Hard Not to Pull For the Royals – From the Bird’s Nest

After watching Kansas City's heart-stopping 9-8, 12-inning marathon win over the Oakland Athletics in the American League Wild Card game, I have two questions:

How can anyone say they're bored by baseball?

And, how can you not pull for these guys from Kansas City?

Anyone who is bored by the game of baseball obviously didn't know games like last night existed.  Oakland led 2-0, but Kansas City came back and led 4-2.  But Oakland scored five times to take a 7-4 lead.  The Royals cut the lead to one run in the eighth, but squandered an opportunity to tie the game when Salvador Perez had one of the worst at bats I've ever seen, swinging at three straight pitches, none of which was close to being a strike.  But it didn't matter because Kansas City manufactured a run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 7-7.  Oakland appeared to have the game won when they scored in the 12th, but the team that hasn't been in postseason in 29 years gets two in the bottom of the inning to win 9-8.  And who got the game winning hit?  The same Salvador Perez who looked so bad trying to hit in the eighth inning.  Twelve innings.  Four hours and 45 minutes.  And, none of it was boring.

You have to like this Kansas City club.  The Royals just play differently from other big league teams.  They play like Walter Alston's Dodgers, or Whitey Herzog's Cardinals.  They don't hit home runs.  But they don't strike out much either.  They play great defense.  They've stolen more bases than anyone in baseball.  They've struck out the least number of times.  They just find a way.

Last night after falling behind 2-0, Kansas City got a run back on an infield single, a stolen base and a base it.  They went ahead in the third on a single, a sacrifice bunt and a pair of hits.

The Royals then gave up the lead in sixth.  Moss' second home run put Oakland ahead 5-3.  But they weren't finished.  The A's wound up scoring five runs off three different Royals' pitchers and went into total control of the game 7-3.  Game over, right?

Nope.

The Royals came back again.  Down to their last six outs, Kansas City got an infield hit and a stolen base to get a runner into scoring position.  After a ground out, the Royals got another hit and another stolen base.  Follwing a walk, Billy Butler singled home the second run of the inning. with another runner moving to third.  A pinch runner for Butler stole second and the third run of the inning scored on a wild pitch.  But with a runner on third and just one out, Perez struck out as did Omar Infante.  7-6.  Chance squandered.  Game over, right?

Nope

In the ninth, Kansas City got a leadoff pinch hit single.  A sacrifice bunt moved a pinch runner to second...who then stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly.  Tie game thanks to a bunt and a stolen base.

Oakland didn't threaten in the 10th or 11th thanks to the pitching of rookie Brandon Finnegan, who just three months earlier was pitching for TCU in the College World Series.  Kansas City got the lead man on in each of the two innings and bunted the runners to second but could not score.

Oakland got a walk, a sacrifice and a pinch hit single to take the lead.  Game over, right?

Nope.

A one-out triple, followed by an infield single tied the game again.  After a foul out for the second out of the inning, ANOTHER stolen base moved the winning run into scoring position.  That brought up Salvador Perez who had been so poor with his eighth inning at bat.  Perez promptly singled home the winning run.

9-8.  12 innings.  Nearly five hours.

And we were almost sorry it was over.  We wanted to see more.

Kansas City won the game thanks to four sacrifice bunts, seven stolen bases (by seven different players) and going 7-15 with runners in scoring position.  They struck out eight times in 12 innings.

Oakland hit a pair of homers.  But they stranded ten base runners, didn't steal a base, sacrificed only once and struck out 15 times.

The Kansas City bullpen allowed only two hits and one run after the sixth inning.  The Royals, against the A's bullpen, scored five times after the seventh.

The Royals play the game the way it USED to be played.  They get runners on base, keep them in motion and find a way to get them home.  They steal bases.  They sacrifice.  They play impeccable defense.

And, they have fun doing it.

Kansas City plays the Angels next.  Mike Scioscia's club has baseball's best record and will be a big favorite.  But we learned something last night.  Unless you're an Angels fan, you're rooting for this Kansas City team.

Unless of course, baseball bores you.  In which case, you are the one missing out.