The Asian reporter., November 03, 2014, Page Page 8, Image 8

Page 8 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
SPORTS
November 3, 2014
Royals’ season ends 90 feet short in World Series
MEMORABLE PLAYOFF RUN. Japanese
American Jeremy Guthrie, a pitcher for the Kansas
City Royals, throws to the San Francisco Giants during
the first inning of Game 7 of Major League Baseball’s
World Series on October 29, 2014 in Kansas City,
Missouri. The Giants won the World Series title, the
team’s third title in five years, with a 3-2 victory over
the Royals. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
By Dave Skretta
The Associated Press
ANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The
roars from the field had died
away. Kauffman Stadium had
fallen silent for the first time all night. In
the Royals’ clubhouse, Alex Gordon had
finally peeled off his dirt-stained jersey.
He had just watched the San Francisco
Giants celebrate their third World Series
title in five years, capped by a 3-2 victory in
Game 7. But all he could think about was
whether he could have scored the tying run
with two outs in the ninth inning.
“It was a good hold,” Gordon said,
eventually. “Close, but just short.”
Summing up the Royals’ season along
with their season finale.
The Giants had taken the lead in the
fourth inning, and the game amounted to a
battle of the bullpens. San Francisco
turned to its ace, Madison Bumgarner, and
he kept breezing through the Kansas City
lineup, right up until Gordon’s two-out
single to left field.
The ball skipped past Gregor Blanco and
reached the wall, and Gordon churned
around third base and headed home. But
he couldn’t get a good read on where the
ball was because of the lighted scoreboard
in left field, so he relied on third-base coach
Mike Jirschele for guidance.
Jirschele said stop. Gordon put on the
brakes.
He was left standing 90 feet from home
when Sal Perez popped out to end the
game.
“It’s tough to pick the ball up from the
dugout with that board out there,” Royals
manager Ned Yost said. “There was some
hope that it might happen, but it didn’t.”
Still, the season will be remembered for
K
much more than how close the Royals
came to forcing extra innings one more
time. It will be remembered for their
12-inning wild-card win over Oakland,
and sweeps of the Angels and Orioles in
their first playoff appearance since
1985.
It will be remembered for Yordano
Ventura’s inspired pitching performance
in Game 6. And the gutsy performances by
the brilliant bullpen. It will be remem-
bered for James Shields and Wade Davis,
and the way they taught a losing club-
house how to win.
It will be remembered for waking a
baseball-starved city from its slumber.
“The character we had in this clubhouse
is what I’ll remember the most,” said
Shields, who now becomes a free agent and
will likely pitch elsewhere next season.
“We battled,” first baseman Eric Hosmer
said. “I think you saw how much heart we
have.”
It was on display one last time in the
World Series.
After splitting the first two games at
home, Kansas City lost two of three in San
Francisco,
returning
to
Kauffman
Stadium needing a victory just to force a
deciding Game 7.
The Royals got it in a 10-0 rout behind
Ventura, who dedicated the victory to the
late Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras,
his good friend who died in a car crash the
previous weekend.
Kansas City rallied once more in the
finale, falling behind 2-0 in the second
inning when the Giants managed
back-to-back sacrifice flies against Kansas
City’s starter, Japanese American Jeremy
Guthrie.
In the bottom half, Butler laced a single
up the middle, and Gordon drove in a run
with a double. He later took third base on a
fly out by Mike Moustakas, and then
hustled home for the tying run when Omar
Infante sent another flyball to center field.
Once the Giants regained the lead,
though, the Royals couldn’t find an
answer.
“Obviously, we wanted to win,” Gordon
said, “but to be in this situation with these
young guys and what they’ve done this
postseason, I’m just proud to be a part of
this team.”
Now, the question is whether it will take
them another 29 years to return.
Along with the likely departure of
Shields, the Royals will have to make some
hard decisions with players such as Butler,
who holds a pricy option for next season.
But young cornerstones in Hosmer, Perez,
and Lorenzo Cain should provide the
foundation for the next few years.
“You know, the organization has a
special time to build on what we have
here,” Butler said, “and that’s a rare thing
to have, to have this much talent in here
and go into next year having the majority
of that back. Not every team has that. We
have an opportunity to build on that, and
we have an opportunity to be a better team
next year.”
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Family of 3
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Family of 4 $200 – $500/year
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