With Yost, Royals looking at better days to come

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07/15/2010 -

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -The first thing Dayton Moore told Ned Yost was that his chances of becoming Kansas City's permanent manager would be considered at the end of the season, along with other candidates.

Now it must be tempting for Kansas City's general manager to change his mind. Since Moore reluctantly fired his friend Trey Hillman on May 13 and put Yost in charge, the Royals are 27-26.

Yes, it's a record that might have a Yankees manager cleaning out his desk. But for a franchise that's had only two winning seasons in 15 years and been shut out of the playoffs for a quarter of a century, 27-26 is uncrate-the-champagne success.

No one is saying there won't be additional steps backward before the next few laborious steps can be taken forward.

The Royals did, after all, end the first half with three blowout losses in Chicago. But right before that, Yost's team won 10 of 13 and beat some of the top pitchers in the league.

Fragile though it may be, there seems to be a new confidence among players and fans alike. Signs abound of better days ahead. Outfielder David DeJesus and first baseman Billy Butler have become solid hitters and dependable run-producers. All-Star closer Joakim Soria leads the majors in saves.

DeJesus is batting .326, four percentage points better than Butler. Jose Guillen seems to have found new life under Yost. He had a 21-game hitting streak and leads the Royals with 15 home runs and 54 RBIs.

The Royals - and this is something they never did for an entire season even in their glory era of 1976-85 - lead the majors in hitting.

In addition, some of the most promising young prospects in the minor leagues belong to the Royals, including infielders Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer, who was 4 for 5 in the Futures Game.

As of today, at least, the Royals' lackluster 12-23 start under Hillman seems just an unwelcome reminder of the bad old days they're trying so hard to forget.

Yost, aside from getting rid of third base coach Dave Owen, granting the gimpy-legged Guillen's wish to play more defense and tinkering a bit with the batting lineup, has made few visible changes.

The difference in results may instead be due to a change in approach. Hillman was self-conscious about being the only manager without big league experience as either a player or coach. In his first spring training, he embarrassed his players by loudly chewing them out in front of an opposing team.

But the players like Yost, who seems smart, understanding and tough.

``He's got that edge,'' said catcher Jason Kendall, who also played for Yost in Milwaukee. ``He's very intense and at the same time, he lets you play. He's definitely one of the best in baseball.''

And the players have made a favorable impression on him.

``I like their intensity,'' Yost said. ``I like their desire to win.''

Before making any big changes, Yost wanted to get to know everybody.

``You've got to find out what makes them tick, things that you learn being with them day in and day out,'' he said. ``If you're perceptive and you're really studying and watching, you see which guys have the makeup to be a champion and a winner and what guys can do and can't do.''

The 53-year-old former Brewers manager also has a history in Atlanta, where he was on the coaching staff from 1991-2002. Royals fans are starting to worry that he could also be a candidate to replace retiring Braves skipper Bobby Cox.

But he seems to like it here.

``I might even enjoy (managing) more here (than in Milwaukee),'' he said. ``We've got a great group of players on this team that I like. I like the city. I love the stadium. There's nothing I don't like about being here.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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