He’s Positive That It Can Hardly Get Any Worse

Joey Devine, the Atlanta Brave rookie pitcher whose major league debut was spoiled by Xavier Nady’s 13th-inning grand slam Saturday during the San Diego Padres’ 7-2 victory, apparently majored in the glass-is-half-full theory when he was at North Carolina State.

“I can’t let one bad pitch affect me for the rest of the season,” said Devine, the first-round draft pick who was closing games for the Wolfpack less than three months ago.

“I’ll think about all the positives and learn from the negatives.”

To review, Devine gave up three hits, two walks and four runs in 1 2/3 innings. He took the loss, and his earned-run average was 21.60.

What were those positives again?

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Trivia time: What potential bit of symmetry was lost for Kansas City outfielder Terrence Long when the Royals ended their 19-game losing streak Saturday night?

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Divine wish: No longer can anyone blame Kansas City fan Eric Moeller for the Royals’ epic losing streak now that they have won two games in a row..

According to a story relayed by Kansas City Star columnist Joe Posnanski, Moeller was mowing the lawn on Oct. 27, 1985, when he made a plea to God.

“He said, ‘God, if you can just let the Royals win Game 7 of the World Series tonight, I don’t care if they ever win again.’

“Eric says he has the same offer for a Chiefs Super Bowl.”

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Streak stats: The Royals used 72 pitchers, walked 86 batters, were outscored, 148-64, were shut out three times and did not win for 24 days.

And, for the record, Jose Lima uncorked six bottles of champagne in celebration when the streak ended.

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Losers’ quandary: ESPN Page 2 columnist Dan Shanoff considered the Royals to be in a no-win situation, literally and metaphorically, regardless of the outcome of their weekend series against Oakland.

“Literally: If the Royals are swept this weekend by the A’s, they will tie the ’88 Orioles for the longest losing streak in AL history.

“Metaphorically: If the Royals manage to win a game, they will have found a way to screw up their one prospect of standing out.”

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Charitable umps: The umpires who call the Little League World Series pay their travel costs and work for free, according to an item in ESPN the Magazine.

The umpires are treated to free postgame hot dogs and snow cones but, as the saying goes, they are just happy to be there.

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Trivia answer: Long played for an Oakland team that won its 20th consecutive game in 2002 with a victory over the Royals and was part of a Kansas City team that was in position to drop its 20th in a row with a loss against the A’s.

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And finally: The Seattle Times’ Dwight Perry, on the settlement between the warring postseason college basketball tournaments:

“This is progress? It took $24 to buy the entire island of Manhattan -- and $56.5 million to buy the National Invitation Tournament.”