Posted on Mon, Apr. 21, 2008

This isn’t the best time to go looking for smiles in the Royals’ clubhouse. The sting of that lost weekend in Oakland lingers even as they prepare to open a six-game home stand tonight with the first of three games against Cleveland.

Still, it’s worth noting that Zack Greinke seems to be having more fun than ever. More fun, certainly, than he ever believed he could have in the big leagues.

There is personal success on the mound, yes. Greinke is 3-0 with a 1.24 ERA in four starts despite his own disappointment in Oakland; he saw a 4-0 lead Saturday turn into a no-decision.

But it’s more than that.

Greinke finds himself enjoying the big-league lifestyle, the camaraderie of the clubhouse and even the ebb-and-flow work schedule of a starting pitcher.

All of the things, in short, he once despised with unconcealed dread.

“Every now and then now,” he acknowledged, “I find myself thinking I’ll definitely miss this when it’s over with. That makes me want to try to really enjoy it while I can. No one can do it forever. I could make another two starts and have some sort of serious injury.”

Go ahead and smile. Even an upbeat Greinke isn’t going to sugarcoat reality. His honesty remains beautifully blunt. In this case, though, he only cites the possibility of an injury to underscore his new slant on his surroundings.

“What I mean is I’m able to look forward to trying to enjoy it,” he said. “Just take everything in more than I ever did before. Because I know it can’t last forever.”

This represents victory beyond the mound, of course. It was just more than two years ago that Greinke walked away from the game, driven away, as has been well-documented, by the twin demons of clinical depression and social anxiety.

It seems like a long time ago.

Greinke now banters freely with reliever Jimmy Gobble over golf. He bristles good-naturedly at claims by former teammate Emil Brown regarding superiority in a computerized basketball simulation.

And he huddles with fellow starter Brian Bannister on topics ranging from the zen of pitching to everything imaginable. All in the same day.

“From an outside perspective,” Bannister smiled, “people see us and I’m sure it sort of looks like the Odd Couple. But it’s amazing in this game, no matter what background you come from, you can find a common bond. I think we’ve found that in each other.

“I think we see the potential on each other. I think we recognize that although we’re completely different, we have the same common goals.”

It’s not surprising — is it? — that Greinke offers a more-distilled view.

“Everyone likes Banny,” he said. “Banny is easy to get along with. I’m not someone who can talk to too many people, but Banny is easy to talk to.

“He has a lot of knowledge, and not just about baseball. He’s a real smart guy. He can talk about so many different things if you’re into other stuff.”

Greinke began reclaiming his potential last year in the bullpen as a power reliever. That prompted the Royals to reinsert him to the rotation in late August to see if he could yet be the front-of-the-rotation anchor they once envisioned.

The sample size remains small, just 11 starts over roughly two months, but Greinke has been little short of spectacular: A 5-2 record and 1.57 ERA with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly 2 1/2 to 1.

“He’s friendlier and more focused on the game,” catcher John Buck said. “There was a time when he dreaded coming to the park. By finding that happiness or whatever you want to call it, he’s become a better pitcher.

“He’s always had it in him. He’s always had the stuff, and you’d see glimpses of it. But it was a matter of which Zack you were going to get on any given day.”

Maturity played a role, undoubtedly. Greinke was one of the youngest players in franchise history when he reached the big leagues at age 20 in 2004. And it showed.

He was the prodigy who didn’t quite fit in.

“When you’re a rookie in the big leagues,” Buck said, “there are rules and things that, in the fraternity of baseball, you’ve got to deal with. Sometimes, the stuff is kind of petty, and Zack’s not much about that. I think that added a little to his unhappiness.

“He’s cut and dried. He’ll tell you how he feels. As a rookie, that’s not always the type of attitude they want you to have. So that just made stuff worse.”

Greinke’s untreated insecurities served to isolate him further from his teammates until everything came to a head in late February 2006. He fled spring camp and returned home, convinced his career was over.

And not really caring that it was.

Counseling, diagnosis and treatment took several months. When he returned, it was not to the big leagues but Class AA Wichita, where his teammates included Alex Gordon, Billy Butler and Luke Hochevar. Guys his own age.

Greinke found professional baseball, for the first time in his life, didn’t have to be drudgery. More than that, he truly enjoyed himself. It was something of a first-kiss epiphany.

“You sometimes feel like Zack’s been around forever,” Bannister said, “but he’s still young. I still don’t know what my potential is. I’m still going out there every fifth day and learning about myself and learning how I can be better by making adjustments.

“But I feel comfortable. I think that’s where Zack is, too.”

Greinke is still just 24 and the future, once again, seems a starburst of possibilities.

“A lot of it is me doing stuff,” he said, “but that medicine I take has worked wonders. It’s not like I’ve become the friendliest guy in the world or that I joke around all of the time, but I don’t get stressed out hardly at all anymore.

“And I don’t hate being where I’m at. I’m a lot more comfortable now in whatever situation I’m in. That makes it a lot easier.”

And fun. Don’t forget fun.

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