2014 AL Wild Card: Oakland Athletics vs. Kansas City Royals

A's

haha, should be Lester (16-11), Shields (14-8). trying to watch football at the same time.

ROYALS DUH JFC

i mean not even cause i hate the A's right now but how can you not root for the royals, if the O's are knocked out i want them to take it all

Royals

^^

A's come on nothing good should happen to Missouri or Kansas.

i mean not even cause i hate the A's right now but how can you not root for the royals, if the O's are knocked out i want them to take it all

― linda cardellini (zachlyon), Sunday, September 28, 2014 6:48 PM (1 hour ago)

ned yost?

it's not about the team so much just have to root for a team/city that's been so miserable for so long. and they've always been The Team of the 80s in my brain (esp in those powder blues), i just like KC being successful it feels "good for baseball"

also they have a great defense defense is awesome

if you need a reason, the Royals used to employ Rush Limbaugh

30th in walks, 30th in home runs -- the first team of that kind to make the playoffs.

fuck offense eh

I really don't watch much AL baseball at all, so these clubs are pretty unknown to me. KC looks like a throw back turf team from the early 80s with that club stat line. From what I gather, they are excellent with the glove and their bullpen seems pretty good. It looks like Oakland has superior starters 1 to 3, but their offense seems like a club that could easily get run up for 10+ Ks.

I'd say this game is a total toss up. James Shields is pretty good and this A's team is definitely not the Red Sox or Rangers lineup of last decade. Jon Lester is a better pitcher than Shields and a lefty, which may or not play out to be a deciding element.

Whoever wins, I kind of hope they beat the Angels.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/96989062/the-yost-way-paying-dividends-for-royals

On Monday morning, though, he stopped by Starbucks for the first time in a while and nobody asked his name.

"No, I don't get the fancy foo-foo drinks, I just get the regular coffee so they don't even bother anymore," he said.

On the BP podcast today, Sam Miller pointed out that there were several starts this year where Yost let Shields go 5-7 innings while giving up 4+ runs. You'd think the hook might be quicker in an elimination game, but it's Yost.

Dunn not in A's lineup, Soto catching.

http://m.royals.mlb.com/news/article/89271170/josh-willingham-ready-to-be-part-of-royals-lineup

Caption beneath photo: "8/12/14: Josh Willingham lines a double down the left-field line off Jon Lester in his first at-bat as a member of the Royals"

Tonight's lineup:

Escobar
Aoki
Cain
Hosmer
Butler
Gordon
Perez
Infante
Moustakas

I'm cheering for the A's for this one, mainly because Jon Lester is one my favorite pitchers around and Yost is a pain in the neck.

I doubt any of those two will survive against the Angels.

Also mlb.tv should really carry the post season in north americuh, ffs.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Alex Gordon's club-leading 19 HR must be fewest for a playoff team in a while.

was that Butler brainfart "Royals baseball," Ron Darling? (wtf first-base coach)

billy butler you doofus

i bet a lot of KC fans shouted something like "rusty kuntz" at that play

The three teams I checked on my Alex Gordon question all beat 19: the '73 Mets (Milner, 23), the '63 Dodgers (Howard, 28), the '59 White Sox (Lollar, 22). I threw the question out on High Heat Stats, and the answer seems to be the '76 Royals (Otis, 18); the '82 Cardinals (Hendricks, 19) and '74 Orioles (Grich, 19) tie this year's Royals.

trivia > games, right clem?

Sparky Anderson would be warming up some of those fine KC relievers by now.

There's a game on?

Indeed, Big Game James isn't doing very well so far. He can thank Hosmer for that good double play.

Surprised Yost isn't making Aoki bunt right now.

if big game james has a bad game can we please stop calling him big game james

If the Royals go on to win the World Series, every team will replace its house sabermetrician with a Tony Robbins/Oprah-like figure.

they mighta gotten 4-5 runs there w/out that fucking bunt

somewhere along the coast in Massachusetts, Epstein is laughing.

Don't worry, Morbius--I'm watching the game, looking up trivia, and marking art. I call it "multi-tasking"--modern girls and modern rock & roll, that's me.

Someone on HHH has discovered that Terry Puhl led the division-winning Astros in 1980 with 13 HR.

not sure any of those pitches to crisp were strikes -- maybe the last one

This TBS color guy is fucking horrible

i assume you mean ripken

wasn't Cal's observation that the tying run in a postseason game is a big one just the keenest?

somewhere along the coast in Massachusetts, Epstein is laughing.

you do know he gets to keep Addison Russell no matter who wins?

wow, 15 outs and goin to Ventura! Ned surprises me.

why take a risk on ventura when you already have one of the best pens in the game

use davis!

use davis!!!

Yosted himself.

yosted on his o

you do know he gets to keep Addison Russell no matter who wins?

sure, but really looking at this game I find the A's to be underwhelming. Even after going all in by trading Russel for Samardzija and Hammel.

i guess home runs are important after all

dunno brimstead, i think Darling is making sense on bullpen usage now, huh

I guess I mainly object to his tone. The whole "you're asking a young pitcher to do something he's never done" re ventura did make me swear out loud, though

yeah darling otm there

Wait... I just tuned back in... Yost brought in Ventura to pitch?! Wtf

i think darling feels a need to fill the vacuum. which, to be fair, he does, as ripken offers nothing and ej is just nice and hapless

Wait... I just tuned back in... Yost brought in Ventura to pitch?! Wtf

with 2 bases loaded and 0 outs vs Moss.

at least there's no chip caray

Well good thing all the bases weren't loaded I guess.

the silence is starting to creep me out.

KC prob done bunting

Lol

Ventura threw 73 pitches on Sunday.

oh fuck there we go, Ripken with the Cespedes swoon theory

having a strong ace does not correlate with October success btw

James Shields threw 88 pitches tonight. He had thrown more than 88 pitches in every single previous start as a Royal.

the royals have one of the best bullpens in the league and have no reason not to shorten his game when most starters become significantly worse after two times through the rotation

Hey, it's Wade Davis.

Agreed, but he was not very good today. The two times I've watched him pitch this season were way better.

postseason mop-up guy

xp

yeah, yanking Shields wasn't the problem, it was not going straight to his best guys

I can understand having Ventura on the roster in case you have to go to the bullpen early in the game, but once your starter gets to the 6th just go to your trio of invincible guys.

Typical Yost, basically.

Small ball with a four run deficit!

If they steal 14 more bases that'll get them their four runs.

Had Escobar been thrown out, Yost would have claimed that he ran on his own.

Nooo Lester's impeccable post season era!!

well it aint over

Do the A's have any other pitchers on the roster?

No mention of anyone warming in the pen, no sight of who's entering. Thanks, TBS.

fucking dunker hits

Gore is a demon.

small ball! 3 SB's in the inning.

Squeeze to tie.

This game is kinda like the A's season.

does gregerson have a handlebar mustache

I hope the little ufos above the field will make a comeback during the post season.

i would advise the A's to get an insurance run off whatever bullpen dynamo is throwing the 9th

small ball! 3 SB's in the inning.

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Tuesday, September 30, 2014 11:10 PM (16 minutes ago)

it's not really "small ball" -- cameron mentioned today in his column that the royals were a very good base stealing team and the As hardly ever throw people out, it's an advantage a manager should exploit. and credit to yost, he has

Willingham has to hit for Moustakas, right?

jesus fuck Royals so damn eager

I don't understand how someone can swing at the first pitch against a pitcher who just walked two guys. Especially with the bases loaded.

perhaps the last bunt Ned Yost has ordered with the Royals.

it's not really "small ball" -- cameron mentioned today in his column that the royals were a very good base stealing team and the As hardly ever throw people out, it's an advantage a manager should exploit. and credit to yost, he has

― k3vin k.

Yeah, there is a time and place for that kind of strategy and this was it.

Bunting in the 9th and giving away an out when Dyson can score on just about anything is another matter though.

Not that I disagree - but that was hardly hank Aaron at the plate there.

holy shit, stealing with a lefty up

this is nuts

Aaaaand it pays off!

what a game

fuck almighty

i cannot do a 6-hr game tonight, really

we'll get through it clem has a ton of trivia

Ha!

Finnegan begin again

the book says nay to that bunt in the 9th, right? iirc the only time you're supposed to sacrifice is man on 2nd no outs tied in the 9th

Jesus - we're closing in on the 4 hour mark.

headfirst slide into first definitely doesn't make the book happy

BUNT!!!!!!! that's my favorite royals player

the bunt

haha was just gonna say

that was like yost's most defensible bunt ever tbf

will smallball defeat moneyball??!

small money ball, coinball

yeah, you could even call that a necessary bunt -- get the winning run into scoring position for your best hitter in a winner take all game.

So Doolittle is still on there because why? They wanted to let him completely blow this?!

he's already ruined his face with that beard so why not it's his mo

Isn't he the best Oakland reliever?

He's supposed to be their best reliever and should be able to pitch two innings in a must win game?

I gotta agree with Morbs -- I was hoping for a quick game to kind of ease me into the playoffs.

i think you missed the part where one-game playoffs are the most exciting things bud selig can personally manufacture

honestly i've enjoyed most of the WC games I've seen.

This game is like Rosemary's Baby, with Ned Yost as Roman Castevetes, promising to wreak vengeance in the name of the burned and the tortured, and 2014 as the year one. "Hail, Omar Moreno!"

billy beane just personally ordered a bases-empty bunt in the 10th

second-rate teams, evenly matched

lol this is on Brandon Finnegan's wikipedia page right now:

"He made his major league debut on September 6 against the New York Yankees. He earned his first major league hold on September 22 by pitching a scoreless seventh inning against the Cleveland Indians. He then would pitch in the AL Wild Card game where he would get the win in the eleventh inning."

second-rate teams, evenly matched

― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, October 1, 2014 12:03 AM (48 seconds ago)

oakland led the league in run differential iirc

KC led the league in ned yost

tho their RD over the past couple months probably wasn't great

brandon finnegan is apparently the first finnegan in the history of major league baseball

there are a couple ??? Finnegans who played in the minors tho

i smell a bunt

pretty crazy that he was just drafted three months ago

he totally squared on that bunt imo

there it is

where have i seen this inning before?

someone do a run

KC just bores their opponents until they take a nap i guess? idgi

jayson nix, -0.6 war in 16 games with the pirates

I would not call this boring.

yosted

Ran out of productive outs.

There was nobody who could bat for Nix there? I thought he was only on the roster because of his record against Lester?

sorry i guess cubs baseball just sets the bar for excitement really high :/

The reason I was questioning the logic of running Doolittle back out there is because I don't think he got a single save since coming back from the DL. He'd been Pretty touch and go.

you just want to see a nonpitcher on the mound in the 20th

@josh_levin: 17th inning: Yost bunts on defense

20th inning: Yost calls for a bunt during another bunt

23rd inning: Bunt becomes self-aware, bunts

maaaaaybe time to switch out finnegans wake

go bunt go bunt go bunt

salvador perez is a large man

what I wldve done is that sac fly that tied the game i wldve hit a homer there

I want to see Dunn pitch. Yes.

smart
xp

BASERUNNING
SB: N Aoki (1); A Escobar (1); J Dyson (1); L Cain (1); A Gordon (1); T Gore (1)

whoops

S: A Escobar 2; J Dyson; C Colon

Alberto Callaspo, a HACKING MASS All-Star

GET THE FUCKING RUN IN

squeeze, dammit

please get a suicide squeeze in please that would be too poetic

suicide squeeze here obv

YEAH MOTHERFUCKER

wow morbs language

plz replace all swears with HILROD

yeah zachlyon is like eight years old, please tone it down

Ned Buntrod Clintyost

looking fwd to the run the royals will manufacture in the bottom half

i miss jarrod parker

close or walk off, please no tying runs.

let's see if the a's can put all the leadoff men on

if the royals lose i'm gonna get really sick of hearing about "playoff experience"

wowwww

omg

this game!

This game is a microcosm of the A's season.

Wow

must-strikeout

cespedes woulda caught that

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

wowowow

Christ

lol

holy shit man

haha

bunt here???

Triple and a high chop--of course.

all of this to get trounced by the Angels

Angels are having an aperitif before they dine on the survivor of this game

xp

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Can't play the Angels if the GAME NEVER ENDS!!

kinda wonder why they didn't bring in the lefty to face hosmer

of course

http://www.halloffamememorabilia.com/images/products/p-536826-ned-yost-autographed-hand-signed-mlb-baseball-card-milwaukee-brewers-1983-topps-297-aw-48228.jpg

lmao

With the way things are going, I have to question the wisdom of bringing someone in to pitch to just one guy.

They might wanna finish up before the storm hits.

I'm calling a Sonny Gray HR in the 18th.

wow

holy shit

niiice

good game, guys!

rough night for derek norris

This is over now right?

yostball!

can't believe the royals won the world series crazy

Billy Beane's going all out on this season ended in the hands of Yost.

man, i hate Cinderella

Donaldson juuussst missed it ...

'and legend George Brett. I think everything in this town his named for him' passive-agressive east cost media bias.

I lost my $10,000, but that's okay, that was just great. The image of Perez running down to first is classic.

eagerly awaiting his follow up post:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/52046/ned-yost-shows-why-hes-a-terrible-manager

haha this is the recap on MLB.com!!

Royals left feeling blue after rally comes up short
Ventura, in relief of Shields, gives up go-ahead, three-run HR in sixth

KANSAS CITY -- A jammed-in crowd shook Kauffman Stadium with blue thunder, releasing its pent-up passion after 28 dry years, trying to push the Royals to another great moment in their return to postseason play. It didn't happen.

Not that the Royals didn't give the 40,502 fans jolts of joy, taking an early lead before Oakland's five-run outburst in the sixth inning pointed the Athletics to a 7-6 victory in the American League Wild Card Game on Tuesday night. Brandon Moss was the main culprit, cracking two home runs for five RBIs. Jon Lester pitched the victory.

The A's, not Kansas City's first playoff team since 1985, advance to the American League Division Series against the Los Angeles Angels beginning on Thursday at Anaheim. The Royals' season is over.

The full house of long-deprived KC fans, clad in blue, gave the Royals a rousing welcome as the pregame introductions were made. "Let's go, Royals!" they chanted, waving blue towels.

James Shields' first pitch to the A's Coco Crisp was a strike, prompting a roar which diminished in a bit when Crisp lined a single to left field. Two outs later, though, the throng was in full-throated thunder -- until Moss sent the ball soaring high and far to right field.

Over the bullpen it flew, a two-run homer launched into the seats on Shields' 0-1 changeup. Moss had hit 25 homers during the regular season.

Then it was the Royals' turn against Lester, the formidable left-hander who was 9-3 against them in his career. But Alcides Escobar immediately singled, igniting fresh excitement, before Lester got two outs.

Nori Aoki, on base after forcing Escobar, stole second and Eric Hosmer walked. Billy Butler ripped a single to left field, scoring Aoki.

There were probably relatively few in this boisterous crowd that witnessed the last run scored by Kansas City in the postseason. That was when George Brett raced in on a wild pitch in the fifth inning of the 1985 World Series Game 7. Butler's RBI was the first since Frank White's single that scored Willie Wilson in that same inning.

But now things got confusing. With Alex Gordon at bat, Butler made a false start toward second, stopped, looked at coach Rusty Kuntz and then lumbered away. Lester threw to the pulled-over shortstop and while Butler was caught in a rundown, Hosmer broke for home but was thrown out by first baseman Stephen Vogt. Catcher Geovany Soto applied the tag easily and the inning was over.

During an in-game TV interview, Royals manager Ned Yost said Butler broke too soon, that he was supposed to wait until Lester delivered to the plate. The hope, apparently, was to give Hosmer time to score.

One other consequence was that Soto injured his left thumb on the play and had to leave the game, replaced by Derek Norris.

The noise meter rose to the deafening level in the third inning as the Royals went ahead, 3-2. Mike Moustakas singled to left, was bunted to second and took third on Aoki's groundout. Lorenzo Cain ripped an RBI double to left and he scored as Hosmer blooped a single over shortstop.

The "big game" matchup between Lester and Shields ended in the A's sixth after Sam Fuld's leadoff single and Josh Donaldson's walk. Yordano Ventura, usually a starter, was summoned from the bullpen to relieve Shields.

Ventura got behind Moss 2-0 and then delivered a 98-mph fastball that the left-handed hitter sent zooming over the center-field fence an estimated 418 feet away. It was a three-run homer that propelled the A's into a 5-3 lead.

Moss had just two home runs in his last 154 at-bats during the regular season, but he had two blasts in his first three at-bats in this game.

After Josh Reddick's single, a wild pitch and a flyout that put Reddick at third, Yost pulled Ventura for Kelvin Herrera, normally his seventh-inning specialist. The manager got a chorus of boos from the crowd as he left the field.

Herrera got Vogt to foul out but Norris singled up the middle and Reddick's run made it 6-3. Crisp, the ninth batter in the inning, also singled to center for another run.

Shields, in his five-plus innings, threw 88 pitches -- his lowest total in his two seasons with the Royals. He gave up four runs, five hits and two walks.

Lester retired 12 straight batters until Omar Infante bunted safely in the seventh. But Lester quickly ended the inning.

Neither the crowd nor the Royals would go quietly. Escobar opened the eighth by reaching base on infield single and then stole second, bringing the roaring fans to their feet. Escobar moved to third as Aoki bounced out, then scored on Cain's single.

Hosmer's grounder down the line went off Vogt's glove but was foul. Cain stole second, Hosmer walked and A's manager Bob Melvin removed Lester in favor of right-hander Luke Gregerson. Butler drilled a single to right to score Cain and the Royals were within two runs.

Pinch-runner Terrance Gore stole second on the next pitch. And Gregerson's next pitch went wild, allowing Hosmer to score and putting Gore at third with one out. The place went wild. Gordon walked and stole second as Salvador Perez struck out.

With the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, Infante struck out to end the inning.

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/665808/thumbs/o-DEWEY-DEFEATS-TRUMAN-OBAMACARE-570.jpg?4

haha awesome!

Sheffield and Pedro are tearing into Yost. Haha

man, i hate Cinderella

― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, October 1, 2014 12:56 AM (40 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

w-Kansas City 89 73
w-Oakland 88 74

missed this game live and watched after i got home. love the Wild Card, it is a great idea. how did the A's lose, wow.

still Cinderella in the grand scheme, z

the Win Probability chart must be a dilly

Yost followed 2/3 of this

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/a-few-pieces-of-advice-for-ned-yost/

http://www.fangraphs.com/livescoreboard.aspx?date=2014-09-30

Bunt hangover.

At least that guy got his puppy!

fun game. KC a bit annoying but satisfied with getting Lester out of playoffs.

lol Beane. Yosted by his own petard. My shit doesn't work in the etc, etc.

Backsies on Cespedes?

tbf, at least when the royals bunt they seem to get it done -- no popping out to third or whatever

Yosted/Royals 2K14

never correct me in front of the children

(Well, just one instance. The team does seem pretty efficient at getting the bunt down.)

Anyway(!):

@45PedroMartinez
What Ned Yost it's saying about bringing in Ventura, it's horrible. How much gas do you want? Why don't you just go and get a gas station?

http://deadspin.com/pedro-martinez-kills-ned-yost-on-tbs-postgame-show-1641097003

lol pedros the goat

fave TBS in-game quote from last night?
"In case you're wondering, Raul Ibanez is on the Royals roster. And he has a knack for some postseason magic".

... but not bunting.

bunting is good

http://www.baseballrelated.com/images04/losangeles/xbunting.jpg.pagespeed.ic.hVmdzBiH7s.jpg

nice, very nice

but yeah, bunting for the run "that will win you the ballgame" is the kind Earl Weaver approved of, I don't know why anybody would object to those. The early-innings stuff was insane.

i dunno - with these guys, why not. literally half the line-up only has speed going for them anyways.

bcz it's not about speed, but giving away outs. The stolen bases, esp given Lester's indifference/paralysis, were smart.

thought it was a little strange that they bunted dyson to second (in the ninth) and then had him steal third with a lefty batting. did he run on his own?

oh - i know the whole thing about giving up outs etc. just saying that these guys, maybe more than any other previous playoff line-up before them, are most likely just going to make an out anyways.

xpost - ya that was weird. yost is weird.

KC's bunt and run strategy looked a lot better than it really was last not because the A's kept walking people and making errors and having outfielders run into each other and throwing wild pitches and giving up passed balls on pitchouts (the most WTF mistake of all) and generally finding crazy ways to give the Royals free bases without making them earn it by getting hits. When KC faces a non-choking team and find they only have two chances rather than three to drive runners home then they'll find themselves getting exposed as the worst kind of one dimensional offense (i.e. one that can't hit for power AT ALL).

i think the only way KC beats the angels is if a couple of halos starters have complete meltdowns and trout doesn't perform at his usual level and one of the KC hitters bombs four HRs in the series out of nowhere. i don't think that's outta the realm of possibility but i can't pick KC either.

xpost this should read " looked a lot better than it really was last *night*"

ie in about 30 hours xxp

If they did win 3/5 vs LAA, it wouldn't be astounding but one of the bigger upsets since the Reds swept the 1990 WS.

meh, i'm not buying the A's as chokers, they're just not as good as the first 90 games suggested.

they also were pretty unlucky. odds are decent that soto throws out one of those runners, maybe coco gets to hosmer's triple (well, probably not that)

that def did not look like a catchable ball w/out a Mays / Endy-style headslapper

When KC faces a non-choking team and find they only have two chances rather than three to drive runners home then they'll find themselves getting exposed as the worst kind of one dimensional offense (i.e. one that can't hit for power AT ALL).

This is nearly what happened last night anyway! KC are really bad for a playoff team, but it's baseball and any team can go on a 11-5 stretch out of nowhere. I'm pulling hard for them.

I'm surprised the passed ball on the pitchout hasn't come up more often as it's pretty much the direct cause of the A's loss, even then it's kind of a funny example of getting Yosted, every single person in the stadium knew that Colon was running there and somehow the catcher totally muffs it. Furthermore I was thinking about Hosmer's big hit, if that clears the wall or that's an in-the-parker due to Fuld not getting up right away, most likely Colon doesn't even get on there.

Big Media doesn't allow "your victory was a gift" summaries bcz we earn things in America, goddammit

Was hoping Posnanski (hardcore Royals fan, easily exasperated with Yost and the organization) would have something up on last night's game, but nothing so far.

I liked this from the thread last night:

cameron mentioned today in his column that the royals were a very good base stealing team and the As hardly ever throw people out, it's an advantage a manager should exploit. and credit to yost, he has
― k3vin k

Truisms are true, unless they're not. And you have to be flexible and recognize when that's true.

it was a bad pitch on the pitchout tbf. the catcher had to reach back over the plate i think

it looked to me like he just closed his clove a little early – that and/or he missed by an inch.

nothing wrong with that pitchout, norris just got ahead of himself

Neyer:

Why Melvin hadn’t brought in Abad to face Hosmer, I don’t know....

Why Melvin, needing a strikeout, didn’t bring in Cook and his high strikeout rate to face Colon, I don’t know....

There might be things we don’t know, are probably things we don’t know. Cook made only seven appearances in September, and maybe just wasn’t ready to pitch in a tight spot. But it seems to me that if you trust Abad to retire Gordon, you should trust him to retire Hosmer. If that happens, you’re one out away and nobody’s on base and you can probably figure out the rest of it.

They say that victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan. Except in baseball. In baseball, we always choose a father. Hello there, Papa Melvin.

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/american-league-wild-card-royals-athletics-melvin-yost-managing-blunders-100114

http://cdn.fangraphs.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Dyson6.gif

let's look at how Dyson stole the base off Doolittle, leaving Norris almost helpless.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-jarrod-dyson-stole-the-biggest-base-of-his-life

I was having flashbacks to this random Royals game I watched:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_09_15_chamlb_kcamlb_1&mode=video&content_id=36295001&tcid=vpp_copy_36295001

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_09_15_chamlb_kcamlb_1&mode=video&content_id=36295093&tcid=vpp_copy_36295093

Was hoping Posnanski (hardcore Royals fan, easily exasperated with Yost and the organization) would have something up on last night's game, but nothing so far.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/10/01/the-beauty-of-belief/

I like this:

The very best part of this year’s Royals team has been the replacement of that old bleary belief with a clarity of vision. It’s not an easy vision. But it’s clear. These Royals know what they’re up against. They can’t hit home runs. They don’t walk. They don’t have a starting pitcher who will get Cy Young votes. They have a manager who will occasionally just leave the planet. They don’t have as much money. They are not very deep.

ha! pretty much what i was trying to say upthread!

Angell weighed in (I hope he naps in the afternoon)

http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/royals-strangers-night

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/By431TCIcAES5Qa.png

team rocket is blasting off agaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain

let's look at how Dyson stole the base off Doolittle, leaving Norris almost helpless.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-jarrod-dyson-stole-the-biggest-base-of-his-life

― mookieproof, Wednesday, October 1, 2014 3:17 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

v nice