Royals Making It Hard for McRae to Look Good

Hal McRae’s memories of 15 seasons with the Kansas City Royals were not like this. There were six first-place finishes and two World Series for him to recall.

Now the Royals have given him his first managerial opportunity, and McRae is in charge of a team that is 34-41 and are, by all appearances, settling into last place in the American League West.

“I knew it would be difficult,” said McRae, who was a hitting instructor with the Montreal Expos when he got the Royals’ job. “But when I came here, I didn’t know the particulars.”

Now he does. In Tuesday’s 10-3 loss to the Angels at Anaheim Stadium, four Kansas City pitchers combined to allow three homers--including the first grand slam of Max Venable’s career--and 15 hits.

The Royals’ defense didn’t sparkle either, committing three errors.

“The big picture is we haven’t played very well,” said McRae, whose son Brian starts for him in center field. “We have been very inconsistent. When we’ve hit, we haven’t pitched. When we’ve pitched, we haven’t hit. I don’t think the defense has been good either. It’s not necessarily the mistakes we make; it’s the balls we don’t reach.”

The Royals’ starting pitcher Tuesday was Mark Gubicza, a 20-game winner in 1988 who is coming off rotator-cuff surgery. Gubicza (3-5) was hit hard by the Angels for the second consecutive start.

A week ago today, he lasted two-thirds of an inning, giving up four runs on seven hits the day after going to Philadelphia to attend his father’s funeral.

On Tuesday, he lasted four innings, giving up eight runs on 11 hits, including Venable’s slam.

“He didn’t throw the ball bad,” McRae said. “He made some mistakes. I thought he had better velocity than he’s had in a while.”

McRae is the second manager to try to right this team this year. The first, John Wathan, was fired, and McRae is making his debut with a team that probably wouldn’t make anyone look good.

“You have to play the cards you’re dealt,” said McRae, who had no managerial experience when the Royals chose him to replace Wathan. “You try to improve the club as much as you can.”

Even McRae grants that building a managerial style by coming up through the minor leagues “is probably the best way to do it.”

But, he says, “It didn’t happen that way.”

Dealing with decisions regarding pitching has probably been the thing he was least prepared for, says McRae, who spent his 18-year career giving pitchers trouble. Six times, he hit better than .300.

As for whatever managerial mistakes he makes, McRae only shrugs.

“I don’t dwell on ‘em,” he said. “It’s the human element of the game.

“We just have to keep coming to the ballpark and continue feeling that we have a chance,” McRae said.