Knowing who you are as an organization is a useful and underrated part of any business. Are the Kansas City Royals always good? No. Are they always watchable? Also, no - they have lost 100+ in three of the past eight seasons. But they stay true to a general philosophy: they aim to put the ball in play, take the extra base as often as possible (thanks to Kauffman Stadium’s dimensions), and play good defense behind a solid-if-unspectacular pitching staff (sometimes with a spectacular bullpen). If enough of the component pieces work, they can contend in an AL Central without a dominant team (although the Tigers toy with being just that on occasion).

What a coherent organizational philosophy does it make it easier for players to execute to their talent level. That talent level might not often be elite - the Royals have one elite player, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. - but it keeps teams in games, and helps especially against talented teams that too often fail to execute. You see where I’m going with this. In two games, the less-talented but more-coherent Royals have clearly taken advantage of a Nationals outfit that can’t finish innings or always make the right play when needed, and it has shown that the organization we follow DOES lack a coherent vision and philosophy for what they do or what kind of players they attempt to develop. And so it goes, in mid-August of the fourth year of a rebuild.

It wasn’t the worst of Mitchell Parker first innings (just one run). Still, the Royals parlayed a leadoff walk in the first into a run, added three more in the third from a Pasquatch homer, and a further three in the sixth (one charged to Parker, two to Konnor Pilkington) en route to an 8-5 win that only just felt approachable for the Nats.

James Wood registered another extra-base hit last night - a double that was not far from the Royals’ left fielder but was smoked so hard (118 mph) that it got to the wall anyway - along with another hit, but more importantly, did not strike out once. Based on his weekend in San Francisco and his brief hitting streak, Wood appears to have pulled out of the worst of the month-long slump that made his July look like something out of the Josh Bell playbook. Wood's return would at least make the Nationals an interesting watch for the last six weeks of the season.

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