We’re in the Top 150 now, so these are Moments you should
be paying extra careful attention to. There will be a quiz later.
Moment #:
150
Date: October 30, 2015
Game: 2015 World Series Game 3, @ New York
Mets
Score: Kansas City 0, New York 0, Top of the
1st
Situation: No outs, bases empty
Count: 0-0
Matchup: Alcides Escobar vs. Noah Syndergaard
Result: Ball one
WPA: N/A
Summary: Noah Syndergaard
tries to send a message to the Royals by throwing the first pitch of Game 3 way
up and in.
I can't believe Escobar didn't swing at that.— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 31, 2015
By Game 3 of the World Series, pretty much the whole world
knew that 1) Alcides Escobar was almost certainly going to swing at the first
pitch of the game and 2) he and the Royals were having an inordinate amount of
success doing so. Escobar had been named the ALCS MVP after going 11-for-23
against the Blue Jays with three extra-base hits, 5 RBIs, and 6 runs scored in
six games. He had swung at the first pitch of the game in all six ALCS games,
putting three of those pitches into play, two for hits. (He went 4-for-6 in his
first plate appearance of each game, the four hits coming in the first four
games.) In Game 1 of the World Series he had famously swung at the first pitch
and been gifted an inside-the-park home run by Yoenis Cespedes; on the first
pitch of Game 2, he had flied out to right field.
Along with all his personal success, the Royals had a
baffling tendency to, you know, win games. Escobar had swung at the first pitch
in nine straight games, going back to Game 5 of the ALDS, and the Royals were
7-2 in those games. (He didn’t swing at the first pitch in Games 1 and 4 of the
ALDS; he hit an infield single on the first pitch in Game 3, and fouled off the
first pitch in Game 2.) As Sam Miller detailed
back when this phenomenon was first getting a lot of attention, the Royals had
a better record during the regular season when Escobar swung at the first pitch
than when he didn’t.
Syndergaard decided to try to derail that correlation by
making it essentially impossible for Escobar to swing at the first pitch, which
in and of itself was not objectionable. The manner in which he did so – buzzing
Escobar’s noggin with a high pitch – was questionable, although I take it on
faith that given the control wielded by an elite major league pitcher, that
Syndergaard was not trying to hit Escobar and in fact placed the pitch exactly
where he wanted it to go. His comments after the game, saying of the Royals, “If they have a problem with me throwing
inside, then they can meet me 60 feet, 6 inches away,” well, those are fighting
words, quite literally. But they also insure that this pitch, which had no
outcome on the game or the Series, will nonetheless be remembered for a long,
long time.
Moment #:
149
Date: October 30, 2015
Game: 2015 World Series Game 3, @ New York
Mets
Score: Kansas City 0, New York 0
Situation: One out, bases empty
Count: 3-2 (+1 foul)
Matchup: Ben Zobrist vs. Noah Syndergaard
Result: Double
WPA: 4%
Summary: Ben Zobrist responds
to Noah Syndergaard’s message with one of his own: the Royals will not be
intimidated.
Link to video: Here.
Link to video: Here.
I'm not sure what makes me happier: that Zobrist doubled, or that he quieted the narrative of "the Royals have finally met their match!".— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 31, 2015
It is annoying, not just as a Royals fan but as a fan of
baseball and true narratives, that Syndergaard’s purpose pitch somehow got some
of the credit for the Mets winning Game 3, based on the logic that 1) after not
being able to swing at the first pitch, Alcides Escobar struck out, and 2) the
Royals lost. This narrative somehow evades both common sense and the facts,
particularly the fact that the second batter
of the game, Ben Zobrist, worked Syndergaard for a seven-pitch at-bat before
doubling over Yoenis Cespedes’ head in center field, and came around to score
the game’s first run. Syndergaard’s message was so effective that he walked off
the mound in the middle of the 1st inning with his team trailing, and then
after David Wright hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to give the
Mets the lead, Syndergaard gave up two runs in the top of the 2nd and again walked off the mound with his team
losing.
If Syndergaard’s message took two innings to reach its
recipient, it was a strange message indeed. The simpler, and thus vastly more
likely, explanation for why the Mets won Game 3 was that Yordano Ventura had a
terrible outing, giving up five runs before he was knocked out of the game in
the 4th. But the Royals’ offense was so intimidated by Syndergaard’s first
pitch that they scored three runs in the first two innings. Thankfully, the
Royals won Game 4 and 5 and we haven’t had to listen to that nonsense since.
Moment #:
148
Date: October 21, 2015
Game: 2015 ALCS Game 5, @ Toronto Blue Jays
Score: Kansas City 0, Toronto 0, Bottom of
the 2nd
Situation: No outs, bases empty
Count: 1-2
Matchup: Edwin Encarnacion vs. Edinson Volquez
Result: Flyout to first base
WPA: 2%
Summary: Eric Hosmer runs
a very long way to make a terrific over-the-shoulder catch on Edwin
Encarnacion’s flyball into no-man’s land down the right field line.
This isn’t the most memorable catch of the last two years when it comes to terrific plays by corner infielders on high flyballs, but it was a pretty damn good catch. In the lost years of Kansas City Baseball – roughly from 1996 to 2010 or so – these kinds of high flyballs in no-man’s land were a nightmare for the Royals. They didn’t have the range to get to these balls, and if they did, then they didn’t have the communication skills to insure that two fielders wouldn’t collide trying to make the catch – or worse, that they wouldn’t both peel off the ball expecting the other to catch it.
That doesn’t happen anymore. Despite playing well off the
first base line, Eric Hosmer took the perfect route on this ball over his head,
took his eye off the ball for a single instant to see where Alex Rios was, and
noticing that Rios had no chance to catch the ball (but also had no chance of
colliding with Hosmer), followed the ball all the way into his glove. It looks
like the ball would have hit the chalk – the umpire signaled that it was a fair
ball after the catch – so Hosmer probably saved a double. And he almost
certainly saved a run, as Chris Colabello followed with a home run, which was
the only run of the game through five innings. The Royals would lose the game
anyway because Marco Estrada pitched a gem, and because a borderline 3-2 pitch
to Jose Bautista in the 6th inning was ruled ball four instead of strike three.
But one thing about running through a list of 218 Moments is that you have the
space to include a play like this one even if the ultimate outcome wasn’t to
your liking.
Moment #:
147
Date: October 27, 2015
Game: 2015 World Series Game 1, vs. New York
Mets
Score: New York 4, Kansas City 3, Bottom of
the 8th
Situation: No outs, bases empty
Count: 0-0
Matchup: Ben Zobrist vs. Tyler Clippard
Result: Double
WPA: 17%
Summary: Down a run in the
8th inning, Ben Zobrist hits the first pitch of the inning for a double, only
to be stranded. The true heroics would have to wait an inning.
Ben Zobrist tied an all-time major league record with eight doubles in a single postseason, and this could have ended up the most important of them all. Certainly the timing of it was as crucial as any of the others. The Mets had just taken the lead in a tie game in the 8th when, with two outs, Juan Lagares worked Kelvin Herrera for a nine-pitch at-bat before singling to center field, stole second, and then scored when Eric Hosmer brutally misplayed Wilmer Flores’ chopper to first base:
WHAT IS IT WITH THE METS AND GROUND BALLS GOING UNDER FIRST BASEMEN'S GLOVES— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 28, 2015
Oh you have got to be kidding me. https://t.co/m4yYZqSluw— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 28, 2015
And if momentum meant anything in baseball, Lagares would
have been a New York hero. But it doesn’t. Zobrist led off the bottom of the
8th against Tyler Clippard, and – in contrast to his reputation as a patient
hitter – ambushed the first pitch, pulling it down the right-field line just
fair, where it rattled around in the corner for an easy double. The Royals were
back in business, only Lorenzo Cain got the crazy idea that now would be the
perfect time for him to put down a bunt. (Quite the notion for a player who,
despite his speed, has exactly one sacrifice bunt in his major league career.
On the other hand, that bunt has a story of its own.)
Two failed attempts later, Cain was down in the count 0-2, and was forced to chase a borderline fastball for strike three. Eric Hosmer also struck out, which meant that Zobrist was still on second base when Clippard threw a wild pitch that only got him to third base; after Clippard walked Kendrys Morales, Jeurys Familia came in and retired Mike Moustakas to end the threat and send the game to the 9th with the Royals still down a run.PLEASE STOP BUNTING. YOU ARE THE TEAM'S BEST PLAYER.— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 28, 2015
And if momentum meant anything in baseball, that would have
been the end of it. But it doesn’t. As we shall see.
Moment #:
146
Date: October 31, 2015
Game: 2015 World Series Game 4, @ New York
Mets
Score: Kansas City 1, New York 3, Top of the
6th
Situation: No outs, bases empty
Count: 0-0
Matchup: Ben Zobrist vs. Steven Matz
Result: Double
WPA: 8%
Summary: Ben Zobrist
doubles leading off another inning, this time with the Royals down by two, and
this time he scores…
Still down a run, but the Royals either getting a tiring Matz the third time through the lineup, or a reliever in the 6th. Keep it close.— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) November 1, 2015
Four days later, Ben Zobrist would again lead off an inning
with a double, his fourth of the World Series (and the third that came on the
first pitch) – this one was his eighth of the postseason, tying the all-time
record. This one was made possible in part because Terry Collins let Steven
Matz, making just the ninth start of his major league career, start the 6th
inning even after he had shown signs of losing effectiveness in the 5th, when
he allowed three hits and one run. Foreshadowing the mistake Collins would make
the next night, his mistake was perhaps not in letting his starting pitcher
begin the inning so much as letting him stay in the game after the leadoff
hitter reached base, as Matz then pitched to Lorenzo Cain…
Moment #:
145
Date: October 31, 2015
Game: 2015 World Series Game 4, @ New York
Mets
Score: Kansas City 1, New York 3, Top of the
6th
Situation: No outs, man on second
Count: 1-2
Matchup: Lorenzo Cain vs. Steven Matz
Result: Single, one run scores
WPA: 10%
Summary: …because this
time Lorenzo Cain swings away, and drives him home with a single.
…who on a 1-2 count managed to punch a ground ball up the
middle that Daniel Murphy – stop me if you’ve heard this before – couldn’t
reach. Zobrist came around to score, the Royals had cut the Mets’ lead to one
run, and Matz was pulled from the game. Cain would steal second base against
Jon Niese, but would be stranded on third base as Niese and Bartolo Colon
worked their way out of trouble. The Royals would have to wait until Zobrist
and Cain batted again to begin their next rally. But we’re getting ahead of
ourselves again.
So Terry Collins let his pitcher bat, and then had to pull him before he retired a batter. His Ned Yost impression is UNCANNY.— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) November 1, 2015
Moment #:
144
Date: October 2, 2014
Game: 2014 ALDS Game 1, @ Los Angeles Angels
of Anaheim
Score: Kansas City 0, Los Angeles 0, Bottom
of the 1st
Situation: No outs, bases empty
Count: 0-0
Matchup: Kole Calhoun vs. Jason Vargas
Result: Deep fly out – center field
WPA: 2%
Summary: Lorenzo Cain
starts the 2014 ALDS with a great catch to rob Kole Calhoun of extra bases.
The Wild Card Game introduced the nation to the Royals’
speed, with a postseason-record seven stolen bases in the game. But America
wasn’t really introduced to the Royals’ defense until the ALDS. They didn’t
have to wait long for the introduction, though: on the very first pitch thrown
by the Royals, Kole Calhoun hit a drive to deep center field, where Lorenzo
Cain timed his jump beautifully, and caught the ball almost against the wall to
take away extra bases. He made it look easy. I’d call it foreshadowing, except
that as foreshadowing goes, Cain’s catch was about as subtle as a train wreck.
Watch until the end, when Jason Vargas makes his now-famous Jason Vargas Face:
Moment #:
143
Date: October 11, 2015
Game: 2015 ALDS Game 3, @ Houston Astros
Score: Kansas City 0, Houston 0, Top of the
4th
Situation: No outs, bases empty
Count: 2-2 (+5 fouls)
Matchup: Lorenzo Cain vs. Dallas Keuchel
Result: Home Run, go-ahead run scores
WPA: 13%
Summary: On the tenth
pitch of the at-bat, Lorenzo Cain homers off Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel to
give the Royals a 1-0 lead.
TO THE PEOPLE, LORENZO! TO THE PEOPLE!— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 11, 2015
This is the kind of Moment that I had in mind when I
decided to take leave of my faculties and extend this list to 218. This Moment
has been all but forgotten because the Royals lost the game, but at the time it
looked like a pivotal play indeed, as well as a rather remarkable piece of
hitting by Lorenzo Cain. Dallas Keuchel had just completed a Cy Young season,
which he had followed by throwing six shutout innings on three days’ rest with
the Astros’ season on the line, against the Yankees in the Wild Card game. (As
opposed to the Wild Card Game.) Keuchel was a tough enough matchup on pure
ability and results, but throw in his style – a lefthander who doesn’t actually
throw that hard, but combines uncanny command with one of the best sinkers
you’ll ever see from a southpaw – and he looked like the Royals’ kryptonite
before the series even began. (He’s one of the main reasons the Astros
terrified me as a playoff matchup all season.)
And Keuchel would live up to the billing in Game 3 of the
ALDS, throwing seven innings and allowing a single run, and getting the win.
But this is that one run, and it came with the game still scoreless in the top
of the 4th inning, and it came on one swing of the bat. Keuchel, befitting an
extreme groundball pitcher, is very stingy with the home run – he had allowed just
28 homers in 438 innings over the previous two seasons coming into this game,
remarkable given his home ballpark. But in this at-bat, Lorenzo Cain fought him
for a ten pitch at-bat, fouling off five pitches with two strikes, before
Keuchel hung a slider over the heart of the plate and Cain leaned back on his
swing. If you’ve seen Cain lean back, you know what that means – the ball
nearly hit the train in left field. Despite Keuchel’s brilliance the rest of
the game, thanks to this one swing, the Royals held the lead into the bottom of
the 5th inning. It wasn’t to be, but for a while there this one swing looked
like it might decide the ballgame. But don’t worry: another home run swing
against Keuchel later in the series wasn’t in vain. We’ll get there. Eventually.
Moment #:
142
Date: October 25, 2014
Game: 2014 World Series Game 4, @ San
Francisco Giants
Score: Kansas City 1, San Francisco 1, Top of
the 3rd
Situation: Two outs, bases loaded
Count: 2-2
Matchup: Omar Infante vs. Ryan Vogelsong
Result: Single, two go-ahead runs score
WPA: 20%
Summary: Omar Infante hits
a tie-breaking two-run single with the bases loaded and two outs in The Game
That Got Away.
I MAY HAVE JUST WOKEN UP SMALL CHILDREN IN THIS HOUSE. I DO NOT CARE.— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 26, 2014
We’re finally reaching air that’s rarefied enough that
valiant efforts in a losing cause are likely to be turned away at the door.
After this Moment, only three Moments remain from a game that the Royals lost,
and all three are from Game 7 of the 2014 World Series. This was the big hit in
The Game That Got Away, Game 4 of the 2014 World Series, the game the Royals
led 4-1 at one point only to get cut down in a hail of Giant hits. The Royals
had already tied the game in the top of the 3rd on a pair of infield singles
with two out, and then Mike Moustakas walked to load the bases for Omar
Infante. Infante delivered, sending a single up the middle to drive in two runs.
(Hard as this may be to believe now, Infante wasn’t terrible in the 2014
postseason, hitting .255/.310/.373 overall, and he was probably the Royals’
best hitter in the World Series, hitting .318/.333/.591 with five RBIs.)
Salvador Perez would follow with another RBI single, and
for a while there it looked like the Royals were going to take a 3-1 series
lead. They didn’t, and they didn’t win the series, but all of that was just
fodder for them to feed their anger on over the winter, and their anger fueled
a world championship in 2015. All’s well that ends well.
Moment #:
141
Date: October 28, 2015
Game: 2015 World Series Game 2, vs. New York
Mets
Score: New York 1, Kansas City 7, Top of the
9th
Situation: Two outs, man on second
Count: 2-0
Matchup: Yoenis Cespedes vs. Johnny Cueto
Result: Fly out to right field
WPA: 0%
Summary: Johnny Cueto
retires Yoenis Cespedes for the first complete-game win by an AL pitcher in the
World Series since 1991.
This never gets old. This. Never. Gets. Old.— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 29, 2015
Oh, Johnny Cueto, you crazy rollercoaster you. After
pitching like crap for the better part of two months, after putting the Royals
in a 4-1 hole in Game 2 of the ALDS, he retired 36 of the next 40 batters he
faced, the last 19 in a row in a double-elimination Game 5. He then made the
worst start in Royals’ postseason history in Game 3 of the ALCS…and then
pitched this gem in Game 2 of the World Series, the first complete game win by
an AL pitcher since Jack Morris threw ten shutout innings in Game 7 in 1991. He
became just the third pitcher – after Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan – to allow
no more than two hits in a postseason start while pitching eight or more
innings twice in his career…and he did it twice in the same postseason. He nearly
retired the last 16 batters he faced in this game, but with two outs in the
9th, he walked Daniel Murphy on a full count – and watching the replay it
appears almost certain that Cueto had forgotten the count and thought it was a
2-2 pitch. So instead, he retired Yoenis Cespedes on this pitch, the last pitch
he would throw as a Royal. It was enough. The Johnny Cueto Experience is a
terrifying ride, but you’re all smiles when it ends.
So, basically, Johnny Cueto had the best start in Royals postseason history. Sure, why not. https://t.co/Wdn1tyF9HN— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 29, 2015
3 comments:
#147, I know this is all about our Beloved Royals, but Curtis Granderson is a really good outfielder. Many of us have seen many a corner outfielder at Kauffman Stadium play that kind of ball into an inside the park home run. Rule #1 for playing at Kauffman, never, ever chase a ball into the corner. Always run directly to the right field wall and wait for it to bounce to you.
@brhalbleib It seems to me that the Willie Wilson-fodder curving ball-gutters are less powerful since (a) they got rid of the turf, and (b) especially since the renovation put the chain-link out there. But Granderson was by far their best defender at any position in that series. Always have liked him.
Current Standings as we reach the Top 150 (will these still be 10 at a time or will the suspense build as we get closer?)
By Category:
2014 Regular Season (5)
Wild Card Game (2)
ALDS Game 1 Angels (3)
ALDS Game 2 Angels (3)
ALDS Game 3 Angels (1)
ALCS Game 1 Orioles (0)
ALCS Game 2 Orioles (3)
ALCS Game 3 Orioles (2)
ALCS Game 4 Orioles (1)
World Series Game 1 Giants (0)
World Series Game 2 Giants (2)
World Series Game 3 Giants (5)
World Series Game 4 Giants (5)
World Series Game 5 Giants (1)
World Series Game 6 Giants (3)
World Series Game 7 Giants (1)
2015 Regular Season (1)
ALDS Game 1 Astros (1)
ALDS Game 2 Astros (1)
ALDS Game 3 Astros (2)
ALDS Game 4 Astros (1)
ALDS Game 5 Astros (1)
ALCS Game 1 Blue Jays (5)
ALCS Game 2 Blue Jays (2)
ALCS Game 3 Blue Jays (2)
ALCS Game 4 Blue Jays (4)
ALCS Game 5 Blue Jays (1)
ALCS Game 6 Blue Jays (2)
World Series Game 1 Mets (4)
World Series Game 2 Mets (3)
World Series Game 3 Mets (5)
World Series Game 4 Mets (4)
World Series Game 5 Mets (2)
By Player
Hosmer (4)
Cain (8)
Gordon (7)
Perez (9)
Moustakas (6)
Escobar (10)
Dyson (2)
Zobrist (4)
K. Morales (2)
Butler (3)
Gore (1)
Colon (0)
Infante (3)
Rios (1)
Aoki (2)
Orlando (0)
Willingham (0)
Butera (0)
W. Davis (0)
Holland (4)
Herrera (0)
Ventura (2)
Young (1)
Cueto (2)
Finnegan (1)
Volquez (0)
Guthrie (0)
Shields (0)
Vargas (1)
Hochevar (1)
Madson (1)
Duffy (0)
Medlen (0)
Frasor (0)
Collins (0)
F. Morales (0)
Yost (0)
OTHER (3)
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