Royal uprising

Monday, July 23, 2007 | Feedback | Print Entry

The Royals are still miles away from where they want to be, but they are moving ahead, bit by bit. "Brick by brick," as general manager Dayton Moore said on Sunday. The Royals went into Detroit for three days and won two games, and if you've seen the Tigers play in the last month, you know this is no small feat.

The Royals started their season 21-38, but have won 22 of their 38 games since then, climbing into a tie with the White Sox at the bottom of the AL Central. Billy Butler has moved into the middle of their lineup and is doing what injuries prevented Mike Sweeney from doing the last few years, giving the Royals a steady run producer. The bullpen has improved dramatically, Gil Meche has earned every bit of his salary, the lineup is deepening.

 
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

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