid-September, then lost 15 of their final 18 games, including six in a row, but went on to win the World Series against the Mets.