This is not how you manage your employees

In the "oh, that poor guy" department of the sports world, previously unknown Kansas City Royals pitcher Vin Mazzaro--a 24-year old with less than 220 total innings of previous major league experience--leapt into the daily conversation with a historically bad performance last night against the Indians.

Needless to say, Monday night was a rough one for Royals pitcher Vin Mazzaro. First of all, he wasn't even supposed to pitch. He was slated to start Tuesday, but an early injury to starter Kyle Davies forced Mazzaro into relief duty. 

What followed was sheer catastrophe. 

Eight hits. Two walks. Ten earned runs. All of this happened in the fourth inning... 

Mazzaro's final line was an even worse nightmare. He went 2 1/3 innings and allowed 14 earned runs, making him the third pitcher since 1947 to allow 14 earned runs since 1947 and the first since 1998.

Yikes. Pitchers are notorious for their mental fragility, and leaving a young guy out there to get pounded like that is bound to be devastating to his confidence. The concept of the sacrificial lamb is well-understood in baseball circles--one pitcher takes one for the team in a lost cause game, so that the rest of the pitchers on the staff can rest their arms--but it's almost always done with a journeyman middle reliever who's been around the block a few times and understands the drill.

This guy hasn't been around the block at all, and the first that most of us have ever heard of him is last night's debacle. He'll forever be "Vin Mazzaro, the guy who gave up 14 runs in a relief outing", and it's going to be difficult for the young guy to get past that trauma. Bad call, Royals. Really dumb.

But of course, that wasn't the worst of it. After Vin took one for the team and probably endured a shattering blow to his ego, the Royals organization piled on after the game, apparently punishing him by sending him down to the minors.

Sure, it's possible that the minor league demotion was just a standard roster management move--a necessary evil so that the Royals could call up another pitcher to start in Mazzaro's place tonight--but try telling that to Vin. Big man just sacrificed his start to save the team, got his brains beat in for the whole country to see, and you reward him by busting him down to Omaha.

Great management, there, guys. Clearly, there's a reason you're the Royals, proud owners of exactly one winning record (and eight last place finishes) in the last 16 seasons. Clowns.

Here's hoping Vin bounces back to have a nice career despite last night's debacle. And let's hope it's somewhere besides Kansas City, because with last night's idiocy, that organization has shown that they don't deserve to reap any of the benefits of Mr. Mazzaro's career work. Keep your head up, Vin.

[CBSSports.com]