A week ago, with the Royals losing soundly to the New York Yankees , Farnsworth stomped into the game, unleashed his 100-mph fastball, struck out Damon, Teixeira, Matsui ? left all of them swinging helplessly at his ungodly stuff ? a commanding performance that inspired a crusty Baseball man to say with wonder: ?No one else in the world could do that.

Sunday, with the score tied in the ninth, that same Kyle Farnsworth came into the game, and on his second pitch he unleashed a 96-mph fastball that Michael Young hit so far that Royals left fielder David DeJesus did not even chase it to the wall. DeJesus instead took two or three steps back and then, like a golfer who realizes he will never find his ball in the jungle, turned back toward and let the cheering crowd fill him in on the details. The walk-off home run tagged Farnsworth with three losses in less than two weeks, which is telling when you consider that the Royals whole team only has five losses. And this time it was not a Baseball man, but instead Royals fans all over the country, who were left muttering: ?No one else in the world could do that.

As I Twittered in the seconds after the game ended: If William Shakespeare was alive and a sportswriter ? two plausible possibilities ? he would never tire of writing about Kyle Farnsworth.

But no, Im not going to write about Farnsworth today. Theres a whole season for that. Im also not going to write about my new favorite Kansas City Royals everyday player, Mike Jacobs, who had what I have to believe is a perfect Mike Jacobs day: He crushed an opposite field home run that sailed and sailed, he also struck out, and he spectacularly botched a sluggish ground ball in the eighth inning ? first fumbling it, then seeming to lose it under his car seat*, then making an ill-advised throw to no one in particular. His runner would tie the game. Mike Jacobs giveth, and he taketh away, and he makes it all interesting.

*Yes, Im already previewing what an infomercial blog post coming soon!

Im not even going to write about Royals manager Trey Hillman ? well, not entirely. I think its fair to say that Trey has not yet figured out how he will use the bullpen ? and thats probably not a good thing since, as far as I can tell, these games count in the standings. I remember Bill James wrote that it really would make sense for every big league manager to spend time simulating hundreds and hundreds of Baseball games on a computer. People took that wrong; Bill was not saying that managers could LEARN about their teams from playing these simulations. What he was saying by playing these games again and again, some parts of the game would become second nature ? he was saying they should simulate Baseball games for the same reason that astronauts simulate and race car drivers and pilots and so on. I suspect if Trey had done that, he would not have left Kyle Farnsworth in on Opening Day to face Jim Thome when he had a fresh lefty in the bullpen. I suspect if Trey had done that, he would not have used a fresh bullpen in the odd way he used it Sunday.

But no, my point is not to go over the details of Sundays loss, but to get to a different point: The Royals led 5-3 going into the eighth inning. They still led 5-4 with one out. They led 5-4 with two outs. And their star closer ? the guy who might just be the best closer in Baseball ? had not pitched in SIX DAYS. OK? This was Sunday afternoon, and Joakim Soria had not pitched since the previous Monday. Thats awful no matter what ? you dont leave any pitcher out for six days, much less your dominant closer. And on top of this, the Royals had a DAY OFF coming. OK? Are you with me here? Six days off coming in. One day off coming out.

So, its fair to say that you will never, ever have a better time to bring in your closer to try and get four or five outs. Never. Soria had not pitched in almost a week. The team was going into a day off. It was a beautiful afternoon. The Royals were in first place and going for a sweep. This was absolutely, positively the perfect time to stretch out Joakim Soria. If you are not going to do it in this spot, then you are basically saying that you will never do it.

Well, of course, you know that the Royals did not bring Soria into the game in the eighth inning. Hillman said he did not want Soria to pitch more than an inning. He said ? and I am not making this up ? that he did not think that would be right considering that Soria had not pitched much lately. So it goes.

But, again, Im not really writing about Trey Hillman: The Royals are off to a pretty nice start, and they are doing some good things, and he gets credit for that. If they can keep it going, then Hillman will have a real shot at being named manager of the year ? like Tony Pena was in 2003.

No, my point is this: I have written quite a lot about what the Royals should do with Joakim Soria, but I havent really written a hard opinion on it. Theres a reason for this: I can really see both sides of the argument ? I can see why some people think he should become a starter where he would be more valuable, and I can see why some people think he should be a closer where he has proven to be dominant. If you want to know the truth, I personally am on the side of making him a starter, but I have very good friends and Baseball people whose opinion I respect more than my own give me solid-sounding reasons why he should stay a closer. When he shut the door last week against the Yankees , I wrote a column saying that on days like that you can certainly see the closer side of the argument. Its nice to close out victories.

BUT ? on days like Sunday, the starter argument jumps hard, and suddenly I cant keep still on this. Whats the point of keeping this brilliant young pitcher in the bullpen if you are NOT GOING TO PITCH HIM? Whats the point of using Joakim Soria, with his three great pitches and zen-like calm, as a stinking, pitiful, plain old, start-the-ninth-if-up-by-1- 2-3-runs closer? Whats the point of being afraid to throw your best pitcher more than one inning or in a tie game?

Here is the starter argument to me: The Royals have never pushed to see what they have with Joakim Soria. They have gratefully taken his 1-2-3 ninth innings because those have been so rare in recent years. But they dont know what he could be ? and they seem too scared to find out.

Yes, I have been on the side of starting, but Ive never been militant about it, I fully understand the argument to keep him in the bullpen. The Royals have not had much go right the last decade or more. They dont want to screw this up. I get it.

But I dont get this. I just dont. Leaving Soria in the pen on Sunday to me was an affront ? Joakim Soria was a gift. If you dont pitch him, you are wasting that gift. And wasting gifts ? thats about the most frustrating thing in sports. Life too.

Newstex ID: KC-3053-34249456