The Kansas City Royals are 3-13 and losers of 11 straight. They own the worst record in all of baseball and have already pulled back on their highly embarrassing “Our Time” marketing campaign. The seemingly hopeless franchise also just became the first team to lose 10 straight games at home since 1913. If you haven’t popped a few pain killers yet, I commend you.

In keeping with the theme of widespread deflation, promising second year player Eric Hosmer, less than a month into the season, has made the decision to quit Twitter citing “it’s just not important” and that he just wants to play baseball. Sounds like a fragile young fellow. What happened to six years of shrewd drafting, developing young players, and a world of promise? Here’s famed deer-killer manager Ned Yost:

“These last 10 or 11 games have felt like a lifetime, I’m not going to lie to you. It’s felt like three summers, this home stand alone. But you can’t get caught up in 10 or 11 games over the course of a 162-game season.”

For a guy whose job is to remain optimistic, Yost sounds like someone about to start an impressive bonfire with his book of season tickets.

Some will say we’re not even out of April yet, but this is a franchise with preexisting, gaping flesh wounds in all the wrong places. Endless disappointment is almost expected at this point. If the home losing streak extends to 15 or so, I assume it’s more than acceptable to start talking contraction.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though, so long as you put stock into SI’s MLB Power Rankings, where the Royals are sitting comfortably at No. 7. Why? Because apparently they don’t really have to play much better to start winning games, they just need to start delivering in the clutch. Sounds easy enough. Throw that puppy on the whiteboard and we’re all set. But really, a 3-13 team ranked 7th out of 30? That’s almost as offensive as Ned Yost’s adoration of Jeff Foxworthy.

[via Kansas City Star]