Believe! Royals hold on

K.C. fights blunders to end 19-game slide

? The Kansas City Royals ended baseball’s longest losing streak in 17 years Saturday night, defeating the Oakland Athletics, 2-1, to snap a club-record 19-game skid.

Emil Brown doubled in a run, Matt Stairs added an RBI groundout, and Mike Wood pitched five effective innings, helping the Royals stop their slide two shy of the American League record. They also ended a 12-game road losing streak that tied the franchise single-season mark.

It didn’t come without a couple of bloopers that so defined the play of the lowly Royals for 23 days since their previous victory, a 6-5 triumph over the Chicago White Sox in 13 innings July 27.

Kansas City (39-82), which owns the majors’ worst record, beat A’s ace Barry Zito and got clutch outs when Oakland had a runner on third base with fewer than two outs in the fifth and sixth.

Royals outfielder Terrence Long, who spent 2000-03 with the A’s, has seen astonishing streaks from both sides. Long avoided becoming the first player since 1900 to be part of a 20-game winning streak and a 20-game losing streak, according to Stats, Inc.

Kansas City closer Mike MacDougal pumps his fist after he recorded the final out against Oakland. The Royals ended a 19-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory Saturday in Oakland, Calif.

“I don’t want to be that guy,” Long said before the game. “Not that way. But what can you do?”

Long remembers when Oakland beat Kansas City in improbable fashion for the club’s AL-record 20th straight victory in early September 2002 – and now the Royals ended their frustration against the same club.

Wood (4-4), a former member of the A’s making his third start of the year, allowed four hits, struck out four and walked two in a solid 92-pitch effort. Mike MacDougal got four outs for his 15th straight save and 16th in 18 chances – his first since July 24.

The right-hander blew a game against Cleveland in a non-save situation Aug. 9 when Kansas City took a five-run lead into the ninth and was on the verge of snapping a 10-game losing streak, but the Indians sent 14 batters to the plate and scored 11 runs to rally for a 13-7 victory.

Zito (11-10) lost his second straight start and is winless in three outings since beating Minnesota on Aug. 4 for his eighth straight victory. The lefty gave up two runs and four hits in seven innings, struck out five and walked three.

Kansas City hit back-to-back singles off Zito to start the fourth, then Brown’s RBI double tied the score at 1. Stairs made it 2-1 with an RBI groundout moments later.

But soon the mistakes came. Shortstop Angel Berroa backhanded Jay Payton’s sharp grounder, then bounced his throw to second for an error. The Royals got out of it unscathed after turning a double play.

Royals at Athletics

When: 3:05 p.m. today

Where: McAfee Coliseum, Oakland, Calif.

TV: Sunflower Broadband Channel 15

Pitchers: Runelvys Hernandez (8-11) vs. Joe Blanton

(7-9)

K.C. record: 39-82 (351â2 back)

The next inning, third baseman Mark Teahen fielded Jason Kendall’s grounder and made a wild throw that sailed well over first baseman Mike Sweeney’s head for a two-base error. One out later, Teahen made a sprawling stop and threw out Bobby Crosby at first for the third out.

After MacDougal closed out the win, pitcher Jose Lima sprinted out of the dugout and threw his arms around the closer.

A few minutes later, Lima started pouring glasses of Dom Perignon champagne he had been hiding in the clubhouse.

“This win is like winning a playoff game,” said Lima, whose crew only went through six of the 12 bottles of his bubbly. “We’re a young team, we stuck together and took it like a man. It’s tough to stay tough, but we did it.”

Then he offered up $1,000 to the player who most helps the Royals win today. Some of his teammates just shook their heads, so accustomed to Lima going over the top on everything.

“Save it, Lima!” one yelled, music blaring in the background.

The Royals’ skid was the longest since Baltimore lost an AL-record 21 in a row at the start of the 1988 season. The major-league mark since 1900 is 23 straight losses by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1961.

“This game was so crazy,” Royals manager Buddy Bell said. “It’s probably one of the worst games we played in the whole streak. I told the guys after the game that they handled one of the toughest times ever in baseball. A young team faced TV and newspapers and everywhere they read they were scrutinized. I’m proud of them. It was tough, but the guys handled themselves with class.”