Kansas City, Mo. ? As captain, spokesman and lone icon on the worst team in baseball, Mike Sweeney knows exactly what to say – even when words fail him.

“What can you say?” he said.

How many new ways can there be to describe the Kansas City Royals and the dire plight of this once-proud franchise?

“Bumbling,” “inept” and “ineffective” have worn about as thin as the patience of long-suffering fans who have quit buying tickets. So have “terrible,” “appalling,” “wretched” and “bad.”

How about “national joke?” The Royals – who tied a team record Thursday night with their 13th straight loss – have sunk to the nadir of the major leagues and are fast becoming a baseball laughingstock.

Replay shows seem to delight in chronicling their latest misplays. Especially rich in comic material was Tuesday’s epic collapse.

Kansas City catcher John Buck, right, talks to pitcher Zack Greinke during the second inning against Cleveland. Greinke and Buck, shown Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo., are part of the Royals' youth movement. But after pathetic seasons three of the last four years, the once-proud Kansas City franchise may have hit its nadir.

Blowing a 7-2 lead, the Royals stumbled, committed two errors and gave up 11 runs in the ninth inning to Cleveland – yes, 11 – and lost No. 11 in a row.

This was no ordinary 13-7 loss. It was only the third time in major-league history that a visiting team had put up 11 runs in the ninth.

The half-inning lasted more than half an hour and probably represents the lowest point in the 37-year history of a franchise that is headed for triple-digit losses for the third time in four seasons.

“On the field, there’s nothing I can think of that comes within light years of that,” said Bill Althaus, who has covered the team for the Independence (Mo.) Examiner since 1976. “It was the lowest point in team history.”

Twenty-four hours later, many players still seemed glassy-eyed.

“We are embarrassed,” Sweeney said. “We’re hurting in here, and we should be.”

Adding to their humiliation is the timing. Long-planned reunion festivities will be held this weekend celebrating the 20th anniversary of the 1985 World Series championship, an opportunity, the club hoped, to restore pride and create renewed excitement.

Kansas City's Chip Ambres drops a fly ball hit by Cleveland's Jeff Liefer during the ninth inning of Tuesday's 13-7 loss to the Indians. Cleveland scored 11 runs in the ninth inning to rally past Kansas City and hand the Royals their 11th straight loss.

Instead, it’s going to be the best team in Kansas City history shaking hands with the worst. The good of 1985 will simply underscore the bad of 2005. Ticket sales for the series against Detroit were poor even before rain postponed Friday and Saturday’s games.

The Royals say the losing is temporary and the club is going through the painful first steps of a youth movement.

But what if the young players are only that – young? What if they lack the talent to turn things around like Oakland and Minnesota? And how did things get so bad?

Partly to blame are the harsh economics of baseball that put small-market clubs under a constant strain.

But as an organization, the Royals hardly have been a model franchise since the death in 1993 of team founder Ewing Kauffman. From 1993 through 2002, these were the first-round draft picks: Jeff Granger, Matt Smith, Juan LeBron, Dee Brown, Dan Reichert, Jeff Austin, Matt Burch, Kyle Snyder, Mike MacDougal, Mike Stodolka, Colt Griffin and Zack Greinke.

Out of those, only one has been an All-Star – MacDougal in 2003.

Kansas City manager Buddy Bell, right, argues with home-plate umpire Tim Tschida during the ninth inning against Cleveland on Wednesday. Bell was ejected during that game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., in a game the Indians won, 6-1. It was the Royals' 12th straight loss.

He and Greinke are the only ones who have made any steady contributions. But Greinke (3-14) also is the losingest pitcher in the major leagues.

General manager Allard Baird was not responsible for every one of those mistakes. But entering his fifth year as general manager, Baird increasingly is coming under scrutiny.

“No one can accept the way we lost that ball game (Tuesday) night,” he said. “But I know there is some good young talent here and that it will grow up and be good young major league talent. Yeah, I believe this is a good organization.”

And if things don’t turn around?

“When the organization has success, the organization did a good job,” Baird said. “When the organization doesn’t, the general manager didn’t do a good job. That’s the way it should be, too.”