flashing potential

On his best day, Jarrod Dyson can fill up a box score. Take last Saturday, for instance. The dash-fast outfielder from McComb went 3-for-3, drew a walk, scored a run, drove in a run, stole two bases and even picked up an assist. His Kansas City Royals won that day, 4-3 over Oakland. They lost badly on Sunday — Dyson was a quiet 1-for-4 — and thus lost the 3-game series to the visiting A’s. KC, brimming with young talent but confoundingly inconsistent, stands 41-44, third in the American League Central, 6 games out of first place. Dyson is hardly the linchpin for these Royals. In fact, whatever they get out of him might feel like a bonus. Remember, he was a 50th-round draft pick out of Southwest Mississippi Community College. A 5-foot-9 lefty hitter, he is batting .268 with 12 steals, two homers, 13 runs and 10 RBIs in 30 games, having recently become a regular in a lineup that features high draft picks who have raised expectations for the long-struggling Royals. KC is entering a key stretch of the season: The Royals play the Yankees in New York tonight through Thursday, then have a road series against AL Central leader Detroit followed, after the All-Star break, by home sets with Cleveland and Baltimore. It could be a telling stretch also for manager Ned Yost, the former Jackson Mets catcher who has yet to guide this club to a winning season much less the playoffs, a drought that dates to 1985. Is this the year? We may know soon enough. Dyson doesn’t have the kind of game to carry a team, but he can light the fuse, as he did last Saturday. He could be an unsung reason that this team catches fire – if it ever does. P.S. Weir’s Roy Oswalt, 0-4 with a 7.64 ERA in four starts for Colorado, is headed to the disabled list with a hamstring injury. Wonder if he’ll be back at all. … Former Mississippi Braves ace Todd Redmond, now pitching for Toronto, notched his first big league win on Sunday, beating Minnesota and ex-M-Braves hurler Scott Diamond.