Underestimate the Royals' Odorizzi at your peril

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Mike Odorizzi figured it would be a lark and a lesson, worst-case, that his son would come with his pride in tatters and arise stronger from it. One step back, two steps forward. Jake Odorizzi was 9 years old, a bulldog pup on the mound, but a bulldog nonetheless. A friend of the family was starting up a baseball travel squad for 10-year-olds and decided to give Mike a ring. "He wanted Jake to try out," Mike recalls, "and we said, 'Gosh, those 10-year-olds,' at that time, we (thought) one year was such a big difference. "So we said, 'We'll let him try out, he'll get cut, and get a taste of what it's like, and maybe he'll work harder (after that).'" The day came, the day went. But the expected scenario had hit a snag; The bulldog pup came home after the tryouts ginning from ear to ear. "I made the team," Jake said proudly. "At the time, we thought it backfired," Mike chortles, laughing with the benefit of hindsight. "But I guess it didn't." At 9 or 22, you ...