Post a Comment On: Rany on the Royals

This set of five Moments includes the Royals’ most iconic defensive play in a generation, a sacrifice fly with one out in the 9th to tie a double-elimination game, one of the greatest what-if plays in major league history, an ALDS-clinching home run in a winner-take-all Game 5, and a go-ahead RBI double in the 9th inning of an ALCS game. And we still have 15 Moments to go.

Moment #: 20
Date: October 14, 2014 Game: 2014 ALCS Game 3, vs. Baltimore Orioles Score: Baltimore 1, Kansas City 1, Top of the 6th Situation: No outs, bases empty Count: 0-1 Matchup: Adam Jones vs. Jason Frasor Result: Popout to third base WPA: 3%
Summary: Mike Moustakas catches Adam Jones’ foul ball in full extension over the dugout railing, and topples into the dugout suite, where a happy mob of Royals fans save him from serious injury.
Link to video: Here.

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OH MY GOD I JUST HAD GEORGE BRETT 1985 FLASHBACK — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 15, 2014
What comes to mind when you see this?
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Do you think about how this play really didn’t have a huge impact on the game? How it occurred in the 6th inning, and while the game was tied, there was no one on base, and if Moustakas hadn’t made the catch, the count still would have been 0-and-2 on Adam Jones? How it only had a WPA of 3%?
Of course you don’t. That would be stupid. This play was not only technically amazing and aesthetically perfect, it was the essence of the 2014-2015 Royals distilled into a single play. There was the tremendous defense. There was the maximum effort. There was the complete lack of regard for personal safety in the service of making the play. And there were the fans, emotionally feeding and being fed by the players in perfect symbiosis, who were metaphorically there for the Royals all October, now literally there. They were there with the presence of mind to stay the hell out of Moustakas’ way – 11 years to the day after a famous play in the stands at Wrigley Field didn’t turn out so well for the home team, or the fans – and there for Moustakas when he toppled over the dugout rail as he made the catch and fell into the dugout suite, with the fans there to cushion his fall and prevent serious injury.
Normally with the Royals it’s the pitcher tipping his hat to his fielder – in this case, as Moustakas returned to his position on the field, it was the fielder tipping his cap to the fans.
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To whatever extent a playoff series can be won or lost on emotion, I think the Orioles might have been officially defeated on this play. They had already been victimized by great defense in Games 1 and 2 (Moments #78 and #79 and #129), and they had already lost two games after being tied headed to the 9th inning. And here was another tie game and another great defensive play, and how are we supposed to beat these guys? The answer was, they weren’t. In the bottom of the inning, Billy Butler would drive home the go-ahead run (Moment #51), and that was all it took. @jazayerli pic.twitter.com/PB0jOUMEQ3 — Flusty McKuntz (@FlubberMcGee) October 15, 2014 Twenty-nine years earlier, George Brett had slid into the Royals’ dugout in St. Louis, risking bodily injury in an attempt to catch another foul ball. He was alright, and his attempt remains one of the most iconic moments of that series. But the difference is, Brett didn’t make the catch. Moustakas made the catch. And his catch will probably always be one of the iconic moments of the 2014 Royals.
It inspired a piece of artwork:
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And it inspired a bobblehead:
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It had a minimal impact on the game, the series, and the season. But no shrine to the 2014-2015 Royals is complete without a picture of it.
Memorable Broadcaster Quote: “Adam Jones into foul territory, MousTAKAS…DID HE MAKE THAT CATCH?!...HE DID!...” – Ernie Johnson.
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Moment #: 19 Date: September 30, 2014 Game: 2014 Wild Card Game, vs. Oakland Athletics Score: Oakland 7, Kansas City 6, Bottom of the 9th Situation: One out, man on third Count: 3-1 Matchup: Nori Aoki vs. Sean Doolittle Result: Sacrifice Fly, tying run scores WPA: 13%
Summary: Nori Aoki completes the four-run comeback in the Wild Card Game, hitting a sacrifice fly with one out in the 9th inning to tie the game.
Link to video: Here.

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You might remember, in Moment #26, that I pointed out how difficult it was for Wade Davis to strike out Ben Revere, given that Revere has the fourth-lowest strikeout rate (min: 1000 PA) of any active player this decade. Well, you know who has the lowest strikeout rate this decade? At 7.7%, it’s Nori Aoki.
And who was at the plate when the Royals needed contact more than any other time in the last two seasons, and perhaps more than any other time in their history? Nori Aoki. Funny how that works out.
The Royals were two outs away from elimination, but the tying run was 90 feet away, in the person of Jarrod Dyson, one of the fastest runners in the game. Any kind of contact other than a line drive right at an infielder would have an excellent chance of tying the game. A base hit would be nice, but every Royals fan in the stadium would have taken a run-scoring out. (That’s why I’d say the Royals needed contact more in this at-bat than when Dane Iorg batted in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series. In that situation, a base hit could – and did – win the game, so the relative difference between a line drive and, say, a medium-depth fly ball was much larger.)
Of course, when Aoki came to bat, the tying run was not 90 feet away. Dyson had just arrived at second base on Alcides Escobar’s bunt, and needed three pitches and a couple of aborted pickoff throws before he felt confident swiping third base. If Sean Doolittle, who has tremendous control, had started Aoki off with a couple of strikes, Aoki may not have been able to give Dyson the time he needed to steal third – but Doolittle fell behind Aoki 2-and-0, and I can’t impress upon you too much how much of a gift that was. Aoki actually swung at the 2-0 pitch, even though it was high and outside the strike zone, and if he had hit the same ball that he hit two pitches later, the Royals lose.
But he fouled it off instead. On the 2-1 pitch, Dyson took off for third, and the pitch was called ball three, just a little bit low. Aoki, now in a position to look for something he could drive, got an inside fastball at 93 mph, and turned on it. The instant it left the bat, everyone knew the game was about to be tied.
In fact, sitting down the third base line, for a brief instant while watching Josh Reddick chase after the ball, I thought the ball had a chance, if it carried just a little bit more and sliced just a little bit more towards the right field line, to tuck itself into the seats right where they curl inward toward the pole. Had that happened – had Aoki, who had hit one home run (a grand slam) all season with the Royals, won the Wild Card Game with a walkoff home run – that Moment might well rank #1 on this list.
Alas, it didn’t carry quite that far, and Reddick managed to flag it down. In another situation we might have been distraught that the ball hadn’t eluded Reddick – a little more carry and it might have bounced off the wall and over his head, and Aoki might well have been able to get to third base, putting the winning run 90 feet away with just one out. But we were just so relieved – and so astounded – that the Royals had just made up a four-run deficit with six outs to go that there was no time for anything but jubilation at this point. And why not? Aoki’s sacrifice fly increased the Royals’ odds of winning the game by 13%. That makes it the most valuable out the Royals have ever made on offense in a playoff game.
Memorable Broadcaster Quote: “Fly ball, right field…Reddick, a long run…makes the catch, but that’s going to tie the game! It is 7 to 7 in the Wild Card!” – Ernie Johnson.

Moment #: 18 Date: October 14, 2015 Game: 2015 ALCS Game 5, vs. Houston Astros Score: Houston 2, Kansas City 4, Bottom of the 8th Situation: Two outs, men on first and second Count: 2-2 Matchup: Kendrys Morales vs. Dallas Keuchel Result: Home Run, three runs score WPA: 6%
Summary: Kendrys Morales finally drives a dagger into the heart of the Astros, hitting a three-run homer to put away Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS.
Link to video: Here.

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I LOVE YOU KENDRYS. I LOVE YOU JOHNNY. I LOVE YOU ALEX. I LOVE YOU BEN. I LOVE YOU NED. AND I LOVE YOU DAYTON MOST OF ALL. — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 15, 2015
It’s easy to overrate this Moment, because – much like Lorenzo Cain’s double in Game 5 of the World Series (Moment #28) – the Royals were probably winning this game no matter what. They were taking a two-run lead to the 9th inning, and while Johnny Cueto was cruising, presumably Wade Davis was coming in no matter what, and Davis had never given up three runs in a relief appearance as a member of the Royals. But, like Cain’s double, Morales’ home run was for all intents and purposes a walkoff hit, because there was no doubt afterwards that the Royals were going to win. And to come in a winner-take-all game, 48 hours after the Royals’ grave had already been dug in Houston, gave this Moment a sense of relief and release unlike any other in 2015.
Giving the Moment added resonance was that it came against Dallas Keuchel, who would win the Cy Young Award after the season, and who had throttled the Royals for seven inning of one-run ball in winning Game 3 of the series. Almost from the moment the Royals won Game 4, tempering the giddy excitement was the specter that, a year after the Royals lost a winner-take-all playoff game when their opponent called upon their left-handed ace to throw five shutout innings out of the bullpen, the same thing might happen again.

.@astros Whatever happens tomorrow, just promise me you won't use your left-handed ace on 2 days' rest to throw 5 scoreless innings. kthxbye — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 13, 2015
And sure enough, when the bottom of the 5th rolled around at Kauffman Stadium, the Royals were losing by one run, same as they had been the year before. Fortunately, it turns out that not every starting pitcher can be called upon to throw five innings on two days’ rest. A.J. Hinch stuck with Collin McHugh to start the 5th inning, and two batters later, the Royals had men on second and third and McHugh was pulled in favor of…Mike Fiers. Alex Rios doubled (Moment #25), and the specter of being unable to come back against Keuchel evaporated.
When Hinch did finally turn to Keuchel, it was to start the bottom of the 8th inning, and the Royals already led by two, and his job was simply to throw one scoreless inning and pray for a miracle. But he couldn’t even manage that. Alcides Escobar greeted him with a double, and after Ben Zobrist lined out, Keuchel intentionally walked Lorenzo Cain to pitch to Eric Hosmer, who popped out. And then Morales got a 2-2 curveball down at his ankles and golfed the ball to left-center field. At the instant the ball hit the bat I thought it was a double in the gap, but I didn’t think he had gotten all of it – and then, just before the camera angle changed to show the flight of the ball, we saw Morales literally skipping to first base. And that’s when we knew. The ball didn’t just clear the fence, it cleared the bleacher box entirely and banged into an advertisement between two fountains.
It was the Royals’ first three-run homer in a playoff game since George Brett took Goose Gossage into the upper deck at Yankee Stadium in 1980, which until this point was the most famous home run in Royals history.
It was glorious. It was a celebration. Morales rounded the bases, stomped on home plate, and then threw a little shade at the Astros.
After Lance McCullers – thanks to a controversial replay overturn that ruled Terrance Gore was out trying to steal third base – got out of the 6th inning in Game 4 with the Astros still holding onto a lead, he got a little animated. He made a motion that the Royals interpreted as a throat slash, although it looks like more like the murderer was trying to chop off the victim’s head instead. So after Morales stepped on home plate, he imitated McCullers’ neck chop.
And until now, I thought that was the end of it. But what I missed was that right before doing the neck chop, Morales also imitated Hosmer’s “putting on the backpack” move, which confused me. But then, as you can see here, before doing his neck chop McCullers also seemed to imitate Hosmer’s move.



Maybe he didn’t mean to do it, just like he claimed he didn’t mean to throat slash anyone, but given the combination of both moves in succession, I can absolutely see why the Royals would take offense.
But as Morales reminded us, he who laughs last laughs best.
Memorable Broadcaster Quote: “Morales sends a ball well-hit into left-center field…AND THAT ONE IS GOOOOOOONE!” – Matt Vasgersian.
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Moment #: 17 Date: October 29, 2014 Game: 2014 World Series Game 7, vs. San Francisco Giants Score: San Francisco 3, Kansas City 2, Bottom of the 9th Situation: Two outs, bases empty Count: 0-1 Matchup: Alex Gordon vs. Madison He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named Result: Single/E-8, batter to third base WPA: 11%
Summary: Alex Gordon holds at third. Say those five words from now until the end of time, and everyone will know what play you’re talking about.
Link to video: Here.

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How do you rank this play? On the one hand, it is one of the greatest what-if plays in major league history, and probably the iconic moment of the 2014 season. On the other hand, as a Royals fan, all watching the highlight does is serve to remind me how close we came to winning it all that year.
“Gordon smoked a line drive that appeared it would fall in front of center fielder Gregor Blanco, but Blanco played it as if he had a chance to catch it until it was too late, and the ball skipped past him and headed to the wall. Gordon accelerated into a higher gear, and then Juan Perez, who was backing up Blanco, bobbled the ball at the wall, and for one glorious moment we contemplated the utterly unthinkable: a Little League inside-the-park “home run” to tie Game 7 of the World Series with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Just writing that sentence makes me tingle.”
I wrote that for Grantland after Game 7, and that pretty much sums up the stakes. If Alex Gordon had tried to score, well…

You send Gordon, and it's one of the 5 greatest baseball moments ever, regardless of whether he scores. — Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 30, 2014
The only problem was, if Gordon had tried to score, he almost certainly would have been a dead duck at home plate. I believed that watching the play live, and nothing that I’ve seen since has changed my mind. Mike Jirschele made the right call. If you don’t believe me, read this or this or this. (And definitely this. And definitely watch this.) I have no regrets about the decision to hold Gordon at third.
If there is any regret on this play, it’s that Gordon didn’t hightail it out of the box and run 360 feet like a championship depended on it. But I don’t know how much we can hold that against Gordon. There were three parts of this play where he could have run faster:
1) Running out of the box 2) He slowed down a little bit just before he reached second base 3) He stumbled briefly just after he passed second base
The only one of these you can put on Gordon is the first one. The second one is almost certainly because of the second defensive mistake on the play – when Juan Perez struggled to pick up the ball at the fence – which caused Gordon to accelerate again after briefly thinking about holding up. The third one…well, stumbles happen.
But yes, it would have been nice if Gordon had come out of the box as if he knew that not one but two Giants were about to let the ball get away from them, and that he would have a chance to circle the bases. But 1) I really can’t fault him too much for not doing so, and 2) I doubt it would have made a difference anyway. I think that, had he busted his ass to first base and maintained top speed, he might have been 10 feet further down the line at most. That might have been enough to make sending him home a good gamble, but it only would have been a good gamble because, with two outs, the odds of Gordon scoring if he held were no more than 25-30% anyway. Maybe he would have had a 35% chance to score if he ran home, I don’t know, but it still would have been a long shot.
Now, if Gordon had known what was going to happen before hand, and ran like his life depended on it…and he knew that Perez was going to mishandle the ball so he didn’t have to think about slowing down at second base…and he didn’t stumble…I think he would have been 50/50 to score. Nate would have gotten his wish: it would have been one of the top five plays in baseball history.
It didn’t happen, and in some ways, the fact that it didn’t happen is part of what makes this play so compelling, and what generated an oral history of it, and will make it live on for many years to come. We’ll never know. Baseball needs a bit of mystery, and this play certainly had it in spades.
I wish it had turned out differently, but I long ago made peace with the fact that no one did anything wrong; it just wasn’t meant to be. I just wish that the Royals would have had a chance to atone for falling short the following year. And I wish that Alex Gordon had gotten a chance to atone in another World Series game with his team losing by a run in the bottom of the 9th inning.
Memorable Broadcaster Quote: “Here’s the 0-1…that’s in the air to left-center, that ball is…DOWN! And it gets past, to the wall! Gordon is going to dig for THIRD! A mistake in the outfield! And he will hold there with two out, representing the tying run!” – Joe Buck.

Moment #: 16 Date: October 11, 2014 Game: 2014 ALCS Game 2, @ Baltimore Orioles Score: Kansas City 4, Baltimore 4, Top of the 9th Situation: One out, man on second Count: 0-0 Matchup: Alcides Escobar vs. Zach Britton Result: Double, go-ahead run scores WPA: 30%
Summary: Alcides Escobar doubles with one out in the 9th to drive home the go-ahead run in Baltimore in Game 2 of the 2014 ALCS.
Link to video: Here.

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Eleven times in the last two postseasons have the Royals scored the tying or go-ahead run in the 9th inning or later. The first of those was Eric Hosmer’s walkoff sacrifice fly in Game 1 of the World Series (Moment #31); Nori Aoki's sacrifice fly is next at #19. The other nine are all among our Top 16 Moments. This play is the first of those nine, and also the first of nine postseason plays on our list with a WPA of at least 30%. Really, if you wanted to sum up just how amazingly blessed Royals fans have been these last two years, you could do a lot worse than to point out that this play only ranks #16.
The Orioles had tied Game 2 of the 2014 ALCS, 4-4, in the bottom of the 5th, and neither team scored in the next three innings; the Orioles came the closest when they loaded the bases in the 7th, but Lorenzo Cain (Moment #78) turned them away. In the top of the 9th, Omar Infante led off against Darren O’Day, and hit a squibber (Moment #162) on the infield to the perfect spot. Terrance Gore immediately came in to pinch-run, but Buck Showalter replaced O’Day with closer Zach Britton, and just as in the Wild Card Game, the Royals chose not to risk stealing second base with a left-handed pitcher on the mound, and Mike Moustakas bunted Gore over to second base instead. Bunting? Well, it's the same prescription as the 9th inning of the WC game - lefty on the mound, so bunt to second, then steal third. — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 12, 2014
Just as Jarrod Dyson had gone on to steal third base against Sean Doolittle, maybe the plan was for Gore to steal third base with one out. But we’ll never know, because on Britton’s first pitch, he threw a 97 mph sinker up, and while Alcides Escobar was late on the pitch, he hit a hard ground ball just inside the right field line. With second baseman Jonathan Schoop having to hold Gore close at second base, first baseman Steve Pearce had to play well off the line, and had no chance to make the play. The ball rolled to the corner, 40,000 people moaned all at once, and Gore trotted home with the go-ahead and eventual winning run. Afterwards, Orioles fans were sad: AND, THIS BEING THE ROYALS, IT PROBABLY WILL — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 12, 2014

They would be sadder still when Dyson reached base on an error by third baseman Ryan Flaherty, and Lorenzo Cain followed with an insurance RBI single (Moment #109), but it was Escobar’s double that started the celebration, in the Royals dugout and in the Jazayerli household as well. The Royals were about to win Game 2 of the ALCS. Which meant that, having won the first two games on the road, they were an excellent bet to win the series. Which meant they were probably going to the World Series. It's like I always say: you can't spell "Alcides" without "A-L-C-S". — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 12, 2014 Afterwards, Orioles fans were sad again.


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Memorable Broadcaster Quote: “Down the line – FAIR BALL into right field! Gore is going to score easily! Escobar into second, RBI double! The Royals have the lead here in the 9th! Get ‘em on, get ‘em over, get ‘em in.” – Ernie Johnson.