So, we&rsquo;re on an old-fashioned family vacation. The only thing missing, really, is the wood-paneled station wagon, and that&rsquo;s only because we couldn&rsquo;t find one. </p><p>This week, the family is out driving the highways and byways of America, a multi-thousand-mile car ride that will wind around to various places and ultimately end up (I hope) in Toronto.</p><p>Already, the trip has taken us by Hamilton, Mo., which is the birthplace of Hall of Famer <strong>Zack Wheat </strong><em>and </em><strong>James Cash Penney</strong>, who, as you can tell by the initials, is better known as J.C. Penney. I&rsquo;m fascinated by stuff like this. It blows my mind that <strong>Walt Disney </strong>and <strong>Mark Twain </strong>both moved to Missouri towns when they were 4 years old &hellip; and those towns are roughly 90 miles apart on Highway 36. We went by those towns, too &hellip; maybe my next book should be about Highway 36.</p><p>We already have eaten incredibly bad food &mdash; I cannot believe I fell for the KFC trap <em>again </em>&mdash; and stayed at one shaky hotel (though the beds were comfortable) and gotten stuck in a tollbooth line that moved slower than a <strong>Molina </strong>and (twice) done the &ldquo;scrape the bug remains off the windshield&rdquo; dance. It&rsquo;s all good.</p><p>And I&rsquo;ll watch sports from a distance for a little while &hellip; that will be good, too. I have noticed that the Royals just went on a stretch where they lost 12-5, 12-5, 10-5, 7-1 and 12-5. That&rsquo;s staggeringly bad. </p><p>In fact, it&rsquo;s so bad that against my better judgment, I did my best to look back and see when was the last time the Royals lost five games in a row by at least five runs. And, best I can tell, the answer is: Never. Yeah, that&rsquo;s right: Never.</p><p>Even during their worst moments, and there have been some really terrible moments, they had never done this before (unless I missed it somewhere) &hellip; see, it&rsquo;s <em>hard </em>to lose by five runs or more night after night.</p><p>The Royals have now lost 18 games by five or more runs &hellip; most in baseball. That fits. Last year, they lost by five or more 31 times, most in the American League. The year before that, they lost by five or more 30 times, second-most in the league to Tampa. </p><p>In 2006, yeah, 36 times, most in baseball. In 2005, yeah, 37 times, most in baseball. In 2004, yeah, 37 times. Tied for most in baseball.</p><p>Since 2004, combined, the Royals have lost 188 times by five runs or more &mdash; that&rsquo;s 29 more losses than the next-closest team (the Cincinnati Reds).</p><p>Plain and simple fact: No team the last few years has had to endure more butt-kickings than the Royals. And even with that, they had never lost five games in a row by five runs or more. Something else to put on the r&eacute;sum&eacute;.</p><p><strong>Albert Pujols</strong>, by the way, is now hitting .394/.490/.733 with 14 homers and 50 RBIs in 42 games against the Royals. Don&rsquo;t tell me that he wasn&rsquo;t insulted by the Royals passing on him in the draft.