If game 1 of the World Series wasn’t entertaining enough for you, then I don’t know what to say to you, other than, you might just be too hard to please and should stick to something where you don’t have the bar raised so high. I feel that’s only the small majority that feel that way, so I figure most sports fans, even if you’re not a baseball fan, would have enjoyed the start of the Fall Classic.
You want suspense?! It doesn’t get more suspenseful than the Royals trailing 4-3 in the 9th inning, with OF Alex Gordon up to bat, facing arguably the best closer in the National League. Jeurys Familia hadn’t blown a save since July 30th, so this blown save for the Mets shutdown man, couldn’t have come at a worse time. With one out in the 9th, Gordon kept the Royals with one crushing swing of the bat, nodding the game up at 4, before the Royals finally picked up the win in the 14th inning. Should we be that surprised, though? This is what the Royals do! They grind every at-bat, they hardly strike out and in clutch situations the Royals show up huge.
Gordon is one for picking up timely hits too. Just last World Series, in game 7, Gordon hit a near inside the park home run, but instead had to settle for a triple, and was left sitting on 3rd base, representing the tying run, as the final out came through to end KC’s Cinderella run, losing to the Giants in 7 games. Gordon was the hero in the ninth inning, but it was Eric Hosmer, who had a costly error to give the Mets the lead at 4-3, redeeming himself, with a game-ending RBI sacrifice.
And let’s not forget about what Edison Volquez had to deal with after the game as well. Volquez didn’t find out until after his start was finished, that his father, Daniel had passed away, from complications with his heart. Daniel had passed away before game 1, but at Volquez’ family request, they didn’t want manager Ned Yost to say anything until after he was done pitching. Just so many emotions going into and bleeding over into game two tonight from Kansas City.
Now it’s up to Jacob deGrom to even the series, and that won’t be easy, with Johnny Cueto on the mound tonight. Cueto has struggled in the postseason, with a 0-1 ALCS record and a 7.88 ERA, while deGrom has a 1-0 NLCS record and a minuscule 1.80 ERA. Seems obvious who would win tonight, right?! Not so fast, though. Time to shake the records away. A clean slate for both pitchers to put their team in a great situation, whether it’s a 2-0 series lead for Kansas City going into New York or the Mets stealing game 2 to even the series. This has seven games written all over it, and a win by New York really helps that cause.
Featured Image by: janelle
