Kansas City Royals Fall Dramatically

Billy Froetscher, Staff Writer

Star pitching dominated the 2014 World Series, and it is hard to remember a time in which both teams had such powerful pitching lineups.

 

Led by star pitcher Madison Bumgarner, the San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals in Game 7 of the World Series, 3-2. The Giants have now won three World Series in the last five years.

 

Everything seemed to be going the Royals’ way early in the game, the Royals quickly scored two runs and getting pitcher Tim Hudson out of the game–giving up 2 runs in just 1.2 innings.

 

Unfortunately the Royals’ lineup couldn’t capitalize upon Hudson’s bad start because their own starting pitcher, Jeremy Guthrie, gave up 3 runs in just 3.1 innings, according to MLB.com.

From that point on, it was a pitchers duel. For San Francisco’s pitcher Jeremy Affeldt, his job was simple: he had to get the ball into the stud pitchers’ hands, Madison Bumgarner, and have him close out the game.

 

Affeldt did his job and didn’t give up any runs in 2.1 innings pitched. The Royals pitcher Kelvin Herrera, got them out of the 6th inning. The Royals pitching staff didn’t give up a single run in the last 5 innings of a game.  That was not enough though, since the ball was in the hands of Bumgarner, who was untouchable in the World Series.

 

After pitching two complete games earlier in this series, Bumgarner did the unthinkable. He came in and pitched 5 scoreless innings preceded by only 2 days rest. Most pitchers, after a complete game, need four days rest at a minimum, but Bumgarner was an anomaly, pitching a nearly perfect game with only two days of rest.

 

According to CNN. com, when asked if fatigue was setting in late in the game, he responded chuckling,

 

“I can’t lie to you any more; I’m a little tired now.”

 

The average pitcher doesn’t often throw 5 scoreless innings, particularly after throwing over 50 postseason innings and 250 regular season innings, as according to Deadspin.com.

 

But these innings didn’t come as easy as the other 250 this year. Bumgarner did not run into much trouble until the final inning. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Kansas City’s Alex Gordon stepped to the plate. Gordon hit the ball to shallow center, which should have been a routine single, but an error by the centerfielder turned that single into a triple.

With a man on third all it would take to tie the game was a single up the middle. Salvador Perez stepped up to the plate, and a determined Bumgardner locked in. Perez battled but Bumgarner got the last laugh.

 

Perez popped a fly ball out near the third base line and it was over. As the players rushed on to the field to celebrate, many were thinking how truly amazing this accomplishment was. As shown in a graph displayed on ESPN.com, the Giants join a select group of teams to win three World Series in five years.The Yankees lead the group with 8 occurrences, the Red Sox with 2, and the Giants, Philadelphia Athletics, Oakland Athletics, and the Cardinals all with 1.

 

But what was even more terrific was what Bumgardner accomplished. ESPN sources quoted San Francisco catcher Buster Posey who spoke about Bumgardner:

 

“He just kept rolling, I mean, it’s unbelievable.”

 

On the flip side, the Royals have waited for a long time for this opportunity. Ned Yost, the Royals manager, put it in simple terms:

 

“To end up losing the ball game by 90 feet, it’s tough.”

 

Yost was not expecting this result at all. The Royals seemed to have complete control of this series after game six. Game seven would be on their home field and with most of their pitchers well rested–the Royals were the clear favorite.

 

Many say that if you give the Royals the lead early, you’re not going to be able to get the lead back. That is due to their outstanding bullpen, proudly entitled ‘the big three.’

 

Davis, Holland, and Herrera make up the powerful trio that defeats so many teams. Luckily in game seven, the Royals were able to take on those three pitchers with the lead in hand already. However, the Royals lost themselves in the first four innings that game.

 

For Royals fans, it was a tough loss to tolerate. They had been patient for three decades to get back to this point, but Royals fans have a lot to look forward to with a young team and a great pitching and fielding lineup. Who knows? Many say that they could be back in the World Series as soon as next year.

 

The focus should be shifted to the Most Valuable Player, Madison Bumgarner. There are very few pitchers alone that can dominate a series like Bumgarner did.  He single handedly won his team the game. His pitching performance, not only in that game but throughout the entire World Series, was one of the best pitching performances in history, and it will be hard for someone to repeat such a performance.