A Novel Idea

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Kansas City Royals new manager Trey Hillman is a visionary. He's going to revolutionize the game of baseball. The Royals - the only undefeated team in baseball - are opening their fourth game of the season, and Hillman has decided stick with what works. He's playing the exact same lineup and batting order for the third consecutive game. As those guys on the Guinness commercial are known to exclaim, BRILLIANT!

OK, by now your sarcasm detector should be beeping or blinking (or whatever a sarcasm detector does when it detects the sarcasm it is intended to find... I couldn't find much information last time I checked Sharper Image) at a expeditious pace. Obviously finding a lineup that works and playing it consistently is nothing new in the game of baseball... but it seems that way if you're a Kansas City fan.

Check the facts (courtesy http://www.baseballreference.com/ ... if you're like me (that's a big if) it will become a staple in your web browsing ventures)...

In 162 games in 2007, then-manager Buddy Bell assembled 141 different batting orders. The most common batting order Bell used was written on the lineup card a grand total of six times... This astounds me. I think a helper monkey could pick nine names out of a hat on 162 different occasions and have more consistency in choosing a lineup (and even the monkey would realize that Shane Costa should never bat cleanup).

The fact that Hillman has used the same batting order for three straight games means he's already accomplished something that Bell never did in 2007.

Or 2006.

Or 2005.

In fact, last time Royals played the same batting order for three straight games, Carlos Beltran was hitting in the No. 2 spot, and Angel Berroa was actually a valuable member of a Major League roster (yes, kids, that was once a reality). It was in September 2003.

Oddly enough, 2003 also marked the last season the Royals were in a pennant race. Tony Pena even earned the AL Manager of the Year award.

Now I'm not going to claim that batting the same nine guys in the same nine spots everyday is the key to baseball success (of course, neither is playing Jason LaRue's .240 on-base percentage in 66 games), but a little dose of consistency can't hurt.