Domenic Vadala: Orioles can learn from the way Royals carry themselves

Gary Thorne and Mike Bordick brought up a great point in regards to the Kansas City Royals on Monday night. They mentioned that the team was playing with a lot of confidence, and there can be no doubt about that. You can see it written all over their faces, with the manner by which they carry themselves and, heck, even how their fans react. So could the Orioles learn a lesson from that?

The answer is yes - but to a point. The Birds are an uber-professional team in a sense. Think about it: When Manny Machado gave an interview after Sunday's game that included a few words that George Carlin told our society were profane, it raised a stink. Heck, I noticed people on Twitter, who previously had said that the O's should show more fire here and there, saying that what Machado said was inappropriate. (Personally, I didn't have an issue with it for the sole reason that he didn't call out any teammates. He directed that language towards himself and his own play - not that of anyone else.)

On the field, the O's just don't carry themselves with the "looseness" of a team like Kansas City. And I think that's part of their charm in a sense. Their goal is to plate runners, play solid defense and pitch well. And that's the goal of all teams. However, is there an issue with the Royals (and their fans) seemingly having a good time while doing it?

Probably not. And I'll even take that a step further. I would submit that Kansas City has shored themselves up as the season has gone along. Remember at the beginning of the year when Yordano Ventura was plunking people left and right, causing various brawls? That got nipped in the backside really quickly. Finally, it seems that manager Ned Yost figured out the balance between winning and professionalism on the field.

However, it is somewhat possible that the O's have gone too far in the opposite direction. There's seemingly no swagger in them whatsoever. They go about their business, saying the right things, etc. However, pitchers don't even fear hitters that they should direly fear of late because they can see the lack of confidence at times written all over the team's faces.

Let me be very clear: This is not an attack on the team, the coaches, their characters or anyone else. I, myself, would be lying if I said that I never questioned myself and even showed some of that same self-questioning on my own face in life. Heck, sometimes it pops up in my writing; I sit up at night wondering if I produced a quality article, or something along those lines.

That's why life is so challenging. It's a daily leap of faith to the effect that you have to put your best foot forward. I worked a job once where every vowel you uttered was critiqued with a fine-toothed comb. If something was left open to interpretation, odds were someone would take offense to it and you'd find yourself in HR facing an "anonymous complaint." So I went on a crusade to watch what I said - and I still got into hot water. Why? Because I didn't have confidence in what I was saying and it would come out wrong.

These aren't apples-to-apples comparisons. But if you start to question yourself too much, you'll find yourself just going through the motions. And that's how mistakes can continually happen. So maybe the Orioles should look in the opposite dugout and see the swagger and so forth with which Kansas City presents itself. They don't have to be unprofessional or in your face about it, but perhaps just adopt some of those mannerisms.

Baseball imitates life at times - so yes, these are good life lessons, as well. If you constantly manage your affairs in a scared manner, that's how you're probably going to come across. I still maintain that the Orioles have the best talent in this American League East. However, they've allowed themselves to be beaten because of careless mistakes at times, many of which can be attributed to a lack of swagger or confidence.

The season isn't over and neither is the playoff chase. They can still come back from this, and the good news is that we know this team plays until the final out. And they will continue to do so. Gaining confidence is part of learning in this world. And the same can be said for keeping that confidence.

Domenic Vadala blogs about the Orioles at Birds Watcher, and his opinions appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. Follow him on Twitter: @DomenicVadala. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.