We have entered the Halls of Valhalla now, the sacred
resting place of the 100 best moments of the past two years. If you’re a Royals
fan, there is no excuse for not remembering every one of these plays.
Fortunately this link will always be here to remind you.
Moment #:
100
Date: October 12, 2015
Game: 2015 ALDS Game 4, @ Houston Astros
Score: Kansas City 6, Houston 6, Top of the
8th
Situation: One out, men on second and third
Count: 3-2 (+4 fouls)
Matchup: Drew Butera vs. Luke Gregerson
Result: Walk
WPA: 0%
Summary: Drew Butera faces
Luke Gregerson’s Slider of Death and emerges victorious. And soon, so do the
Royals.
I AM SO PROUD OF YOU DREW BUTERA. YOU HAVE NO IDEA— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 12, 2015
THIS was the moment that I had in mind when I decided to
write about the Top 100 Moments, and when this project more than doubled in
size, I made sure to keep this Moment at #100. If you’re not a Royals fan, or
if you were six years old in 2015 and are coming to read this column ten years
later to learn more about the team that you got to miss school for to see in a
parade, you may have no idea this Moment ever happened. But if you are a Royals
fan and watched this game, you’ll never forget it.
That Drew Butera was in this game in the first place was
unlikely enough; Salvador Perez had played literally every inning of every game
in the 2014 postseason (Erik Kratz, then the backup catcher, never appeared in
a playoff game.) But with the Royals down a run in the 7th inning, Perez had been
hit by a pitch with one out. With the season on the line (and Salvy clearly
hurting; he had also taken a pitch off his mask earlier in the game), Ned Yost
decided it wasn’t too early to open the silo and arm the speed nukes, calling
upon Terrance Gore to try to tie the game with his legs. Gore obliged by
stealing second, and then stole third with two outs, and then was called out on
review because apparently he stole the base with too much élan or something. And
then Carlos Correa and Colby Rasmus had homered to give the Astros a 6-2 lead
with six outs to go.
And then suddenly, and incredibly improbably, by the time
Perez’s spot in the lineup came back around and Butera was locked in to bat,
the game was tied, the Royals had two runners in scoring position, and there
was only one out. The only problem was that Drew Butera can’t really hit. I
don’t even mean that as an insult – it’s not his fault he can’t hit, he’s a
very good defensive catcher and seems like a really good guy and has hair I
would strangle a kitten for, but he’s one of the worst hitters you will ever
see. In his career, Butera has hit .185/.241/.266, with an OPS+ of 41. In his career, Zack Greinke has hit
.220/.261/.337, with an OPS+ of 65. In fact, the only player in the 21st
century with 800+ plate appearances and a lower OPS+ than Butera is…Livan
Hernandez. (Third on that list: Tony Pena Jr.)
But it’s not just that Butera can’t hit – it’s that no one
even expects him to hit, it’s just
accepted that he won’t hit. On at least one occasion during the season he hit
an RBI single, and the reaction of the crowd – and Ryan Lefebvre! – was the
kind of unexpected joy that you only hear when a pitcher drives in a run.
And Butera was facing Luke Gregerson, possessor of one of
the best sliders in baseball, and you knew what was going to happen: Gregerson
was going to throw slider after slider after slider until Butera struck out,
and the Royals would miss a golden opportunity to drive in the go-ahead run in
an elimination game without a base hit. After all, that’s what Gregerson had
done the last time the Royals had
been down by four runs in the 8th inning of an elimination game, the Wild Card
Game, when – after giving up a single to Billy Butler and then a wild pitch had
put the tying run at third base with one out – Gregerson had struck out the man
Butera had replaced, Perez, on three pitches, and then struck out Omar Infante
to end the rally.
And sure enough, Gregerson threw slider after slider after
slider, most of them right on the outside corner, too close to the strike zone
to take but almost impossible to hit with authority. And Butera…well, Butera
kept fouling off slider after slider after slider, doing a tremendous job of
staying alive. Seven, eight, nine pitches, and he was still alive, and the
count was full. And finally, Gregerson threw a slider a little farther outside,
and Butera started to swing, and…he held up. It was ball four. Butera had
walked on 10 pitches, making this plate appearance the third-longest of his
career. (Incredibly, the longest plate appearance of his career – a 12-pitch
walk – had occurred in his previous game, the season finale against Minnesota
on October 4th.)
Butera hadn’t driven in a run; he wouldn’t score a run. All
he had done was keep the line moving. All he had done was set up someone else –
in this case, Alex Gordon – to be the hero. But given his talents, the talents
of the pitcher he was facing, and the stakes involved…it was one of the
greatest plate appearances I’ve ever seen. Even with everything else we’ve seen
these last two years, this was a Top 100 Moment for sure.