This season has been kind to some of baseball’s lower-revenue teams. The Tampa Bay Rays are threatening to make the playoffs.

The young Florida Marlins have been surprisingly good, too. But the good cheer hasn’t extended to Missouri’s left coast, where the Royals have plunged into another tailspin.

Kansas City lost its 11 consecutive game Thursday night, falling to the Twins 5-1. This came after outfielder Jose Guillen – no relation to the spectacularly profane Ozzie Guillen – delivered one of the great outbursts in recent memory:

“Too many (expletive) babies here. They (expletive) don’t know how to play the (expletive) game (expletive) and win the game right, the way it’s supposed to be (expletive) played. (Expletive, expletive). And that’s the problem (expletive) here. Now I (expletive) (expletive) know why this (expletive) organization’s been (expletive) losing for a while.”

What about his boss, manager Trey Hillman?

“Now I know he cares more than anyone here about winning,” Guillen continued. “That guy cares. Every single day. It’s killing him. (expletive). We’ve just got to be smart and know what we need to do to win (expletive) games. (Expletive) (expletive). That’s (expletive) it. There’s too many (expletive) guys that won’t do this, do that, like they’ve given up, like they don’t care. (Expletive).”

Well, that about covers it . . .

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering if fans will cut Chris Duncan some slack after his clutch, two-out, two-run hit Thursday night:

• Who could have possibly guessed that Mark Mulder would suffer another setback on his long, winding comeback trail?
• Say, was that really Fernando Tatis delivering a game-winning hit for the Mets to help ease the heat after Willie Randolph’s backside?
• Do Spurs fans have that nagging feeling that the NBA wanted Kobe Bryant and the viewer-friendly Lakers to reach the Finals?

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Steve Rosenbloom, ChicagoSports.com: “The Doug Collins who talks basketball is the calm, reasoned, insightful, brilliant analyst. Think Steve Stone in short shorts. But the Doug Collins who coaches is a nut. He’s crazy. He makes amphetamines feel like they’re valium.”

Jerry Crowe, Los Angeles Times, on the Stanley Cup Finals: “Finally, after Game 3, the Penguins have hope and Crosby.”

Jerry Greene, Orlando Sentinel: “Lauded rookie outfielder Jay Bruce made his debut with the Cincinnati Reds by going 3-for-3 at the plate against the Pirates. Afterward he said of the bigs: ‘It’s so much the same as the minors. They’ve just got bigger stands, more fans and better uniforms.’ Really? Wait until you see the Florida Marlins crowd.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “Heat star Dwyane Wade bought his mother a Chicago church for Mother’s Day. Made me feel like a bad son. I bought my mom a plant. Not even a manufacturing plant. Just a plant.”

Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle: “The people who resent the proposed intrusion of technology on baseball should check out tennis’ Hawk-Eye line-caller. Baseball should go to Hawk-Eye for chalk-line calls, for foul-pole calls, and for deciding yellow-line homers. ‘Tradition’ isn’t sufficient reason to resist change. Baseball stadium announcers once used paper megaphones. Actually, that’s one tradition we should have stayed with.”

Frank Fitzpatrick, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Baseball isn’t football, a game where instant replay works. It’s more quirky, more folksy, more human. It’s not a game filled with complex plays, overanalysis, and dictatorial coaches living out their unfulfilled military ambitions. That’s why baseball has yet to produce a Bill Belichick. Cheating is kind of cool in baseball. You can steal signs with your eyes and your brain. You don’t need a videographer. If you can scuff the ball out of view of the umpire, more power to you. An umpire, in all his blessed humanity, is a character in a baseball game, just like the screwball lefty, the free-swinging cleanup hitter, or the noisy hot dog vendor.”

MEGAPHONE

“There are a lot of things I would try to do different, but you can’t rewind time.”

Serena Williams, after losing to somebody named Katarina Srebotnik in the French Open.