NEW YORK — One year and three days earlier, in Kansas City, Alex Gordon ran ar
NEW YORK One year and three days earlier, in Kansas City, Alex Gordon ran around third base with two outs in the ninth inning, carrying the run that could have tied the game and sent the Royals on their way to winning the World Series.As the ball came back into the infield after Gregor Blancos error, Gordon put on the brakes and stopped 90 feet from the plate. Madison Bumgarner
Yovani Gallardo Jersey got Salvador Perez to pop up in foul territory, and the Giants were world champions.MORE: | It was probably the right decision by Gordon. In all likelihood, , but that would have a sumed top-notch execution by the Giants in a high-pre sure situation, and you never know what happens in a spot like that. The Royals carried the memory of Game 7 into 2015, into another game where they had a chance to win Kansas Citys first World Series since 1985.We think about it quite often, Eric Hosmer said before Game 5 of the 2015 World Series on Sunday. Ive said before and Ill say it again, I think thats kind of something that we all turn to mentally. Everyone kind of relates back to that and relates to how much that hurt.Hosmer wound up with a chance to do something about it, so he did. Hosmer had already doubled home Lorenzo Cain with nobody out in the ninth inning to cut the Mets lead to 2-1. He moved to third base on a groundout by Mike Moustakas. The Mets brought the infield inand Perez hit a ground ball to David Wright at third base. Wright
Lorenzo Cain Jersey fielded the ball, looked Hosmer back to third base, and threw acro s the diamond to get Perez.But Wrights lookback wasnt enough to keep Hosmer where he was. Hosmer took off for the plate, forcing first baseman Lucas Duda to make a throw to the plate. A good throw, and the game is over, everyone gets back on a plane to Kansas
Eric Sogard Jersey City for Game 6 on Tuesday, Jacob deGrom on the mound and Noah Syndergaard in a potential Game 7 after that. A bad throw, a bobble by catcher Travis dArnaud, something going wrong, and the Royals tie the game and take all the air out of a Mets team that had gotten the kind of performance from Matt Harvey that makes legends.He got a great lead right there, shuffled off, shuffled off, and as soon as Wright started to throw the ball to first, he bolted, Royals third base coach Mike Jirschele said. I knew Wright doesnt have a cannon going acro s, so it was going to take a while to get to Duda, and Duda, same thing, struggles a bit with his throwing. I figured it was a good shot he was going to score right there.Maybe, and there was enough benefit of the doubt given that the official scorer did not charge an error, but Dudas throw was bad. It was so wild that dArnaud couldnt even catch it. Hosmer scored as the ball went to the backstop, and by the next time the stunned Mets were able to muster a base hit, it was a 7-2 game in the 12th inning.Youve got to tip your hat to Hosmer, Duda said. That was an outstanding read, and I didnt make the throw. Theres no
Orlando Arcia Jersey excuses for it. No excuses, thats on me.Its also on the Royals approach. Kansas City created a frenzied atmosphere in which every advantage was pushed hard, until the pre sure cracked the Mets. You could see it in the way they went 7-for-7 stealing bases in the series, the way that every New York mistake got compounded into something game-changing. It went back to the Division Series, when the Royals were on the brink of elimination in Houstonbut pounced after Carlos Correas error. The winning run in Game 1 of the World Series came after an error by Wright, in Game 4 after an error by Murphy and in Game 5 after Dudas inexcusably bad throw allowed Hosmer to
Zach Davies Jersey tie the game.Its easy to make too much of playoff experience, but it was almost as if the Royals played the whole time saying, Yeah, weve been to Game 7 of the World Series and came 90 feet away from tying it. Weve seen pre sure. Lets see how you handle it when you see pre sure.Mix that mentality with recognition of the limits of opportunities, and Hosmers sprint goes from being a terrible idea to something that will make him a hero in Kansas City for the rest of his life.Youve got to try to take a chance, Hosmer said. With who was on the mound, Familia, hits are hard to come by, so, you know, you had to be aggre sive. If it wouldnt have worked out, Id be answering some hard questions right now, but thats the way weve been doing it all year. Weve been taking chances, and found a way to get it done.UPDATE:When trying to explain the unexplainable, such as how a play so unlikelty to succeed wound up working out, you can't look past cosmic forces. With that in mind, there's this, after you add up the times of the World Series games -- 5:09, 2:54
Cory Spangenberg Jersey , 3:22, 3:29 and 4:15...Time of World Series games: 19:09 Game 5 end: 12:34 a.m. Hosmer run: 11:03 p.m. (timestamp on my oh my god tweet) Je se Spector (@je sespector) It's an hour and 31 minutes from 11:03 to 12:34, which, subtracted from 19 hours and nine minutes of total World Series time... Yup, Hosmer's run came at 17:38 of elapsed time. Somewhere, .