2014 AL Wild Card Game (Athletics vs. Royals) | #MLBAtHome

night football they dismantled the New England Patriots and then 24 hours later they got the first playoff

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in 29 years here as royalty takes the field on a big night for baseball here in Kansas City, the batting order is brought to you by Budweiser Coco Crisp leads for the A's followed by sam fuld and left josh donaldson, the big hitter, batting third and brandon moss is the fourth hitter while cal said josh reddick has been hot, he's in the five hole, then it's jed lowry, stephen vogt plays first, giovanni soto is behind the plate and eric sogard is the second baseman only two right-handed hitters who will face right-handed james shields tonight james shields 32 years old his career record is 114 and 90 his most important postseason mark seven career starts with two and four for the 4.98 era let's take a look at the kansas city defense there iron man yeah here are the guys with the gloves gordon left gold glove winner keynes in center aoki is on right moving to the infield we have escobar and get up in the middle mike mustakas and gold glove winner eric hosmer at first base behind the plate we have salvador perez and on the mound great

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james here is the umpiring team for this game of the American League

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s bill miller calls the balls and hits the team leader is jerry davis at first dan isonia at second bill welke at third and of course being a playoff game you add referees on the lines james today in his seventh year patrolling the left field line and todd tichenor on the right field line there was a plane flying during batting practice he said it had been worth the wait and this is no different than what we found a year ago when we played the

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game in the national league in Pittsburgh and that place was off the charts.

Same story here at K Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City. Not now. I don't know if everyone will agree that it was worth the wait, but I will tell you that this crowd is as loud as it gets in Pittsburgh. James Shields has the best right-handed changeup in baseball. He just has great movement. We'll see a lot of that pitch tonight, Coco Crisp starts it and throws a strike. Chevrolet pitching tracks and the arsenal for James Shields and like Ron said, he looks at that changeup that shows the fastball 60 percent of the time it's low and the count is even a ball. and a strike after watching pitcher James play great all these years, I would say the percentages were a little higher on that changeup because when he gets in trouble, that's the pitch that's going to miss inside and if you need any indication on the difference between regular season and postseason baseball is the roar with each pitch.

You know you spend your entire six months, 162 games trying to be the best you can during that time and then you get here. Every pitch counts, every hit counts, every caught ball counts every A manager's decision counts, yes, the intensity is very high. I remember as an infielder, you prepare, you know every pitch, obviously, during the season, but it's not as exhausting as in the playoffs, it's like you're ready to move, uh, to the left. either or you're just intense, I guess game time couldn't come soon enough, well they started waiting all day for this to happen, yeah the hardest part was the nerves that build up before the game starts game once you get out there once you get your first ground ball, once you get in the game, then it becomes the same pay pitch to the A's first batter, hit into left field and coconut crunch is on with one, many of these tigers, as you see this. the shields high fastball came in on a 3-2 count, that's what the Oakland A's team does best and did it best through the first four months of the season.

They will work to get the starting pitcher into the pitch count. He has 19 stolen bases and 24 attempts. A lot has been said about the lack of offense when Céspedes was traded from that big presence, but they are still a good offensive team and they started to click in the month of September, the last two weeks, in particular Sam Fold, the number two hitter took a strike on one bob melvin said he was in the lineup thought about adam dunn and all that power but wide hitting field here in kansas city you need the full defense you have to assume it's going to be a tight one run game and the defense could be the difference in the game mike gallego third base coach one of the best defensive infielders you will ever see during his time this is probably the last place sam fold thought he would be earlier this season he started the year with the a's but he only played seven games, they say he revised his swing, that's what made Bill Welke drop to third, so he started the year with Oakland and then claimed waivers from the Minnesota Twins and then was traded at the deadline He returns to Oakland and finds himself in the playoffs, yes, the pitcher's perspective.

Do you think he did the right thing? Ronnie Always's hitter's perspective. I think he stood his ground. He actually didn't make an attempt and broke his wrist even though the bat is around the plate. I still don't think that's really an indication that. He hit him, he lifted, we got a two-on-one count. Bob Melvin said they probably wouldn't steal much, but they could hit and run, although he believes he only has a 30 success rate with accurate hit and run with the lead at first and everything going in the opposite direction alex gordon returns and makes the play Gordon, the converted third baseman who won three Gold Gloves as an outfielder and made it look easy since he had to come back, knows in general terms if a guy can have a really good changeup, likes to pitch to guys who can hit the ball out of the stadium, so they will start batting earlier and the change can fool them if you get batsmen who are content to pick up and hit the ball on the same day. opposite field that change becomes less effective kansas city outfield defense will play a big role in this game kane and gordon can go get him now here he is josh donaldson leads the A's and hits home runs and RBIs on swings in the first pitch and fouls Owen won, this little guy generates as much bat speed as anyone in the game he's playing with a banged up left knee he fell on, but this time of year Bob Melvin went through his list of injured guys on his team .

Like the entire roster, everyone had something right now, it's safe to assume everyone has something right now, but I tell you what the playoffs are, the change in the weather a little bit, even though we're not experiencing it here, and the adrenaline really requires. all those distance pains shield jumps forward no balls and two strikes sometimes you get ahead of his hitter o2 and say advantage pitcher both swings donaldson was on both pitches shields the winner of 14 games delivers the o2 perez kept him in front and two bucks Showalter said about Salvador Pérez said behind the plate he's like a big pillow nothing ever escapes him he just forms that big body of his and he gets down and just smothers the baseball and keeps it in front of him really interesting The changeup artist usually likes likes to throw 2-1, 3-2 changeups in different counts, but Big James, his changeup is a strikeout pitch, he gave it two shots right there and he also has that power changeup, it came from Tampa Bay, Alex Cobb. he has it there with the tampa bay bred by johann santana back in the day that changeup that can put away a right or left handed hitter first strikeout for shields in the second out of the picture and that was his changeup that tried to lead him to chase the dirt came to a count in two and two and he came back with the triple, so forehand on forehand cal three changes in a row how many times do you see that very, very rarely change in speed?

Donaldson's back hand the bat chris still on first here's the cleanup hitter brandon moss and he takes a strike 0-1 moss seems to be the guy most affected in the Oakland lineup by the change of uena grasses his power numbers dropped tremendously after of the change and this the ball is well hit to the right and you can forget about that, add power numbers there in the seats above the bullpen and that's two nothing for brandon moss just his third home run since the Joanna Lawns trade that's one one of those changeups that just sat right in the middle of the plate and it all looked like they were starting to throw it with the cutter and then he tried to come back with a changeup, he was sitting on it, I'm never a big believer. in changes the first time in the lineup because what are you changing out of nowhere?

He had thrown a cutter inside right into the changeup, maybe a little too hard. Moss took care of that. That's very true, a hitter first has to respect the fastball. and if you're just looking for the baseball, sometimes the changeup will be perceived as a fastball tape measure fired by brandon moss and here's josh reddick, i think with uh big james, although those kind of rules go out the window because his changeup is exceptional from reddick. I put up good numbers in my career against Shields 318 with three home runs, yeah that will make you smile. Your first ab post in

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, which bombed Reddit earlier this year.

I got two of them in the same game. I went up there looking for a fastball on the next one. time on the first pitch and deposited that out also 2-2 to stop Gordon right there in his tracks, but Oakland A is the last team to clinch a playoff spot, the first to score in this game here in the first and uses the long ball brandon moss in the goal the a's jump two-nothing the

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come to bat here is your batting order presented by budweiser alcitus escobar in first place with nori aoki second lorenzo kane the speedy center fielder bats third and eric hosmer in the cleanup spot then is billy butler alex gordon that team's leader in home runs in rvis salvador perez catcher omar enfanteo has a career high in runs batted in this year at third base is mike mustakis and john lester is on the hill what I forgot What is mentioned about the pitchers, both Lester and Shields, is that they are auditioning to make a lot of money as free agents if you want a number one pitcher this year, maybe the best this year, many losses, but a great era, many enemies as he always has and quickly.

He is ahead of Escobar, with no balls and two strikes. Ned Yost at the end of the season traded number one and two guys in the order. Aoki had predominantly been the leadoff hitter this year, but then he put Escobar in there and really lit up Kansas City. offense and here in the wild card game it is escobar who leads lester's 252 starts in his major league career 116 wins 67 losses but only two and three in this stadium this is a team that leaves the blocked strike zone, you You don't have to throw strikes in your head, you ran it in and Escobar didn't fight two balls and two strikes.

The Lester thing too after that, the trade deadline, uh, the deal was done. His first start was against the Kansas City Royals and he still beat them by two. Plus, since that was a foul, he beat him with the Red Sox in July in Oakland and then beat him again later in August in Kansas City. Well, you mentioned before, he was only beaten twice during the regular season, both wins by John Lester. on the ground in the middle of jed lowery's glove and escobar is in this is just a cutter outside hard hit in the middle of the plate a difficult play will probably have to be ruled out a hit just hit him on the heel of the glove Ned had to take an angle for that ball, to be able to throw to a fast runner and that's the advantage of having speed, is that you have to make that life or death play, because it's considered a hit and here's Aoki and he took one, it's very interesting, Ned Yost told us before the game, if Escobar gets into Aoki's bunning, I don't think he'll bunt with a 2-0 deficit, but maybe he'll still play his cards the way he thinks Escobar should by principle. probably the best baserunner in kansas city and has stolen 31 of 37. quickly back in the count is aoki with no balls and two strikes, you will see a lot of swings up there that are a little unorthodox from time to time, whatever It may be necessary for a Hokie to occasionally put on that batting stance and the swings look like he's throwing a mineral through the strike zone but he does it Lester got down and a little bluff there to first he usually doesn't throw to first.

He doesn't have great movement but he is very quick to get to the plate. When this game came up, you might have thought that Derrick Norris would be the Oakland A's catcher. He has a good bat, but he has trouble getting runners out. Soto has been much better in that department and thus gets the start against the speedy Royals on the ground to second, so he protects with the high jump but they get the start. Dan Isonia is the second base umpire, he looked at it carefully and then made the call for them to get the power, but Aoki reaches. about the choice of the field player, well, that play is interesting, the soul guard is there for his defense, the high throw, maybe a little nerves, good play by Lowry, but in the vicinity, I guess at second base ,there with the force, I think he put his toe on the base. although here's center fielder lorenzo kane eighth in the american league with a 301 average another guy who can really run cal here's a uh now we have to make the distinction here are you trying to get the double play or are you trying to get the force? and a lot of times you have to make that decision as a shortstop because the pitch was wrong, you have to make sure you stick your toe in the bag and drag it to get the power out and keep the start from happening in the air. right field josh redick two down you know soto is in the game since the catcher has thrown out 50 percent of the runners and has a nice strong arm, but there really aren't that many attempts and I don't think there will be any attempts from Kansas .

City royalty when they did they faced John Lester this year, so it almost seems like, if it's John Lester on the mound and there's no try, why do you need someone who can pitch? Remember that Lester had great success with Oakland this year with a receiver Derrick Norris had great success in the postseason last year with a receiver David Ross There is value to learn now that he came to Oakland, everyone had to learn it very quickly, so who's to say soto can't pick it up that quickly, but there's a bit of concern right now that he hasn't caught it sooner.

I don't know how he thinks, he doesn't know what pitches he wants to throw and maybe he doesn't know how the ball gets there and he cuts to Eric Hosmer expecting a 1-0, there goes Aoki, here's the throw to second, no. The opportunity actually went over the bag with just a bunt, but the throw was off line and there was no chance for Lowry to apply a tag, well you know all his stolen base, uh, people on this team , he went through the bag, he was expelled eight times. He doesn't have a great percentage, but he made the first move and got it right, so a runner in scoring position for the Royals with two down and Lester makes it 2-0 or was about to make it and then time ran out. .

At that point it's obvious that they're going to use his threat of speed and getting off the base to disrupt some of John Lester's rhythm. Well, Giovanni Soto was arguing with the home plate umpire, Miller, saying "hey, it's too late, you're going to get hurt." My picture is that you call time so late and far 3-0, this offense is based on making things happen and Ned Yost will make sure not to vary his plan even though he lost two nothings in the first inning, you still have to play your game, so let him swing three, you know he's going to get a fastball, let him be aggressive, four pitches, they're on first and second, it's interesting to see Soto talking to Lester, what can you tell Lester about the pitch in the postseason that he doesn't know?

I know because he's trying to relax his lefty how much of this is the first time he hasn't caught Lester and are you totally on the same page? Well sometimes you're not on the same page, it could be as simple as watching the catcher give those uh, the multitude of signals with a guy on second sometimes takes longer than the catcher you normally work with. It's little things like that that can change your rhythm. He is a pace bowler. He is one of the most popular guys to wear a Kansas City uniform. billy butler is up two balls and no strikes and the plate jumps a little for lester here on leicester's first pitch with five days rest, that's an extra day you never know for a lot of pitchers, even the big ones, a little strong in that. first inning six balls in a row since he retired Kane with a fly ball to right just because it's six balls in a row doesn't mean you should take here, he accepts the strike call and Butler didn't think much of it he didn't like that call from Bill Miller.

What do you think Cal? He's a 2-0 cutter, so he has some movement. He's right on the edge. I know this from all good hitters when they face good pitchers. Close releases. They say don't help him. He doesn't need anything. help, how do you know they say that ron because that's exactly what we say batters throw with two on and two out to left base? Hit that will score a run and put runners on the corners with two down Kansas City on the board, it is obvious that it will come back in again this time, butler is looking for it, he gave it a good swing, a line drive, maybe he will get lucky, it is just a pot, that's why Sam Fold is there, a big butler punch is ready for that pitch. fold is so fast that he is able to keep the ball in play keep Butler first keep the force at second here is alex gordon, the

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leader in home runs with 19. rbi was 74. it's a 2-1 game and the three runs came with two just another example of baseball royalty, they've been playing a lot this year, they still said their game aoki faked the bunt on his first pitch he saw hit the post, he stole the base to set up a run, alex gordon, one more. of those homegrown products and there's billy butler stuck between first and second now hosmer pulls away at third and now they're going to throw home and hosmer is out billy butler went first and that resulted in the third out butler hits iran and then le costs hosmer no chance it's two to one it's time for chevy truck month when truck guys can depend on great deals on the

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chevy silverado north american truck of the year on top of second chad lowry leads it off oakland leading 2-1 Strange ending at the bottom of the first inning for the Kansas City Royals when Billy Butler was tagged out and caught between first and second.

Now, here's what you think of this. Well, I don't think there was a play because neither Hosmer nor Butler. I can run I think Butler is talking to Butler saying hey if they're playing behind me I should steal I should steal well you never looked at Lester Lester just got off and they did the play the simplest of plays that might work in high school certainly not It's supposed to work at this level and the out was made at the plate and you saw Rusty Koontz, the first base coach and Billy Butler, all trying to explain exactly what happened.

Well, you definitely don't do something you don't normally do in the regular season in the playoffs, but there are times when a left-handed first and third play will work. I stole first base in the big leagues on a left-handed play. Haltom comes against John Matlack when he takes his eye off you. Um, you start running third and then he runs there at first, but on a play where you're just trying to run down, you better have some really fast guys so you can do that. at the major league level where you can run and steal a run, but that wasn't the right situation, just going into the summary and then trying to score a run in the minor leagues took the bat out of your leader's hands. in home runs. hitter and runner and Alex Gordon with runners on first and third, he was your most valuable player of the season.

We show the graph and what he hits with two outs and runners in scoring position, everything he does and Fonte hitting him in the head, like you. It's going to be hard for Billy Butner to explain that in the cafeteria tomorrow. I think the logical explanation is that if you're going to play behind him, he doesn't pitch here, let's take the lead and move on, but ask him again. to do that when he hasn't done it, you know, and over the course of the season it's a risk, two balls, two strikes to Jed Lowery, I know it's early, not many pitches have been thrown, that inside fastball to lefties that the shields usually only excels at hasn't gotten a single call or thrown a pitch in, but three twos turn on that lookout one of those foul lines you hope everyone pays attention there both pitchers have hit 95.

Ernie, I know how you like the 95. Not to see that 95 flashing up there on the board, when we look at their control and the type of pitches they make, we forget that they still have a 95. Osmo made a good grip and the shields made a good grip on the first, a fourth member from below. our team is matt weiner who has the best seat in the house matt what you got is pretty good here in the royal suite where they hang out at every pitch including george brett who signed with this organization two years after his birth and it's I've been here ever since as a hall of fame player, as a cornerstone of that '85 championship team, as an executive, as a coach, etc., you've been a part of this rebuilding process and how rewarding this scene is. tonight, it's pretty special, uh, for a city to wait 29 years and when I first signed with the Royals in 71 and then we made the playoffs and well, I went up in 73 74 being my first year, you make the playoffs seven every ten years you think it's going to happen all the time and it hasn't happened since '85, very happy for Dayton Moore, very happy for Ned Yost and the rest of the coaching staff and especially all the players on the field because they have really worked hard and and became a really good ballclub, when in this development process did you think you had a team that could reach this level?

I think last year, in the second half of the season, the way they played was always like that, you know they had. It was hard to get to 500 for a long time and once they got over 500 they had a pretty good run and all of a sudden last year at the end of the season I'm like you know these guys aren't that good. very far and it was a good experience for them last year to play exciting, you know, compete for the baseball pennant, they are in it until the last week of the season and unfortunately, Detroit beat us and we lost in the wild card. but I think last year was the first year that I really saw that these guys thought they were ready to play and the organization took a calculated risk in trading prospects to bring back James Shields between the innings, the wins and his presence in the clubhouse.

Did you mean the last two years? You can ask Danny Duffy and Ventura about him mentoring those guys and don't forget that in that deal we also have Wade Davis, who had the most incredible year as a reliever he's ever had. Look, I think he allowed four extra-base hits all year, it was won, he was just the eighth inning specialist of all time, but James and Wade brought a lack of confidence in them and, by the way, that rubs off on the players. young people because of the way our bosses. I'll be very happy to know that George spends many of his afternoons watching What Network TBS Baby because it's yeah because it's uh it's so much fun there you go you've got it down before you just surprised me because I tried to lead. he straight there you have him out so professional of those moments promotions are made thank you george thank you matt steven vogt draws the ticket and here is giovanni soto two close plays now that they have gone against royalty in the check swing that no I don't think it will go against the Royals, but it's a play they've called on the first baseman once, a third base umpire once, both against the Royals, strike one and one.

Soto started the year with the Texas Rangers, played 10 games and then was sold to the nearby A's. at the end of August hit 262 he didn't hit a home run he scored eight runs but it was his job behind the plate he caught nine of 17 runners who were trying to steal what gave him the start tonight he was fooled and it's one and two soto is active behind the plate kneels and also has a small bruise on his back back in 2008, soto was the rookie of the year in the national league with the Chicago Cubs he really thought he was going to be a fixture for those Cubs for years to come, he had a difficult year, a couple of difficult years.

He voted with advantage in the first glances. Strike three, two down, looked like a fastball away, so I thought he was in our pitch path. He had it down. Also Bill Miller called it two down. Yes, he was definitely off the spectrum. There's the number nine hitter, Eric Sogard, who swings on the first pitch and fouls back. There aren't many everyday players anymore. You see wearing glasses during the game. You become something of his. I don't know. who's his signature right voted first with virtually no primary vote is one of those guys who suffers from a bruised ankle and toe and it's one and one bob melvin saying look it's not how you got here it's that you got here and It's a new beginning one ball and two strikes on September 10 and 16 for the Oakland Athletics and it was all a matter of luck down the stretch because Seattle, after losing five in a row, got hot and Oakland was able to contain them, Sonny Gray had a great success on the last day of the season and here are the shields with a 1-2, both the pitchers and the horses give you a lot of innings, they throw you deep in the ball games, they are both getting up with a pitch count here at beginning of this game, Melvin said. lester is 125 to 130.

I would say the same, except for the great Kansas City bull plane for the shields committed due to a foul in the middle by Salvador Pérez. Second strike out of the third inning of the game. For the shields, we go to the lower half of the second where. Will you be the next time history is made? You'll be there for all the action in 2015. Visit Season Ticketsmlb.com to reserve your seat today. Alex Gordon started here in the bottom half of the second. He was at the plate when Billy Butler. The episode occurred in the bottom half of the first inning, resulting in Eric Hosmer being thrown out to the plate still trying to absorb that up here, an O2 count is a count where you risk doing something because the facts are What do you have?

It's not a good opportunity to get a hit off Lester on the count of three. Live ball in left field and Sam Fold makes the play for the first out. Let's take a quick trip to Atlanta. Check in with Casey Stern. Case. I can see our man from Yale, Ron. Honey, analyze what you just gave us and the expression on your face right now is as blank as mine, it was the first state incorporated into the nation, that's why they would be the first state to talk about royalty and the a, there you have it somehow.

I knew it, I'm sorry, in case you had the answer, call it a strike for Salvador Perez John Lester when you get into the quality starts stat that's a couple miles up right behind short and Jed Lowry squeezes him two up. and down two goes six innings to allow three earned runs or less credited with a quality start john lester made 11 starts for the A's 11 quality starts well, a quality start is an interesting step because if you take it all the way in nine innings you have a 4.50 era john lester wouldn't be happy with a four and a half era, he's a two and a half guy, um, the number about a quality start does show that, although there is some consistency there that every time he's there going six, you know he's giving up a little bit of damage, not a lot, but mixed in with those quality starts there's a shutout here and there, eight innings of blank ball, it seems like yeah, if you look at that and say you know what will keep you in a game, it was a foregone conclusion years ago that if you recorded a lot of innings you had a lot of quality starts because they wouldn't keep you there if you weren't. doing the job it is very interesting to see a shift done with Omar and Fonte, who I always think of as a guy who sprays the ball all over the stadium, the second baseman, the soul guard, almost behind the base towards the post side , the o2 is going down and he literally comes swinging down three up three down we head to the third we move to the top half of the third and in the bottom half of the third there's a good chance you're going to see a different battery for the Oakland A's, let's take a look in tonight's tipster presented by voya financial 75 chances the A's will win when they score first 57 and 19 in the regular season coco crispy leads here in the third and the reason we say that is that between innings we could look in the dugout and see that giovanni soto had taken off his equipment and was talking to the coach he came out of the dugout and then you saw derrick norris saddled next to john lester so here he was soto and accompanied by nick paparesta the oakland coach and there is norris whoever has the equipment on notice that he does whatever it takes to get loose, there is that change again and sharp in front, a ball and two strikes every time a train changes the catchers in a postseason game could benefit the starting pitcher, leicester , single to left, his first time came to score in front.

Brandon Moss's two-run bomb just reached out and slapped the first one going 3-1 in the books and it looked like the shields for a second might have been cut by Crisp in the bag What's happening to him to matt weiner? matt ernie giovanni soto who was brought in for defensive purposes to start this game was done for the night he injured his left thumb of course that's his catching hand he did it on the tag at home plate I talked to him a few moments ago. He said he heard something pop asked him if he broke it he said I don't know but I can't get the ball right thank you very much Matt so Derek Norris will get the call in the bottom half of the third inning.

I know that finger will explode. I've had it myself. It's called a ranger's thumb. It's where the thumb is bent back and the pain is pretty intense, so trying to catch that cutter for the rest of the game isn't going to happen for Giovanni. soto two walls and no hits on sam full ranger thumb yeah i don't know why it's called that you know what's interesting about today's game because of the repetition it's a game where it almost would have been ghost tag or I just want to Maybe he caught you on the hip, but now when you want to make sure you apply the tag, he actually caught it right in the midsection and took that full hit from Hosmer.

Johnny Gomes is back in the postseason watching him come up behind him. the plate has a play pérez no, it does not lift it a row pérez has been one of his Venezuelan warriors this season he played in 146 games, that is better than the record that Darrell Porter had at 145. he never misses an inning, it seems that it is also His Venezuelan shortstop Acetas Escobar played 162 games this season and the guy sitting between us, Cal Ripken, didn't flinch when that statistic was mentioned to the soft right and will fall in front of Aoki for a third hit allowed with one out. by James Shields as he works here on the third entry for Ned Yoast.

It's also his first time managing a postseason game and he's been nothing but confident thinking that these royals with the way they've improved the offense to go along with their great starting and relief pitchers could be prepared to a deep run, but there's Josh Donaldson, who singles to left. They are in the first and second big game. James hasn't been around so far and I'm not going to say that because in the third inning he's giving up a couple of runs, he's only allowed four hits, but the East hitters' swings have been set so far on the shields.

It's not like they say in baseball parlance. He really isn't fooling anyone so far and he certainly didn't fool Brandon. Moss in the first, no doubt, in the seats right above the Oakland bullpen, he's been fighting with the control of it, he got into the count of some hitters, but you're right, the swings have been very strong. The foul balls have been good swings, some of the outs. There were difficult outs, the runners led from first and second, here in the third and Moss on the plate line was stopped by Hosmer, who throws to second to complete the double play.

We've had a bad base running on the Kansas City side and now Sam. ford gets caught second on soft line drive to hosmer we head to the bottom of the third inning tonight's 2014 american league wild card is presented by budweiser thanks for tuning in here at tbs we move to the bottom half of the third inning in a 2- 1 game john lester in the a's at the top and mike mustakis the number nine hitter takes a strike at the start here in the third, see the change this is where most of the balls that mr. hosmer hits they go to the saw mustache at the plate and He messes up the changeup and goes the other way at first, but Sam Fold drove him in at the top of the single here in the third for Kansas City Dale Swain since he became the hitting coach and Later, May has been trying to get mustaches to go left. field more, says yes, you have the power to hit 20 to 30 home runs, but instead of hitting just over 200, hit the ball to left field, perfect display there, also a classic case, says the infield can play with him to shoot, but the gardens.

He didn't play it to throw, Sam made a good play there, but he was playing it more that way, the outfield didn't move, so he had 74 hits this year from center to right and only 20 to left big, there's Alcita Escobar. donaldson enters the field at third and they leave him donaldson makes the play moves the runner into scoring position with a down as we talked about in the top half of the inning derrick norris replacing giovanni soto behind the plate for oakland escobar with the one bunt sacrifice puts whiskers on second for nori aoki, that was one of those bunts that was kind of a sacrifice bunt, but also risk getting a hit, you don't want to let it run but you also want to advance to second, so he didn't give it away too much soon he wanted it a little too hard for a hit time named bob melvin right now deliver like come on bill miller you're kidding come on that's twice now one of the best pitchers in the game and he's midway and throwing the ball baseball and two timeouts mostakis was dancing out of the pocket in the second halokey called time out and was granted it with lester basically on the line.

I came to believe that this is strategic, although dancing out of second base and also calling a timeout to the royals they said before the game that they are going to try to somehow alter John Lester's rhythm. They think it would mean a run, maybe even two, making sure he doesn't throw the ball when he's ready to throw it. A ball without strikes. aoki, i just won't play referee bill miller, although i would be like the boy who cried wolf, the next guy who wants time, maybe i won't be so ready to give it to him if he's in a royal uniform and now he wants time again. reached on a fielder's choice, his first time stole second and scored Kansas City's only run on a line drive single by Billy Butler, the old fly in the eye they've been using that call forever they have, it's there , two and one, Kansas City team. who tries to make runs last in baseball with 95 home runs, the only team that doesn't hit a hundred is interesting with that type of Aoki's flat swing, he stays in that strike zone for a long time hitting 363 against left-handed pitchers, that's what says.

When that breaking ball doesn't have that good curve if it crosses the strike zone, you're going to stay with it. He has a great ability to keep his hands on the ball and waits a long time and stays. there with the lefties 2-2, so the Royals are the last in home runs, the last in walks achieved and they had the fewest strikeouts and when talking about teams that reach the postseason with the fewest bases by balls and the fewest home runs, has never happened today. history of baseball on the ground right in Lowry throws for the second out while Whiskers moves to third I mean, when you look at the Royals offense it's almost the exact opposite of what Oakland is trying to do, they want to walk a lot, they want to hit . the ball out of the stadium, that's the only thing that matters to them and the opposite for the Royals.

One of the fans going biblical here with Kane can sign as Lorenzo comes in here in the third with two downs and the tying run 90 feet away. that's mike mustakas double for lorenzo kane and the game is tied surprisingly this kansas city lineup has very good numbers against john lester kane some of the best numbers and he wasn't waiting, he was able and with his speed he turned it into a double gold well placed in the corner, but the go-ahead run is in scoring position with two outs for Eric Hosmer. It's such a big race in a playoff game that it's easier to play when you're tied.

It's even easier to play when you are. up a run and when you're down you start to get a little tighter as the play continues in the air shallow third to the left that's going to break the tie kane scores 3-2 kansas city just the ball at the end of the bat , a cutter who gets just enough on one of those perfectly placed group hits and a night to get the five runs in this game that comes with two outs and then here's Billy Butler swinging at the first pitch he threw in the first city of Kansas. runs with a line drive in the first watching Leicester in this game two things come to mind: he's not using the outside corner for the right hitters in the middle of the play with that cutter and have you seen a curve ball still?

I don't know if that's one of his best pitches, breaking the pitch up and away, there was your first curveball, maybe live not even close, you can fall for an inside cutter all the time, especially if you're having success with it . but one of Lester's real successes is that he also has a 95 mile-per-hour four-seamer and can hit it on the outside corner or dive into the strike zone. If you forget that, you just fall into the cutter and they can start cheating. In it, rounded to short, Lowry will go the short way for the force, but the Kansas City Royals have taken the lead on John Lester in the A's by scoring two in the third, it's 3-2 to get exclusive behind-the-scenes access and expert opinions from the biggest names in sports, check out behind the mic powered by ford at bleacherreport.com behind the mic american league wild card game here in kansas city at k kauffman stadium and we move on to the top half of the quarter and josh redick takes the ball, a credit flew to alex gordon and left his first time and now we see how james shields reacts throwing with advantage in this game ron we saw the graphic era 2.02 and we close the innings, the only problem he has in this game is that the Oakland A's are not going to leave the strike zone.

The first pitch was a breaking ball.taken by Reddick. Change taken by Reddick now fastball down. He also took this Oakland A team. You're going to have to get into the strike zone at some point. Perez is urging. His pitcher is on and he's a little bit of both, his control isn't precise, but the Oakland A's don't swing at bad pitches from 3-0 now 3-2. It's interesting to look at the shields, it's almost like you have three different fastballs than 95 riders. that little cutter that's 91 or 92 and can also double sew it, it was a little putter in the middle of the plate that Reddick missed, it was a big battle from 3-0 to make a pitch at 3-2 to get that.

I'm trying hard to tell you how important it feels as a pitcher, you get 3-0 and one batter and you come back, you get that first out of the huge inning for the Royals and Shields, here's shortstop Chad Lowery, grounded to first. The first time and he hits it, it looks like the strike zone for Bill Miller is opening up a little bit for the shields here in the fourth in the air, in right center field, easily two down, that guy has great long strides, He is elegant and covers the ground as if there were none of that and in this stadium you have fast outfielders it is practically a necessity it is interesting two outs here in the fourth means what we talked about in the open james shields has to get seven outs and not allow a run to get Kansas City the way they played all season with that hydraulic bullpen of herrera davis and holland, those three have been absolutely dazzling and a big reason why when they lead after eight they are 79 and one quickly ahead of Owen's vote too, what a move. they say in baltimore they give that fan a contract they're used to they used to say he got it with his own hands strike three called the intensity increased here in kansas city because after a 29 year drought royalty leads a playoff game it's the wild card on tbs get scott miller's answers to all your burning playoff questions with the bleacher team stream app report download team stream for your ipad your iphone or your android device today the final four in kansas city royals leading 3-2 alex gordon leads it off gordon to left on his first time, a big, small, breaking pitch, oh, and two, that's the adjustment you have to make and you usually want to mix that curveball up because it has the spin of a cutter but it also changes speed in the most difficult part. forA pitcher in these games is that your adrenaline sometimes works against you, you end up throwing the ball harder than you have all year and you forget about all those little bunt throws that are so important to your success that they slowed you down here in the room.

A few moments ago we spoke with A's pitching coach Kurt Young Kurt, how do you assess that you've seen John Lester at his best? Obviously, how do you evaluate what you've seen tonight? Well, he's doing well, I mean, he always will. he pitches ahead in the count and he's going to attack the strike zone. He's not one of those guys that you have to tell to do that, so you know they're looking to hit the ball early, they're looking to get a good pitch early to hit, so he knows that and it's all about location from the principle for him, hey Kurt, do you see any problem with Soto now out of the game with the bad thumb and Norris catching Lester?

Well, basically, this was the first time Soto caught him. This year, Dino has been the catcher for him every start he's been here, so they're very comfortable together and have worked very well together. Our thanks to Kurt Young for his time between innings while Salvador Perez takes on John Lester, but again, when to call. a breaking ball could be one of those problems of desoto catching it for the first time pérez second on this royal team and home runs and rbis back in the count one and two steps in the air near the line and foul so the balls increase curveballs thrown by lester that was the first fastball thrown by lester with new catcher norris there norris with the nickname dino with the duck dynasty haircut and the nails are all painted so lester can see the signs no It seems like they all go together going back to the curve ball and we got him to wave at the second tee time for the records and milestones presented by Jim Beam and, uh, you see John Lester Sterling with a clean average performance coming to this game in the postseason of 2.11, behind only Christy Matheson and Wade Hoyt. kurt schilling on that list and kenny holtzman number five on that list two up and two down here on the fourth and first wickets for lowry that's a quick entry two three for john lester four entries in the wild card books on world champions tbs in 1985 The last time the Kansas City Royals were in the postseason, they won in seven over the Cardinals and we welcome them back to what is essentially a game seven atmosphere in the first wild card game and that's it, Weaver and The angels await the winner of this game. loser goes home Derek Norris starts here in the fifth came in when Giovanni Soto had to leave the game early with a thumb injury so Ronnie if you're Jared Weaver you're watching this game like a hawk oh in big, big alone time, uh, just trying to figure out any little nuance of either team that helps you get started, you know which one, which one, which batter takes the first pitch curve, which batter, when those guys on base swing at the first pitch, those are the little things.

You want to know that one ball, two strikes made him look a few moments ago, we talked to Royals manager Ned Yost, and they came out and punched him in the mouth in the first inning, but this is your team, the way in which they defend you, you wanted an advantage. against lesser but you had to come from behind to do it now you have it you knew uh Moss made a game changer there in the first to put us two down but you know our focus was on trying to create havoc. on the base pass try, you know, bunt, try to hit and run, try to get guys in scoring position and see if we can make something happen and so far it's been good for us, you're creating havoc, almost it. you take another.

Like Billy Butler, what happened on that play? Well, that play broke down on both ends. You know Billy left too soon. He was supposed to wait until Lester threw the ball home. Break down and take the second. Break down and then the jumps would come. to the plate, if we had run well we would have scored a run, but Billy arrived too early. House was too late and we found out we had to find other ways to score runs besides that, it was perfect guys. What's interesting is Susan Schlesser, who follows the A's and writes for the A's, said that the Angels did this successfully against Lester last week, but Kansas City handled it so poorly that it could have been defended by Cal Ripken's travel team. , 12, could have made it two up. and two down here in the top half of the fifth back to the top of the order for oakland and coco crisp think about this ernie and cal the collateral damage of that is that hosman takes soto out of the game with the tag, yes, he was ejected at the plate then thumb injury knocks out soto just trying to give billy a defense after the game yeah billy scored a run then left potentially shields hitting the zone now here in the fifth now crunchy he's mad With the strike zone for Miller, they are a team that needs a lot of pitches, I think they know the strike zone. miller has opened up the bottom of that strike zone. you see the first launch hits from the shields, that's definitely beneficial for the shields when you open the bottom, prepare your change. set up that low fastball you can't and then put away that changeup down there stays alive yeah unlike the royals who with the fewest walks Oakland threw the most 586 first in baseball, someone with a good slider, a slider. that goes down or some of the really good changeups up that low fastball strike is something that sets up that pitch three of James Shields' last four strikeouts have been pitches thrown by the Oakland Athletics here's the changeup a little further down the land too low for them to fish taking that cast almost as if they know it's coming.

Shields has regained control. He's making those pitches. Those fastball pitches they said before the game. You give James Shields an advantage. He will support her. That's the type of pitcher he is. he's looking for his second straight 1-2-3 inning, he wants time, that's that backdoor slider, he wants a pitch he can throw for his strike, which looks like a ball so he can get crispy, looking back, a a cutter, he checked his the swing didn't work says bill welke in third edition yost disagree i have been watching games all season the check swing has been one of the biggest differences in the game they have called it early and often, but not here because welke left out three and two shields in his throw, he will simply drop his head.

Jeremy Guthrie for the Royals also does that almost like he was dropped towards first base to clear that shoulder to release the ball, he tried to control again and was hit to finish the fifth james shields and royals don't miss the action tomorrow night night in the nl wild card game as the san francisco giants and pittsburgh pirates battle tune in to espn at eight o'clock ET first pitch around 807. here's mike mustakas who takes a breaking ball for a mustache strike again the A's turn but he beat the turn the first time with a single to left that's the turn we were talking about 74 of his hits to center or right only 20 to the left but it's the first time this night, yeah, look at the providers here, left fielder Sam Fold may be pinching the line a little bit, but everyone else is definitely immediately in the outfield, they went the other way again, pulling back completely and making the play.

I think it must be boring for Sam Fold sometimes when it's just a routine play, this is a guy who has filled highlight reels throughout his career, he won't even be in the top 25 tonight unless something happens and He paid the price earlier this year, for the first time in his career because He has hit a lot of walls, but when he was playing with Minnesota he hit the wall and missed about 30 games with a concussion. I talked about it yesterday because you see players all the time with concussion-like symptoms and he said no. I knew right away, I said the headache and the symptoms that come with it and then all you can do is wait for them to go away.

He took 32 games. Lester definitely found his curveball using it very effectively. Now sometimes all it takes is a catcher who knows you and sees from the bench that you're not making some of the throws he's used to making when he's out there, high helicopter in the middle, lowry in a hurry and reaching to sweep for a step two the way they run, don't you feel? like royalty is following you closely at all times, they're the guy right behind you in the car, objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear, follow the postseason with mlb.com , the #1 app for live baseball highlights scores. radio broadcast replay reviews and more get the hitting app nori aoki hit a fielder's choice in the first stole base and scored a run on a short ground ball in the third giorgano ventura is in the pen he's a starting pitcher on this list for times like this to prepare in case he's needed in the sixth inning, I think what he's prepared for is I don't think they're going to bring him in because he's a starting pitcher in the middle of an inning that they've now decided they have. far enough that a guy like Ventura, who's going to be a starter at some point if he comes through here and wins, is just taking some shots because he was probably told today not to pitch, to stay in the bullpen and once he let's get through the fifth then he can go and let me loose a little bit, I don't think he's going to let you get ready to get into the ball game, not the way he throws the shield.

I talked to Ned Yost about him being on the roster the other day and he told me: look, us. We only released four on Sunday and as soon as we knew where we were going, what the home is to host this game, if we need it we'll put it there, but you're the guy that's been there and could do it. Be the x factor for Ned Yost if they move forward because of his near 100 mile per hour stuff. Fastball Lester again misses two balls on two strikes. You know all the ins and outs of throwing, but I'm watching when you throw him to the side you work at a frenetic pace, yeah right, because it looks like he's trying to get loose and trying to get ready.

I could definitely be wrong, it's just the way Shields throws three outs and gets you to that pointmagical that you want. that three-headed bullpen of yours, but you're right, maybe if something happens where they need Herrera to come in and just throw that good fastball for an out, why not take advantage of the opportunity, just a little spot to third and josh donaldson put? that in your pocket we've gone through five in the wild card game on tbs tonight's 2014 a.l wild card is presented by budweiser approaching here at kc hayes got on the board in the first with two the royals responded with three one in the first two in the third and James Shields goes to work in the top half of the sixth inning.

He has scored the last seven A's he has faced. Sam Fold starts. You can swing the bat and the action is right on the grass at third. almost like Shields has decided you're not going to make anything close, okay, here he comes, I'm starting to throw strikes, get ready, he smashed his bat and the errors are going to fall, single to retire, here in the sixth, let's get Matt down . Weiner, Hey, Ernie, there are thousands of fans here who have never seen a post-series game in Kansas City before, some of whom weren't alive the last time the Royals played a playoff game.

Rich Burling is not one of those people, but he has done it. There has been a long drought for more than a third of its 87 years since there was last a postseason game here in Kansas City. He is an experienced ticket holder since he started the franchise in 1969, which has kept him coming back all these years. The love of baseball. and the love of the team here I really love it I love a baseball fan for almost three decades of drought here with the playoffs did you think you would see this day? Yeah, why were you so sure?

Oh, it was meant to happen, meant to happen. There were times when I felt depressed about it, but it had to happen. They have worked too hard on this team. What does this day mean to you and everyone else here? This game is just the resurgence of royalty. We're back. Back for good, I guess it's not a one time thing, enjoy it, oh I'm really enjoying it, let's set it up again, dj, okay, thank you very much, Matt, a big place in this game in the middle top of the sixth inning, the first batter comes in for Oakland and Josh Donaldson 29 home runs 98 runs batted in on one of Bob Melvin's hunches have given two hits for Sam Fold, now one misses two balls and one strike, it's the biggest pitch of the game.

You're facing the best hitter the Oakland A's have at 2-1, the guy with the best power on the team besides Adam Dunn, who they acquired in late August, coming back with a cutter, I thought he'd go, trade huge here. Donaldson's cut returned the foul two balls and two strikes from Salvador Pérez wants to talk to his pitcher three shots from Bob Melvin Mike Gallego and Josh Donaldson It's interesting if you listen to a lot of people around the American League Salvador Pérez is emerging as the Yachty o Molina here in the American league not only the way the university calls the pitches his durability but also his way of controlling the pitchers good basketball foresight in the outside corner here complete account donaldson struck out his first time with a single in the third how big was that play now in the third inning, when Moss lined out to first for a double play, Hayes had a comeback in the making, in that inning, there he goes, the runner's throw was out, it doesn't matter, they're at first and second, this last pitch was out, sometimes the catcher steals.

The referee tells them because they get up to make that throw to second but good decision from the local platform Bill Miller Ed Yoast goes to the bullpen James Shields works in the sixth inning the flame throw Jordano Ventura comes in James Shields comes out here in the sixth with the Royals leading the A's three to two, but Oakland has runners on first and second and they are James Shields' responsibility and you two were right, I was completely wrong, they are bringing in young Ventura, it seemed like Shields or Ned Yost did it. I don't want Shields to face Moss, who homered against them, of course, in the first inning of this game, or Reddick, who was red-hot against them in August.

Brandon Moss, two-run homer in the first, lined into a double play. in the third he faces rookie jordan ventura 99 miles per hour 31 games for ventura 30 of those are starts he can be wild 69 walks is the most on the staff so i thought it would be difficult to bring him into this situation all the talent in the world a feisty personality can't get better things than young ventura but walks are a problem in this inning kelvin herrera part of that triumvirate that closed him out includes wade davis greg holland but right now everything is on the shoulders of 23 One-year-old Ventura in the air toward center field and hit pretty well.

Lorenzo Kane is back and he doesn't stand a chance. Brandon Moss has done it again right away. Three-run shot to center field and the A's have the lead. I don't care how hard I throw. cal, if it's 2-0 and a big kitten knows it's coming, they turn it up a little bit, it has all kinds of power from center to left and right center field, you just square it up and send it to center field real quick, how great . swing, they're these types of games where managers come out of their box and do things they haven't done all season and you expect players to excel in a place they haven't all year.

Ventura relieved once just before the end. star breakout in a sixth-inning situation, but that certainly won't happen here on September 30. The reaction from the Oakland dugout and James Shields' 3-2 lead turns into a 5-3 deficit and Ventura was rocked by Oakland's three-run home run that fell behind. -0 to Redick in his postseason debut, Brandon Moss has personally calmed this crowd twice. He's had three good at-bats today, obviously, the two home runs, but he also hit the first good at-bat you had, you had counted in the opening innings. so far this is where the shields are this is where the Royals need so many outs to get it, they get the closing guys in the seventh, eighth and ninth, but the sixth has been a problem spot with Reddick's single, that's three hits and a walk here in the sixth on a long ball from brandon moss dave island is pitching coach royalty jeff samara has a nice smile now watching that moss home run and the role he will play for the a's , one of their four great starters and Sonny Gray and Scott Kasmir Shields, almost out of it, Ventura had only allowed one home run in his last 10 starts and that came in the season finale against the White Sox.

Marcus Simeon took it deep and then this from Brandon Moss, two home runs, five RBI here in the wild. card game that ball reaches the screen you know you are just asking and this is my opinion now you are asking a young man to do something he has never done and in this scenario it is very difficult to succeed that way If you are going to go with the three guys we talked about earlier, Herrera Davis and Holland somehow get those outs as of now. Those three guys, because they've been there, they're used to pitching with guys based on what they're used to.

The big stage may not be the postseason, but they're used to the big stage. Two balls and a strike to Jed Lowery in the air to the right, playable for Aoki. There's the tag at second and sliding to third is Josh Reddick. What's happening to Matt? Weiner, well, Ernie, there's a lot of baseball to be played here in this wild card game, but if this result were to paint the image of James Shields walking off the mound, it's very likely the last time you'll see him in a Los Angeles uniform. Kansas City Royals. The Royals knew Shields would become a free agent at the end of this season when they acquired him last year.

Today, Dayton Moore, the general manager of the Kansas City Royals was asked about the possibility of retaining him, he said that winning is attractive, yes, but we quote. "We're not going to be big players on the free agent market; in other words, there are probably much bigger offers waiting for Shields when the season ends. Thank you very much. Matt Ventura has electric stuff, but Ned Yost has pulled the plug. We will be back. This copyrighted broadcast is presented under the authority of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball and may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form and the accounts and descriptions of this game may not be disseminated without the express written consent of the top half of the sixth inning continues here in Kansas City and it's been a pivotal inning for the Oakland A's.

They've put up three and have another one 90 feet away and Kelvin Herrera enters the game for Kansas City He faces Stephen Vogt in. the infield for the Kansas City Royals who are down by two and trying to keep the deficit there, at just 100 miles per hour on that first pitch from Herrera, the vote was canceled by strikes. This is a situation, if you're from Oakland, you could take your chances on an infield contact play. but looking at the lead and donaldson it doesn't look like the contact plays are going to allow the next two batters a chance to drive in the run, well bob melvin told us he would use the contact play only if he had a runner on it, yeah the runner on third was caught had enough speed to get the second baseman back into scoring position, the vote is not that man high and far and two balls on a strike, so James Shields works in the sixth allows a hit and a walk and ned yost was fortunately normally a starter coming out of the pen in the sixth and could not achieve a three-run homer he allowed brandon moss and reddick with a single wild pitch he entered the second fly out he entered third and there it is where we are five three a it's strange he needs a strikeout here he showed up there behind third and he's going to be out of the game that's one of those calls if you're an infielder you catch him, I mean, one with his back to the play like mustaches was and you're not even sure if you should make that play because Reddick would have tied up, tagged out, sorry, you should call all the foul balls and then watch the play very carefully because you can fall into the stands and you can get caught. up the line will move away from home plate, this gives you the opportunity to score a run.

There's a good battle here between Vote and Herrera as he fouls off that 99 mile per hour fastball, votes a guy who came up with Tampa Bay and when they called him up, went 0 for 25 with a raise, didn't get his first hit in the big leagues until he went to Oakland, that appeared and there is room for Pérez, who makes the big play with two down, well, Herrera didn't try. anything fancy just kept everything from the letters in voting in that at bat, it's a great outing right there, they have to keep it within two runs here, it's been a long half inning here with Oakland hitting and John Lester staying loose in the Athletics. dugout here is Derek Norris Norris has been one of the most important players for

athletics

all year 330 hitter with runners in scoring position surrounded up the middle and across and another run for the Oakland Athletics driven in by derrick norris two great hits scoring josh reddick and now he's 6-3 what a great at bat cal went up there he likes to swing the fastball he has a nice short quick swing he puts it right in the ground right up the middle a four run sixth inning has Oakland in the top 6 -3 and I'll tell you this too guys, we've been paying a lot of attention to how strong the Kansas City bullpen is in the straight seven eight nine Oakland isn't bad at all and they have John Lester still in control ready to go out at the bottom of the six well, I think we talked about the Royals bullpen because it was a three-headed monster that could come in and shut you down, but the thing about the A's bullpen is that we focused more on Leicester because Leicester He's the kind of guy who can go seven or eight innings, he can throw 125, 130 pitches, he could hit the baseball and do little in the middle.

Escobar can't get the ball out of his glove there in the first and second tremendous stop by the real shortstop, but he couldn't get the power, another one of those balls with high spin in the middle, shows his great reach when reaching it, but just He can't get it out of his glove to make that counterpunch in the second and they knew it once in the first. The time he couldn't put his hand on the baseball correctly he knew he wasn't going to make a play, so Sogard reached with his first hit of the night. Norris is at second and here is the crunchy top of Oakland's order as the A's have done.

He hit here in the sixth and there's a shot to center and that's going to score another run here comes Norris will score easily standing up and it's 7-3

athletics

fans have been waiting two months to see this baseball club this is the club of baseball that they saw at the beginning of the year, in the first half, when they just hit hit after hit, they were considered one of the best offenses during the first half, which led them to achieve their best record,they just keep coming at you and they can hit the fastball sam fold to the plate tenth a to hit in the inning he left it with a single and scored a run on that three run home run by brandon moss owen two to the left fielder of the a a just 90 miles per hour change up there by Calvin Herrera careful I dropped the bat while the runners were moving on the O2 field well the bald melvin and the oakland athletics playing a little kansas city royals baseball sometimes lost in this inning with moss's big home run is that when sam fold after taking the hit was running on that three pitch 3-2 pitch to donaldson who was called the ball out of the zone they had been called for strike, he would have been thrown out at second and this ending I'm done, that was a risk, I thought it was a risk when the bullet foul pass first, the shields could throw the changeup up or a fastball could reach a strikeout count and then you are left without an entry, but that's the way.

The Oakland Athletics play aggressive baseball, they will take the stolen base when it is there or they will put their guys in position and they are confident that if it is not a strike, they will take the walk which is chip hale to bob melvin, his right hand man left. another 0-2 to fall and herrera knocks him down but here in the sixth inning brandon moss hit again and went immediately to center the age of 7-3 john lester now working with a four run lead seven to three going to work here in the bottom half of the sixth in kansas city lorenzo kane falls behind owen two in case you were wondering in his career when he has given him a three run lead three runs or more john lester 85-1 that number that us provided our statistical ace hal galema the best in the business, you know what seven runs do is you can't really come back, they don't have the home run power, they still have to manufacture runs somehow, but they can't hold many. of opportunities, now they have to choose, although if they can make a run here, a run there, maybe they will make it to the bullpen, but it will be difficult for Leicester.

Lester's legacy continues to grow and grow, don't you ask them about pitching a postseason game? He said it's no big deal, it's like any other game, well I guess it's for him. He was reading what he had to say before this game and it says a lot about the focus that is needed in postseason baseball because he wasn't looking at the big picture. If I can get through this party, he says I want to win this pitch, I want to win this inning and he won that at-bat with Kane with a grounder to short one, it was pitch by pitch, hit it to hit it in the inning, it's the most event golf exclusive, the 2014 pga golf grand slam, it all starts tuesday, october 14 at 4 o'clock, east and pacific on tnt ron darling, who shot a 74 the other day but they can only have four there, They're the major champions, well that's a nine-hole record, isn't it Ernie? there's eric hosmer right in sogard two up two down he's got john lester installed or what and you think about last year's postseason he had four and one out of every five starts was a dollar and a half and they won two games in the world series, they're as tenacious as they are tough in a guy who lives for a stage like this and although Kansas City caught him early, his teammates picked him up with that huge sixth inning and now he is settled into a rhythm and discovers that his curveball has been a good thing for him he mixes his pitches he also mixes in the cutter and also the forced fastball there is another example of it right there from time to time when john lester gets into this rhythm it is almost as if he were a pitcher who has the ball on the rope, i mean, that's what makes it look like billy butler waiting for an o2 here's the four seamer away now he's up there a lot of baseball players will tell you he's got the presence of felix hernández kershaw, all those guys, big game pitchers, he strikes out Butler and has put the last 10 Royals he's faced in six innings on the books and the A's nine outs behind.

Let's take a look at tonight's game-makers presented by the new Chrysler 200. There's no doubt about it. Brandon Moss hit a couple of balls about a mile and a half, two home runs, five RBIs on the night he comes to the plate second in this inning and Josh Donaldson takes a strike from Kelvin Herrera. They had a machine to measure bat speed. Donaldson has to be up there, doesn't he? Pound for pound he generates as much bat speed as anyone in the game. He lets go. They don't fool him. There is a guy who is playing with a bad knee in yesterday's training for the team trying.

To find out where he was, he will be in the trainer's room most of the day today and tomorrow to prepare for the night with the O2. The Oakland A's, who were in the final stretch at one point in August, were 28 games ahead of 500 and then things started to fall apart and the month of September became very interesting. They went from six games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels to 12 games behind. at some point trying to keep up, look at Nick Punto yesterday at Hayes training and he just said you know what two words really are, new season and that's the mindset you have to have no matter how you got there. there you are and now everyone starts over, well he would know every time we get to the postseason, nick dot's, he could be with another team, but he's on it, he was with the Dodgers last year, the Cardinals, a couple of years, the Twins, before those two. and two herreras strike him out to start the seventh and if you're a kansas city fan here comes public enemy number one that we had talked about brandon moss after before and after joanna's suspenders exchange before the All-Star break 21 home runs and 66 RBIs after the suspenders trade that was right at the deadline in late July two home runs and nine RBIs in those home runs in consecutive games on September 14 and 16 seemed to be the guy most affected by the Turf trade but here it is a new season, delete this day off and go find them.

He changes the entire equation for the Oakland Athletics. If he's batting like he did in the first half, public enemy number one won't be able to stick around. the missouri side of missouri now have to stay on the kansas side when they come into play first responder with five runs batted in in a postseason game got him there but he did his damage before that's for sure two outs here in the seventh You know which makes you feel old too guys Brandon Moss I used to watch Brandon Moss play little league in Loganville, Georgia when my son's team was playing his son's team and luckily he never hit a ball that hard to my son, well, he said almost 900 feet. of home runs in this game josh radick and brandon moss another contingent on this boston oakland team both signed by the same scout rob english here is josh reddick reddick moss lowry lester again and again for red sox athletics coco connection of course we are all thinking about the trade that would have so much effect on the offense that it would actually send them into a meltdown, i'm sure billy bean didn't think that nor did bob melville and i when i found out about it i thought it was for the best because you're building, you know, for the postseason, but you're also strengthening your team with that first-line starter, but the dynamic of having someone with a presence in that third spot, you know, during the third or fourth. place where it puts everyone else in their places, it's very possible that when you lose that everyone else feels like they have to do more, they try a little harder, they swing a little harder, they think they have to hit more home runs and then they get They stayed in a rut, bounced up the middle and came out of Omar and Fonte's glove and Reddick came in with a two-out single, so in a weird way, Cal, maybe that trade you're talking about made Oakland Athletics out a little weaker in game 162. schedule that they showed over the last two months, but it has made them dynamite if they can get through here and get to Los Angeles, well, I think that's probably the logic: how can we give ourselves a best chance to go further in the playoffs and there?

There are types of pitchers that you want to use when you get to the playoffs, those that can take control and continue to pitch under pressure and Lester is the star player because Jed Lowry reviewed his swing, he's 1-0, John Lester. Johnny Gomes comes to the A's and then he suspects, he's the only kind of player the Red Sox are going to take to give up a guy like Lester, their hero from last year's first season, Johnny Gomes, but you have Sonny Gray, who pitched the A's last game. This year he pitches a nine-inning shutout. You've got Jeff Samarja, who got him from the Cubs, who was the number one, kind of pitcher, but he doesn't have any postseason experience, so it'll be interesting to see how he adjusts to this guy.

He has adapted very well throughout his career Herrera entered in the sixth in relief of Jordan Ventura who had entered in relief of James Shields and the game imploded the mustaches made the stop and two rounds of Lowry well they did set a record for the noise made in arrowhead last night it's going to take a real uprising here in the k tonight we welcome back the alds on tbs presented by t-mobile right now is scenario two that would apply if the tigers win and the orioles at six a in los angeles at 9 30. If the royals return, you saw the start times for Alex Gordon to start in the bottom half of the seventh and there is a lot of work for the royals from Kansas City and Alex comes out swinging, there's no point in falling. behind 0102 you'll have to come back to this game oh and two from lester who retired the last 10 royals he faced caught up with him to run in the first two in the third and there's a three in a row call gordon . he strikes out for the second time tonight and is up for three, so folks, we talked about the two runs in the third, but since then there's been nothing to do against john lester and boy the oakland bats just when you needed it most in a very critical entry. sixth before Kansas City could load their big three seventh eighth and ninth, they left this game open, well for me, the two changes, uh, Brandon Moss has changed his game, the Oakland Athletics are a team that is going to take a lot of pitches that they push the number of shield pitches increases, then they go to bat, try to hit balls out of the park, which Brandon Moss has done and, at some point, the trade they made this summer that we talked about by John Lester, he he would pitch his biggest game next.

The last two months were tough, yes the Royals couldn't get past that bridge entry that would have almost guaranteed them a win and on the other hand Lester fought for it a bit but then found him with his curveball out. of speed. and then he hit the nail on the head after that and we talked before that for the Royals to win this game, Shields had to hit the big three in the bullpen. He could not. Ned Yost elected to go with the starting pitcher all season long. Jordan on Ventura. and you could see when ventura came in that you know like most young pitchers, you want to come in and throw a thousand, he got behind two and, oh, and moss had him nail a ball and two strikes to the royals catcher, Salvador Pérez, in the corner and lost account, even it's always much easier to talk about a decision after it has happened, but if you look at it, you think okay, partner options, you will choose James Shields to get there, or such perhaps expand the role of the big three. ask them to get one more out than they normally do josh donaldson made a good play on a difficult jumper and got perez out for the second out well, lester didn't have his good stuff from the beginning, I think he was trying to get the hitters out a lot They chased bad pitches, but after that he found his breaking ball and things changed completely, I don't know if it's because Solo got hurt and Derek Norris had to come into his almost personal catcher that changed Leicester, I'm sure.

It's John who did most of it, but it doesn't hurt to have a guy who's got you all year and understands what you're doing, Omar and Fonte shortened like they're a touch and Donaldson on the run, just playing well at the back, look at this one. stretch, Ronnie, where Lester retired 12 in a row, got four of them on strikeouts, a lot of ground balls, a soft liner to third and really nothing hard, well, you had two pitchers of different personalities coming in, uh, great game, James Shields. who talked about being an adrenaline junkie and loved being one at certain times and loved trying to shoot for those big moments and john lester who said almost nothing and said I'm just going to focus on every pitch, I'm going to focus on every inning and i'll just try to get as many outs as i can a bushel of outs behind the mound fill that basket he's doing pretty well so far or maybe it was just a problem with vogt trying to catch that and we'll see if he was in the lane or if he was running on the grass of the painting, you can see himwell, normally you want to do your touches here.

Cal, he'll be on the grass most of the time, but you'll see Infante at the end seems to get as close to that as possible. runner's lane, he's completely dead, for sure, I mean, when you lead an angle from the right-hander's batter's box, you have to get into that lane and in that lane he's on the line, so he was coming right to first. base, he was well in, you'll see a lot of runners intentionally enter the grass and get in the way, but he clearly made the right attempt against the base runner, he was right on the line he's entitled to, it's a hit for enfante here. in the seventh with two mustaches, the royals said that the bunt was going to be a great play for them in this ball game, the first one comes in the seventh, well, from the beginning they had the luxury of playing for one o maybe two runs now they are down four whiskers left and full saves it and that will be enough for Kansas City in the seventh get a runner can't move it and hopefully complete it seven three don't miss the action tomorrow night in the National League wild card game as the giants and pirates battle on pnc tune in to espn 807 pm ET and I'm sure the atmosphere in pittsburgh will be the same as it was a year ago when they ended the long drought great place to see a ball game and in that environment it was just tremendous it was exciting it was exciting here yes, so early the crowd is totally out of the game davis on the field and convinces that lazy stephen vogt fly ball for the first down this is no, these are not the circumstances under which ned yost wanted to see phil dean herrera and wade davis working under which was interesting, you see, wade davis numbers had one of the best seasons, george brett told matt weiner before, and nathan and the guys had in the history of the game are crazy numbers of five to one in strikeouts and walks, but right now that decision to go out and take the shields away is almost like I almost asked the shields if it was okay, but the arm right got up quickly for Ventura.

Here's Derek. Norris, when you look at some of the deals that the royals have made, I mean, give it to Dayton Moore, he's done some good, he's made some good deals, you change that and people looked at the Will Myers deal. and said boy, how can you give this up? boy look at the potential he has, you get james shields back, you get wade davis back, that'll be easy for escobar, make a deal and get escobar and kane when you trade zach rinke, so a lot of the guys you've seen that have put this team in the postseason there were some pretty slick deals with some big names involved and this team is on the map for a while even with uh james shields might not return due to impending free agency you have a daughter maria you have finnegan who's on the roster here, who's going to be someone who's going to pitch and start for this royal ballclub, danny duffy, who had a good year, they're here to stay, good young ballclub, good defense, tons of speed yes it is built from within and they have done it the right way and if everyone comes together then you have something to build on so when you lose a piece every once in a while you can replace that piece with no balls in a strike for eric sogar , Oakland's second baseman, there's a guy who has hit two home runs brandon moss right now on the mound in kansas city a guy who hasn't allowed a home run in a long time and wade davis and back to the 2013 season and the strike of sogar gives wade davis a one two three in the middle of the eighth in the k play postseason matchup throughout october simply pick the winners of the player matchups between say detroit and baltimore for a chance to win a pair of 2015 season tickets for your favorite team. go to mlb.com matchup to play right now the bottom half of the 8th inning kansas city's top of the order and a tough task ahead are down 7-3 to john lester i mean, i know this may sound boring to some people , since the rally caps are out, but your job as a relief pitcher especially a starting pitcher is also at some point where you take your mechanics to a point because you become almost like the mechanical man and that's where John Lester is when he has it on going. down the middle and under Lowry's glove and into center field, the infielders crossed there and none of them could glove it and there's a leadoff single for Alcitus Escobar and if you're royalty you're thinking you have to start somewhere and there's a helicopter. over the mound here and Escobar's speed again forces that shallow angle and maybe a desperate attempt to play this ball on the run the ball stays down, you know they gave him a mistake on that play and I don't even do it with the glove.

Escobar's speed I don't know if they'll fire him Yes, I don't agree with the call I think the guy in charge of making these calls has his dauber here in Kansas City Here's Aoki You know while I'm looking at Lester You can't help but remind me of Andy Pettit, Andy Pettit sets his cutter inside but he also had a good fastball that they would use and he also mixed in his breaking ball, which I always thought made him a lot more effective, almost the same type of mentality on the mound. He was fine too. a nice cut followed him back both those two guys are rocks on the mound they don't get nervous and they don't have it they find it so luke gregerson got loose he was about to make the point when the inning began.

I saw movement in the Oakland dugout, in an Oakland bullpen, someone had crossed their legs, that's all we had seen, but now someone is up and letting go and it's Gregerson as the runner goes and the throw is high and then Escobar had to make sure to hold on to the stolen base here in the eighth, so the Royals were left early in the game. John Lester doesn't pitch, so with a four-run lead you can probably even guess that you have a better chance of guessing that he won't pass another runner past the base again and will have to catch up to every infielder in baseball in today's game.

Stay with the label. 2-1 up three balls and a strike when royal's plan from the beginning was to throw him out of his rhythm creating havoc on the base pass even down seven to three I'm still employing that strategy the second soguard throws him a good backhand out when Escobar goes to third, but if you have a guy like Lester on the mound, Cal and Ernie, I don't think so, your temperature doesn't rise, you don't even pay attention to the fact that Escobar got a 7-3 lead. here i'm just going to get the hitters out and he comes out aoki i mean it's no big deal escobar can dance as much as he wants now the game is tied in a completely different case this is the first time the royals have had a runner in scoring position.

From the third inning it was in the third that Kansas City took a 3-2 lead in this game after falling behind by two and nothing, but a five-run sixth has given Oakland the lead that is low for Lorenzo Kane. excellent to be in the 8th inning for john lester first inning a difficult inning of 23 after that, more leicester as lester has made 32 starts between boston and oakland and there is a cellar in the middle that will score a run and it is 7-4 for Lester in those starts 32 between the two teams combined and in 27 of them he has thrown at least a hundred pitches, so here, with just a simple fastball, he holds his own in most of the field and showed that he could hit that cutter by the third base line at the beginning of the game.

Lester makes the adjustment and so does he. He has received three balls on the ground. Two have been royal coups. Here's Eric Hosmer, who has a career home run of his own against Leicester, where he runs into one. Here we have an interesting lower half. of the eighth inning escobar who stole the base was 11 of 11 starting in the seventh inning came the same 16 of 18 of the 7th inning when he stole a base kane was getting bigger and bigger with his advantage almost daring him to pitch over a foul pass called first ball and strike osman walked his first time singled in the third to generate a run on a grounder to second in the sixth, was thrown out at the plate and wasted a scoring opportunity in the first inning when the Royals runner was grounded to first. and out of the glove and they call it a foul ball jerry davis, standing right on the line, made the call on a ball that came out of Stephen Vogt's glove at first and Ned Ghost will come out, remember that's where the ball is, does it go over ? the bag inside the bag jerry davis is 31 years old this is his 123rd postseason game the problem you have seems like it could have been fair but stephen vogt doesn't move at first base so when he got out of that bag he just dropped inches off distance, so when he launched almost half of his body was in foul territory and that play is not reviewable being in front of the correct base, it is not reviewable and it is the correct decision, I mean, almost the entire body of votes is in foul territory, yes, he dedicated his glove to the fans, I'm sure it looks like a fair ball because he touched it, that's a tricky angle, although on the replay I'd like to see one facing the first base line, down, with the 1-2 pitch.

In the count there is even a lot of hope and illusion about that ball, well, when you are so far down against a good pitcher, you need a rest runner to go to the throw and he is there, Lorenzo Kane steals the base and the count is full for Eric. Hosmer, well, you can't really blame Derrick Norris for the jump and Kane's lead is so big that he has no chance, even with a perfect throw like this, of catching Kane. You have to keep an eye on Kane at second base now that they've closed. the gap is a bit, they steal third base and run through the Kansas City Royals at third with one out it's a completely different at bat for Osman down 7-3 when the innings started, they've played some aggressive ball here in the 8th and Hosmer simply stays alive escobar stole a base and scored a run kane has stolen second those are 29 steals the third who led the majors this royal team part of their dna in their toughness and resilience they are at first and second with a out and another one in and billy butler comes to the plate and the big guy will represent the tying run it doesn't look like john lester will have the opportunity to pitch to him, it will be seven and a third he leaves with the lead and he goes with the royals try recover john lester's night is over he leaves with a 7-4 lead with a couple of guys here's another look at that ball hosmer hit on the line that was called a foul it's impossible for us to say what he was saying Because of the way Volt doesn't come down first, his body is inside the zone, but he remembers first base at par.

It's usually the home call, um, before first, but it seemed like Jerry Davis made the call and he did. They stand right on the line and they can see the ball as if they were to their left in the middle of their body or to their right and again to the point where you are in a situation like that, you are looking at the ball in relation to the bag, you're not looking at the defender, so he's still fine, he's still in fair territory and he touched the ball if it was a foul, as jerry davis saw and that's the decision that made for another good season for Luke. gregerson is a right handed reliever you will see mostly cutters and sliders six home runs he has allowed this season in those 72+ innings to work well the tying run is on the plate in the person of billy butler predominantly comes a timed out player with a slider on the first pitch, Shawn Lester hoping the bullpen can get him out of this jam to right center field who will be down for a hit and score a run.

Lorenzo Kane crosses and it's a 7-5 game, Billy. Butler scored a couple of runs tonight. Well, nice shot from Gregerson. You'll mostly see cutters and sliders if you're a right-handed hitter. How do you defeat that? Hit the ball to the right side. Beautiful hit by Billy Butler one. One of the fastest guys in baseball has been called in the pinch race as Butler, after scoring two runs, takes his seat and there's Terence Gore. Two big hits for Butler in this game. Terence Gore has stolen five bases in five attempts and scored five runs since then. his call-up in September so there is blood at first Gordon at the plate and Hosmer standing at third the Royals are two bloods in motion the shot late at second and third it took seven innings for Kansas City's speed game came into play in this game and they're back at it, he didn't waste any time stealing that bag, just one hit, now Jerrod Dyson, who had a big steal earlier in the year, said myself and gore speed, do what we do , gordon is the royal leader in rbis and there are two guys out there for him the ball slips away here comes hosmer it's a long play almost impossible play for derek norris to make gregerson's slurve slider bounce almost before the play passed him and Gregorson's seventh wild pitch this season now a fly ball will tie the game in the infield on a miss.

I think thatWhen you have blood on third base, you have Perez on deck and he has struggled in the second half, what better time to try the contact game. i got the best speed in baseball outside we got to the end of the eight in a seven to three game with john lester on the mound how things have changed now ronnie the contact play is a risky play because if you're officially going to continue contact if a guy hits a line drive in any of the positions you come out of the inning you usually do it when you're up or maybe you take a chance when you're in a tied game you very rarely do that Even with this kind of speed with a guy on third base , you have two shots to drive it right now and they have been so great with less than two outs, the third base guy is second in baseball, second in the American league behind Toronto. driving running from third in less than two hours, but we're talking about an athletics guy just open athletics, we're talking about Herb Washington almost at third base, I'm not saying it's not a replay that he reads. but the full blown contact game has you moving almost in the direction of the swing and the risk is that you can get doubled and you don't have that other opportunity to drive the drama of the season, eh, I love it if it reads a stop.

Chopper or full swing bunt, that's the type of play he can make. He has to make the ball go through the bottom box. Ball four, first and third. Well, you never want to intentionally make the winning run, but Gordon wouldn't let him. that situation has a runner has a hitter up perez who is a guy who can hit the ball in the stadium had a tremendous first half since he was an All-Star but also a guy who could hit it into a double play and then look at lowry and sogard in deep double play, salvador perez has more than three now, if you're the middle infielder you're thinking, okay, let's turn any ground ball into a double play, not much speed at the plate if you're josh donaldson. until third I have to make a decision the ball comes to me quickly I can still get a double play or I need to get the out at home plate pérez 22 grounded into a double play this year and he is behind with no balls and with two strikes dan otero sean doolittle it's getting loose in the oakland bullpen this is the situation, i know the game has changed and the strikeout doesn't matter as much as an out, but it does matter here, you gotta put the ball in play, give yourself a chance to score this run, gordon he was going to strike three two out gordon steele's second stood up, but a chance with a fly ball from any depth would have scored taran well, i think cal described it well, i don't think salvador perez slowed down his swing at all, he had one. swing wanted to try to hit the ball in the hole or out of the park and the crackers weren't going to give them anything to hit here are omar and fonte the runners are on second and third in a one run game and fonte scored 66 runs for each record staff in the regular season four bases stolen by the royals in this inning to re-enter it of the three outfielders sam folden left josh reddick reside wright tremendous arms sharp focal precise but he does not have the same arm as those two outfielders ball and a hit Royals second baseman josh reddick on right considered perhaps one of the best arms in baseball coco there has always been an accurate arm and sam is well known although with his two hits tonight he is known primarily for his defensive prowess and josh can sneak in a little a little bit closer being in the offside and right field almost to anticipate that if he gets a hit he will have the opportunity to throw the runner from the plate ahead all in two strikes there are some pitchers who prepare their pitches moves the ball in and up and down luke gregerson does one thing and he does it well: he throws you that pitch that looks like a short fastball or slides on the outsides of righties depending on your swing so far.

You have to get another breaking ball here and you have to hit the ball down the middle or to Gregorson's right side. Well, that should be your focus. Omar hit the ball on the end of the bat and was fooled so he needs to make the adjustment to protect against the breaking ball he struck out and Fonte falls pitching consecutive strikeouts for Gregerson the royals score three but leave the tying run 90 feet away as we head into the ninth tonight's 2014 Al Wild Card is brought to you by budweiser Well the eighth inning changed a lot in this game, the seven to three game became a seven to six game as we moved into the ninth and Greg Holland went ahead for the Royals against the top of Oakland's order, Coco Crisp ran into the bunt and missed. about holland's numbers, unbelievable, i told you 40+ saves two years in a row last person to do that was dan quisenberry in the early 80's right now, oakland, especially with crisp and folding, they're going to try to play for run , you saw that bunt chris will try to move on if he goes cold he will sacrifice it in play for a run chris singled and scored in the first he also singled in the sixth scored a run as the A's scored five runs and erased a 3-2 deficit Holland He has that unusual style when he reaches up, takes the ball out of his glove and shows it to you almost like a magician, looks at what I have in my hand and then it disappears, there is nothing up my sleeve, ready, one ball, two strikes even count. ned yost's team when they score four more runs this season 69-14 this should be one of the gate games they are skating in not so far crunchy low swinging to start the ninth the nba on tnt returns with a doubleheader in the opening night when the champions the san antonio spurs face the dallas mavericks followed by the houston rockets and the lakers everything begins on tuesday, october 28 only on tnt that will be the opening night of the nba season tonight is the night opening of baseball's postseason if we count ourselves dandy here in the ninth sam fold has a couple of hits this score to run what happened with the second wild card he has done exactly what baseball wanted him to do he has made the division so paramount to win you have to win the division the only problem you have What you have for these wild card games in these seven games is whoever loses this game almost feels like you're not in the postseason, you didn't get a chance to play in a series, you played in the game, I can see it, but I can. also look at the last month of the season as your playoffs and that has created a lot of excitement, a lot of opportunities, you have almost extended your playoff baseball to include September, there were almost two, one game, 163 didn't happen, but almost the home team folds and throw that foul well in one direction. the home team in the American League wild card game never won, we were there a couple of years ago when Texas lost at home to Baltimore last year, Cleveland lost at home and was eliminated by Tampa Bay and tonight, Kansas City is behind Oakland here in Kaufman, another one. one in the land two balls and two strikes as the only team the only local team to win a wild card game was the pirates last year pittsburgh fans will tell you just by singing cueto they changed the result of that game disbelief holland withdrew and he walked Sam Fold for the third time tonight, all on one of these pitches, fastball away, hits the corner pitch track, says no, here's josh donaldson, well hit left, gordon has lots of room and makes the play for the second out, here's the guy who's done most of the damage brandon moss two-run homer in the first three-run homer in the sixth you have two options here if you're sam fole yes brandon moss Is he having a reggie jackson night or should you steal a base 21 stolen bases this year and be in scoring position Moss has been in scoring position in the batter's box tonight, I think I'd go with "keep your ground up and in and out of Perez's middle" and that puts a safe run on "second Perez." with a pass, well, I didn't think about the whole number three option, which was a wild pass or throw.

Holland had nine of them this year, but that ball left Perez's glove and he was tricked into a scoring position that could effectively take the bat out of his hands right now, you can throw carefully with first base open three balls and no strikes and they're going to go ahead and put it up so the runners in first and second edition hope that greg holland can keep this as one. The running game comes into the bottom half of the ninth inning and gives the Royals one more chance to advance, a small sample size, but it's from a closer and one of the best in baseball, two of four, Greg Holland's Reddick failed with the first one, against each other, Sam. fold is at second, walked with one out, advanced one second on a pass and set up the intentional pass to moss, who leads from first.

This game is like a snapshot of the last few weeks in the American league. Who's going to get it? As for who's going to get knocked out, it seems like many deserve it, but not everyone can go, and especially for Oakland, who looks like a lock for the postseason and then had to claw and claw their way into this game and that's how it looked in this. the game also balls in the dirt perez made the stop had lester on the mound with a 7-3 lead in the eighth inning well if they hadn't allowed those runs if moss hadn't had such a great day that speed of the kansas The members of the city's royalty would have played, has played a very important role in this game even despite being behind a race, they are loaded.

Dave Island, the pitching coach, is going to come out to calm Holland, who is not used to pitching in these situations. At home, she used to pitch in a lot of tied games, but very rarely comes in with the team behind Jed Lowry has more than four, but he stands here in the ninth with the bases loaded and two in the air in right field. Aoki is there and the Kansas City Royals escape with the bases loaded. jam they're one down going to the bottom of the ninth we'll be back budweiser is the official beer of major league baseball and presenting sponsor of tonight's american league wild card game great times are waiting catch some mistakes tonight's crucial moment luke gregerson returns- consecutive strikeouts with the tying run at third in the bottom half of the game crucial moment how about gravison pine great pitch by gregerson top of the ninth josh willingham bottom of the ninth josh willingham as a pinch hitter for mike mustakas and Sean Doolittle the A's The closer is fine, he'll certainly be on the line with his third baseman, but certainly a changeup here against Willingham's second baseman, Sogard, he'll move up the middle, but the shortstop moves toward the hole.

This looks like normal shading as well as a pure change. because everyone stays home except the left side of the infield, so they must have some information that he throws the ball to the left side, but he still has to really play it on the rest of the diamond, one ball and two strikes, Willingham began. the season with the minnesota twins played 68 games two small numbers 10-1 strikeout to walk ratio the kansas city royals got willingham to do one thing hit the ball out of the stadium to correct a long run tonight don't get there, fall in love one hit and the moment you're in the bottom half of the ninth and the speed factor comes into play again because here comes Jarrod Dyson to run for Willingham, good hitting, fighting the fastball, making sure to make contact, good things can happen. could go for a double at first Josh wisely stops him first this baseball game for royalty has become half baseball game half track meet and we're about to see the 90 foot dash throws instead of Leicester make a little will pitch on tyson 9-10 against left-handed pitchers stealing the season, escobar shorted to a bunt and took a strike in one and Dyson has also stolen the hardest bases to steal since the seventh inning, he has 22 stolen bases, which leads the major leagues. many people can accumulate stolen bases when they get them when they don't count Dyson gets them when they count 36 bags this year escobar's bunk back to the mound doolittle will go to first and the tying run goes up 90 feet a hit and two sacrifices on the card for escobar while doing the job it is not easy to punt do a little at 94 plus even though it is returned to the pitcher you do not have a play because Tyson has too much speed yes you have much more margin for error with the speed at first, so it does not have to be a perfect touch, just do it on the floor.

Grayson has three straight years of at least 30 stolen bases, the first Royal to do that since Carlos Beltran, and here he is. aoki 10 steals Dyson's third this year, although it is very difficult to do with the left-handed hitter up or harder to do because the catcher has a free run, no one blocks his vision to make that throw to donaldson kansas city fans who have flashbacks and nightmares of the night when Joe Nathan eliminated Dyson in a second gamein the final stretch mike gershly third base coach of the kansas city royals this is his first year in the big leagues and he is in a playoff game coaching third base he played 999 games in the miners and achieved more than 2000 and now he is in the great and you talk about a great time here in Kansas City, we had 162 games of practice, I'm sure with Dyson on second and a hit, he usually waves that left arm, okay? expecting a 1-0 from Doolittle up two balls and no strike what we talked about uh disrupting Leicester's rhythm at the moment a seamer likes to lift his leg, especially a power arm and throw that ball, he's varying his movement in home plate, which does affect your release point and your rhythm, normally this matchup would favor Doolittle, but aoki this season 363 of the left-handed pitch, although that ball is too firm and fast for him to reach, the only problem you have here is that the second baseman has so much speed. to keep the runner Dyson so close that there is a big hole between Vogt and Sogar between first and second any type of dribbler is a base head here goes Dyson throws to third is safe the one who ties has moved another 90 feet accelerates gets a good jump pick the right pitch they just made the inside move you can see the sign Dyson could also see from second base he was pretty sure it wouldn't come on his inside move he was moving so fast he could start his slide about 20 feet from the bag now a fly ball ties the game in the infield on a fly ball in right field reddick a long run makes the catch but that's going to tie the game it's seven to seven in the wild card six stolen bases tonight what a reaction from that bench, great bat at Aoki Dyson's bat with the big steal that said stolen bases in much of today's game Lorenzo Kane with a bullet to short gloved by Lowry but we have three baseball boys and girls going to the tenth ball well tied the winner of this game He stays with the angels and we still don't know who he will be.

You see the start times on the televisions for the Tigers and the Orioles. Whoever plays the angels, royalty or the A's on Thursday, man alive, what a game this is. has been the one who wins will have earned it that's for sure defensive changes for the kansas city royals as we move into the tenth lorenzo kane has moved from center to right gerard Dyson scored the tying run is now in center field jason nix is at third brandon finnegan is the new pitcher the sixth used by ned yost tonight he's just a kid and he throws a strike to nate fryman he made it to the major leagues after 13 starts 13 in the minor leagues he was kansas' first round pick city ​​this Jew just last June pitched in the college world series for tcu and here he is in the playoffs, that's the fast track, the boys and girls showed up behind second, who wants it, Tyson One down, well, this place is full on again, got a little quiet around the seventh inning stretch, but a rally in the eighth inning got him interested again and then he tied the game in the ninth while everyone was on their feet, here's Derrick Norris Finnigan, he had 10 strikeouts and one walk in his seven innings of work, he hit hard, but look at Infante, how nice you play. in this game talking about john lester and james shields none of them are going to be a factor in this game it has been the power of oakland against the speed of kansas city and we are all tied up also i think it is ironic that giovanni soto started to control the running game he gets hurt Derek Norris comes in and then runs the run is wild here in the last two innings the reason they won the wild card no one could control their running game rick point pin fires here in the 10th and takes a strike from trinity grinnigan's only 21 years, what did Ned say?

Finnegan isn't scared, he doesn't seem scared right now, he doesn't look like he can get enough air in, but it doesn't really matter because he's still throwing strikes that he would spit out right now if the comparison could almost be made and we talked about this in the regular season from another pretty good lefty, pretty fresh out of college, and David Price in 2008 came in late in the year and made the playoffs for Tampa Bay, this guy. could do the same thing one two three ten okay, we're talking about a small ball here, you get a runner, you take him to second base and then why is he he on second base?

Let me take third base and set up an easier runner and here's the sacrifice fly, a little small ball that Kansas City is used to playing, that's their style and they play great execution, just amazing at it by aoki aoki , one of the toughest relievers in the game, hit that ball on the warning track, he was a star. in Japan he won a gold glove batting title, he's played in a lot of big games and he had what it took and now that bad Nate Fryman at first nick point at second, the defensive changes for the A's as we move into the half bottom of the store here's eric hosmer vs. shawn doolittle landed in the middle lowry late how about hosmer goes headfirst into the bag another one of those helicopters right in the middle osmor smells it coming in and it used to be a head for a slide slot? maybe steal a call, but there's no such thing as steal a call, he just wanted to get there, well, here's Christian Colon, now a guy fresh off the DL and he'll square up and leave him sacrificed, accomplished, the small ball continues to gain momentum at second and the focus is on alex gordon, the second overall pick in the June 2006 draft, the college player of the year in nebraska takes a strike, he came in talking about 29 years without being in the postseason Well, Alex Gordon has been their best player for a long time. and here I had the opportunity to put them in the division series.

Bob Melvin's team had a 7-3 lead at the bottom of the eighth and is now 7-7 in the bottom 10. The winning streak at second was a close ball and a strike that Gordon was intentional. he walked in the eighth, struck out a couple of times tonight and flew to left, grounded out to short, lowry will throw him out. Hosmer advances to third and here is Salvador Pérez looking for redemption, he has more than four with a couple of strikeouts and that second was huge. the tying run in the 8th inning was on third and he couldn't put the ball in play, a little better chance here, although Perez Gregerson had a lot of those sliders working away from him, you're going to get a lot of tough stuff from Goo.

Little Perez led the team with 27 runs batted in with two outs and that will send us into the 11th inning from the field to the final point. Tonight's 2014 Al wild card threat is presented by Budweiser to get us no closer than the game we have. now seven runs, 11 hits, no errors for each side as we head into the 11th inning, we think with the pitching matchup tonight, the big game from John Lester, James Shields, this will be a game of maybe just one race, it will be very tight. Well it's tight at 7-7, how did this happen?

Well, I mean, I was expecting a 2-1, one-nothing, um game and they'd be there the whole time, but the excitement generated by this Kansas City team stealing bases has me hooked. excited, i mean six stolen bases power versus speed three sacrifice punts small ball from kansas city to get back in this ball game brandon finnegan is there for his second inning of work and coco crispy takes a strike chris, the first switch-hitter, spins around nevada right-handed against young left-hander coco has a couple of hits scored a run struck out twice breaking pitch fouled one and two we've seen Finnegan's three pitches so far what a good fastball 92, he also threw one at 96. curveball and changeup, a pretty balanced young man out of tcu, is kansas city's first round pick and number 17 overall in june.

We're talking before the game and I'm wondering if anyone has ever pitched in college. The World Series and the Major League World Series in the same year do not seem likely. Did Coco Crispy strike out for the first out of the 11th? It was the foul ball the previous pitch. Crispy fell and grabbed his leg as if he had sprained it. something that has been bad in his neck, many of these A's players have been playing with Kurt during the last few months of the year. Sam Fold places a hit on Finnegan's back for the second out.

The small ball only works if you use color. blue tonight finnegan makes a play that some pitchers find very difficult and he makes it with ease. He was just trying to think about the likelihood of someone pitching in the World Series, the College World Series and the Major League World Series in the same year that no one gets. to the big leagues that fast, so your answer is no, my answer is no, look how the computer is doing on Elias on that right now, just after midnight in the east, that's nice for Donaldson, even with Moss's big day still for me.

The biggest threat in this lineup, well hit to the left, Gordon on the run can't make the play and Donaldson after a great turn will stay at first. The key was that Gordon kept the ball in front with a little line and he thinks he will have a chance to get there, but he does a good job of staying in front, we always think of the golden gloves as making the impossible plays, sometimes it's these little ones plays and make sure to put some leather on him to keep the runner on first. Brandon Moss walks on a two-run home run. in the first off of Shields, three run shot off Ventura in the sixth, now off Finnegan in the 11th and takes a strike count, even a ball on strike one and two, ronnie, you must like the poise of This kid, guys, how's the guts?

Inside, I mean, you've been watching this game, you've seen this guy go deep twice tonight and he just missed a fastball breaking the missed pitch count, he even made you look, we're heading into the bottom of the 11th in the game. of wild cards, so Johnny Gomes is coming out to left field Sam Fold goes from left and goes to center field to replace Chris Dan Otero is Oakland's new pitcher Omar and Fonte were fired in the bottom half of the 11th. So that this is what you have to protect against When you choose your roster in this game, you have to protect against this by going deep into extra innings, so you have to take a little more pitchers than you think and you can't use your guys so fast.

I was asking Melvin and Ned Yost on stage if extra entries had been added. They both looked at me cross-eyed, but sometimes it happens. Otero with 72 appearances out of the Oakland pen this year was 2.28 and had a record of 8-2. guy who's back from Tommy John surgery on his run to right who's going to drop in front of reddick for a leadoff single here in the 11th between innings brandon finnegan and tonight's starter james shields my advice don't tell him anything just let him do it keep going, don't change it, oh, here's jarrod Dyson, he came in when a pinch runner stole a base, scored the tying run, tried to bunt and retired it, a josh donaldson is so close he almost tried to take it off his bat of scream. to gerard Dyson to get his attention, you must look for the sign every time something happens, a shot, you have the opportunity to change your decision, remove the bun, hit and run or put the touch again, crawling again while Dyson enters 2 -0 Mike Jersey this is playoff baseball, it's officially October, by the way, in the east, two balls and a strike are interesting with hitters who have great speed, sometimes they have a hard time sacrificing themselves because they have been taught their entire career through of the minor. leagues in the major leagues to work in the bunning for a hit this bunk is not for Dyson this bow is for his team get this the only play is the first the winning run is at second for the second consecutive inning matt weiner what was recovered ex crunchy coconut understandably frustrated by the injury had nothing to say when he walked past me behind the A's dugout eric sogar confirmed that what's bothering him is his hamstring, although he described it not as a pull but as a cramp in any case like you I saw that he tried to try it in center field and he came out here at the end of the wild card.

Meanwhile, Kansas City coach Nick Kenny is on his way to second base along with Ned Yost. We will talk to Omar and Fonte, let's see if something happened on that sacrifice play when he moved to second I didn't see anything in infante but it went well, enfonte will stay there and here is escobar again 90 feet away, he meant the winner obviously 90 feet away. had him there in the 10th too then it was hosmer uh here's jason nix how well did he travel this season january signed by tampa bay bought by the phillies in march free agent in may signed by tampa bay again signed by the pirates swings and misses waived by pittsburgh chosen from waivers by kansas city on august 28 and has the opportunity to win the wild card game jason nicks and eight at bats he does not have a hit in the royals uniform and is behind without balls and with two strikes omar and fonte the racewinner at third opened the 11th with a single san francisco and pittsburgh beat this tomorrow just one wild pitch for otero all season generally impeccable control up one and two strike three calls to finish the 11th 7-7 we're headed to the 12th you would have thought that after four hours and changes we would have the answer to this question, but we still don't have it.

There are these scenarios if the royals win this wild card game or if the A's win the tigers and the orioles and the winner of this game faces the angels and the alds on tbs brian anderson and joe simpson and eck getting ready to call that other wow series what a ball game here tonight folks the top half of the 12 brandon finnegan is still there and josh reddick takes a ball 1-0 so he ran in and missed he wanted it 37,000 he wanted it jill miller said no no three balls and no strikes giovanni soto's thumb already wrapped in a brace opened the walk in the 12th for josh reddick that will bring up jed lowry, the switch-hitting shortstop, it was more than five, you'd think he might be playing a ball small here after putting on the first batter, puts him down, knicks throw him, forward, runs to the second ball, hanging for just a second, well, that didn't surprise Nick, I think Nick had to play it more or less in in case they weren't cheating.

If I had known it was a hard try I would have been a little more aggressive and caught that ball in the air I was a little surprised they weren't anticipating but the radio goes to the pen finnegan hears it from the fans here in kansas city let's play what a start of postseason in 2014 and here on tbs in the wild card game ao we are at the top of the line 12 identical scores for the A's and the Royals and Jason Fraser appears, but he did a good job 61 games split 38 with Texas 23 with Royals has been in the Toronto White Sox, Chicago, has appeared in 647 games.

He was with the Blue Jays for a good chunk of time from 2004 to 2011 and then was traded to the White Sox. He comes in relief now with Finnegan. Alberto Kiaspo has a bat and we will bat for Nate Fryman. 647 games for Frasier. The first to arrive at the position. season one of six switch-hitters on Oakland's roster for this game, of course, Bob Melvin or Ned Yost can change their roster for the Alds starting Thursday, one is a fastball, two, a curveball, yes, now This is not the time to get angry, you want to make sure you know you are on the same page, take some time, go out and make sure the sequence is correct.

They both understand what they are throwing. The ball gets away and the runner goes up to third, which is huge. Fraser with a wild pitch that Perez received. a piece of but he took it completely wow pitches three in texas one with kansas city now this is his fifth tattoo everything else why not a suicide squeeze reddick is the runner on third the lead run appeared by kyasbo at the top of the A's dugout Fraser only five nine Perez dwarfs him as they talk returning to the mound a little dwarfing at third base also with Gallego and Reddick is dwarfing whoever played with the royals from 2008 to 2010.

The further you go, the more space it is they slap you in the left field and the A's have the lead Alberto Kiaspo delivers in the 12th and it's eight 8-7 what a good shot Cal, one of the most unlikely guys to get a hit for the Oakland A's, had trouble down the stretch, yeah. in his last 14, a great time to get a hit, but four in his last 50. I guess it was due, what did we say? New season, wipe the slate clean and it comes out huge, they are in 12th place, now here is Derek Norris, the athletic one.

They have been down to their last 16 in this game with runners in position to score now one of 17. Norris did not start this game behind the plate. Giovanni Soto did it and then Soto heard that his left thumb had to leave the game and Norris entered Soto again. Kyaspo's mistake had been in his last 16 with runners in scoring position, not the eighth of course, he missed out, one and two in a row, three, they announced two outs when Norris caught him looking and here's the nick dot, that fastball pitching into that outside corner pitching lane says it's out. but bill miller has been saying all night that there is a strike ready to position the players who have not been used by bob melvin andy perino and billy burns and adam dunn who has played games in the 2001 regular season but never in the postseason and he hasn't.

I didn't have a chance in this game, but all on two strikes, the walk cost the Royals here in the 12th, he walked, was sacrificed to advance at second, the third on a wild pitch and scored on a Alberto Kiaspo's single that made him jump. Hosmer is there by the mat and the favorite is who makes the play that will do it for the A's, but they break the tie and take an 8-7 lead at the end of the 12. It seems a lot less daunting than coming back. of four races with lester in the mount lorenzo kane will lead it eric hosmer is on deck as they face dan otero and in case you were wondering, raúl labones is on the kansas city roster for this game, he has a knack for some october magic all in one strike tanyas and the catcher breaks the only ones left kratz is a right-handed hitter they just played that little song they're playing in the stadiums everyone applauded i was saying what do you think they've been? doing for more than four hours, I know a lot has been said and many times you may have abused, but no one has left this place even when it was 7-3 surrounding the first tayaspo made the play on the shot to otero one down six stolen Kansas City Royals bases incredible magic to tie the game, you have eight runs, one more from the Athletics with 15 strikeouts in this game and five of those six stolen bases in the eighth and ninth with the Royals behind and trying. somehow to get back in and they did it tying in the bottom of the ninth here's hausmer all in one strike osmore got poppy hit nine home runs this year scored 58 runs scored a run tonight hit one in someone's bubble is going to This night, 162 becomes one that sometimes waits for a one or two pitch in the low count, even Christian Colonia waiting on deck right at the plate and falls 2-2. in the air to left center field, he's on his way to third and the tying run is 90 feet away, tough pitch after tough pitch, drives the ball to left center field every time I see a ball rise in the air when it is in the left center.

I imagine Sam Folds is going to make this play. A big hit from Hosmer. A big hitter who shows great power, but not too high off the wall for the Folds or Golems to make a play. A big hustle from Gomes Osborne could have come full circle. triple with one out oh that ball barely missed out of here he was showing off his power that way during batting practice today working to stay inside the ball he hit a lot of balls way up in those seats from that padding on the backboard oh here's Colony with the 3rd round draw streak and into a fog and he wouldn't take the squeeze out of the equation here either, especially when Colonia hasn't looked for the signs so far, now he's coming out of the box, you got two chances. here you have colony and you have gordon on deck high helicopter they will never get a tied game are you thinking this is just a great read by hosmer sees it immediately breaks josh donaldson doesn't stand a chance try to do it with your hands but even then?

I couldn't make a throw either at home or first it would have been better to let it bounce how resistant that real hit is we will return alex gordon coming to the plate going back to August 26 in this ballpark two- left-handed running shot glenn perkins bob melden went to the bullpen from oakland and brought in lefty fernando abad the bots had a fantastic year for the open a's I see one of their specialized lefties 69 games look at that good era Numbers with stranded legacy running backs. He came into this season with a career record of 1-14 with a roughly four-and-a-half era and a 13-game losing streak, but he has been sensational for Oakland.

Alex Gordon waits and appears in Josh foul territory. donaldson makes the play two down, a triple out by eric hosmer and a high chopper by christian cologne have tied the game up he did his job and draw pomeranz makes his way it will not be pomerantz but jason hamill who enters here in the bottom half of the 12 with one man in and two out in a game that's now eight eight, you know, we spent a lot of time talking about the Leicester trade that made the big difference, but earlier in the year they traded Addison Russell who was their phenom prospect shortstop over the Chicago Cubs and they got Samartja and Jason Hamel and now Jason Hamill has been listed because he's one of those guys who is a trade starter, will only make one relief appearance and can pitch multiple innings if you need it.

You've seen a lot of things in your career. Iron Man. This has this has a top range coming and going on me. Own Experience I was thinking about our series against Cleveland in '97. I felt like every play we were in extra innings, every play was magnified, but I'd never seen anything like it. Colonia has two stolen bases. The right-hander could allow him to steal from Salvador. pérez at the plate hamill throws over pérez looking for his first hit of the night he has more than five he struck out in an important place in the eighth rounded to end the tenth with a runner on third three balls and no strike see the defense the What I noticed is that there is no doubles defense in the outfield, they are as deep as you can play in this stadium.

Hamill is trying to keep Colonia close, but the baserunners were successful 12 of 15 times stealing against Hamel hoping for a 1-0 exploit. foul right there at the plate, well the reason you play so deep is that you have a better angle cutting the ball, there are no doubles, so the run can't score from first base, here it would require two hits on your defensive position, they are not playing. tight on the line, although they are pinching a liner at third and holding the runner at the end, one first, one ball and two strikes, beating Perez, they constantly die to broken balls, if you are nervous at the plate, you want to hit badly . you want to drive in runs, can't seem to wait for the ball to break, yeah, took the lead in the top half, the Royals with a high triple off the wall and left-center field and an infield helicopter tied the game close in the first base.

Christian Cologne fractured the middle finger of his right hand, which is why he has that protective sleeve. Jokingly, I always call it an oven mitt. That's what it looks like to me, but it protects your hand when you slide into the base. It is very likely that you are. I'm going to get a breaking ball with two strikes, it might be worth the chance to go to this pitch, here it goes, they threw out and out of Derrick Norris' glove, they knew it was coming, you'd know better than x catcher Bob Melvin, would you? see where?

Norris's eyes were not on the baseball looking at it in the glove, they were on Colonia, who was running second base, which is why he missed the winning run and is at second on a list of 25, seven different royals told him. They have stolen a base from the team he was leading. baseball and stolen bases and using it to their greatest advantage tonight now looking for a two out on left hit the kansas city royals are blocking the alds uh the winner of the game that near josh donaldson's glove another breaking ball gets this one a little over the plate, Perez just gets tired, stays back long enough and is strong enough to hit the ball down the line, what a night here in Kansas City, baseball's version of road robbery by the Kansas City Royals , seven different royals stole seven bases, five.

Of them the legend George Brett noted, I think everything in this city is named after him and what a time it is and these fans who have stayed here for close to five hours of the game tonight even when they were down 7-3 regardless of the fight. come back to win it in 12. you