Were Matt Quatraro's weekend comments the long-awaited spark the KC Royals needed?

At first glance, sitting 5.0 games back of the final AL Wild Card spot with a 44-48 record entering the heart of July doesn't look great. However, the month of July has seen the Kansas City Royals play some great baseball, starting the month with a 5-2 record.

While we've seen hot streaks from the Royals already this season, their commanding back-to-back wins on Sunday and Monday seem a bit different, almost tide-turning in a way.

And coincidentally, these victories come directly after manager Matt Quatraro took to MLB Network Radio to weigh in on how the Royals are planning to approach the rest of the season.

Matt Quatraro has his sights set on a postseason return for KC Royals

In his weekend radio appearance, Quatraro didn't sugar coat the belief he has in his team to turn things around, regardless of how the standings may currently look.

"We're going to get back in this," he said. "We're going to put a good run together because we can go out there and play better baseball."

He went on to praise his pitching staff and state how important they will be to navigate this run, as well as stressing how mixing things up in the lineup could aid in this process as well.

At the end of the day though, it comes down to belief and how bought in this group is to dig themselves out of this current hole they're in, and by Quatraro's judgement, that mindset is present in the clubhouse.

"We think we can get back in it," he said. "Five games or whatever it is can happen in the blink of an eye if you're playing good baseball."

"Our focus is getting back into this thing and making a run," Quatraro said.

The fact of the matter is, they were playing better baseball before those comments, going .500 (3-3) from the start of the Seattle series through Saturday's second game against the Diamondbacks. However, they were still suffering their fair share of tight low-scoring wins (3-2 over the Mariners on July 3) and dramatic losses (7-1 to the D-Backs on July 5). That consistency still wasn't necessarily there.

But after these comments, KC would go on to shutout Arizona in a commanding 4-0 fashion on Sunday to take the three-game set and then come back to Kauffman Stadium to obliterate the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-3 on Monday.

The key test will be how the Royals move forward beyond these two promising games within their solid 5-2 start to July. But they've done everything right to think a run like Quartraro called for is possible.

Whether or not the skipper's comments were what ignited this fine form from the squad is purely speculative. However, if it were, I'm sure Royals fans will gladly take it if it means better days are ahead and a legitimate push for the postseason is on in Kansas City.