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The new millennium brought much hope for the future of Royals baseball in Kansas City. The Kansas City Royals and their fans welcomed in a new era with David Glass taking over ownership in May 2000.On the field, the Kansas City Royals continued to show improvement and gave their fans one of the best offensive performances in team history. KC set a team record for most runs scored in a season behind its new generation of stars. Mike Sweeney broke the team RBI mark. Jermaine Dye won a Gold Glove in right field and established himself as one of the top outfielders in the game. Fan-favorite Joe Randa returned to the Royals and stabilized the third base position, while adding offensive punch to an already potent Kansas City Royals attack.
With its young stars gaining additional experience and with an influx of new talent developed from within, Kansas City fans have high hopes as they look forward to another decade of exciting Kansas City Royals baseball.
Encouraged by success in 2003, the Kansas City Royals plugged some holes with slugger Juan Gonzalez and other veterans, hoping they would help lift a youngish team to a division title. Gonzalez was hurt early and it didn't work. The team slid to a franchise-record 104 losses. The flop prompted the trade of rising star Carlos Beltran to Houston in late June.
On the plus side, pitcher Zack Greinke and Beltran's replacement, center fielder David DeJesus, had fine rookie seasons. One highlight: a 26-5 win at Detroit in which Joe Randa had six hits and scored six runs, the first AL player ever to do that.
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