Does life imitate art?

Four games. Four wins. I'm not one to make snap judgements, but something strange is going on in Kansas City. After 50 games of pretty terrible baseball, the Royals have begun to resemble a major league team. Good defense, superb pitching, and timely -- if not exactly spectacular -- hitting. In the span of three days, the Royals won their first two games of the season when scoring three or fewer runs...against two of the best offenses in baseball. And OH, that bullpen:

(last 4 games)
14.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R (0.64 ERA), 7 BB, 9 K, 4 saves

So is Buddy Bell the miracle worker behind this supposed transformation? Is he a real life Lou Brown? Did he tell Burgos to forget the curveball and give them the heater? Did he figure out that MacDougal needed glasses? Did he pee on Angel Berroa's contract?

Most likely not. In the Star today, Bell even admitted that he's really had little to do with, well, anything:

“I really haven’t done a whole lot,” Bell said. “Just watch. I really haven’t done a whole lot. Maybe they like a smile on my face every once in a while.”

Hmmm, that doesn't sound a whole lot like Lou Brown. It sounds like Bell really hasn't done a whole lot. And I don't know the secret to our recent success, but I'm pretty sure smiling doesn't have a whole lot to do with it. All I know is that in Buddy Bell's first four games as manager, the Royals had their finest four-game stretch since September 2003. So I'm not going to try to figure it out. I'm just going to enjoy it while it lasts, and the overwhelming odds are that it won't last very long. Jose Lima starts today.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a guy on the other line asking about some white walls.