The Kansas City Royals defeated the New York Mets by a score of 7-2 tonight at Citi Field, winning the World Series.
Offense:
Curtis Granderson, who has just had such a fantastic season as well as postseason, continued his hot hitting, as he launched a home run to lead off the game for the Mets to give them an early lead.
Royals’ starter Edinson Volquez pretty much kept the Mets at bay after Granderson’s home run, until he hit a bit of a wall in the sixth inning.
The Mets threatened to blow the hinges off the door, as they loaded the bases with no outs. However, after Yoenis Cespedes fouled a ball off his knee, and then subsequently popped out, Lucas Duda was able to hit a sacrifice fly to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.
Unfortunately, the Mets were unable to inflict real damage as Edinson Volquez was able to pitch his way out of a huge jam.
Kelvin Herrera replaced Volquez for the seventh inning, and would go on to keep the Royals in the game by pitching three scoreless frames out of the bullpen.
Luke Hochevar contributed two scoreless innings of his own, before handing the ball over to closer Wade Davis for the bottom of the twelfth.
The dominant Davis shut the door in the twelfth, and secured the win to give the Royals their first World Series victory since 1985.
Pitching:
It would be an understatement to say that Matt Harvey pitched a good game. The appropriate thing to say was that the Dark Knight helped a city that was in desperate need of a savior.
Harvey lived up to the task in the biggest game of his life, and fired eight fantastic scoreless innings. After arguing with Terry Collins and getting his way, Harvey went back out to try and pitch a complete game.
After letting up a walk to Lorenzo Cain, followed immediately by a stolen base and an RBI double from Eric Hosmer, Harvey was removed in favor of Jeurys Familia.
Familia came in, and induced a ground ball off the bat of Mike Moustakas, which moved Hosmer up to third with only one out.
The next batter was Salvador Perez, who sawed off his bat and hit a soft ball to third base. David Wright fielded the ball, and though he looked Hosmer back at third before firing it to first, Hosmer broke for the plate.
Lucas Duda got the out at first, but fired an errant throw home which allowed Hosmer to score the tying run, forcing Harvey to settle for a no-decision, as well as handing Familia a blown save.
Familia kept the game at 2-2 to end the ninth, and pitched a scoreless tenth as well, to keep the Mets season alive for the time being.
Jon Niese pitched a scoreless eleventh, but the Royals took the lead in the late goings against Addison Reed in the twelfth as the Royals tacked on two runs to go up 4-2, before chasing him from the game.
Bartolo Colon came in with the bases loaded in the twelfth and served up a double to clear the bases and bust the game wide open as the Royals went up 7-2, which put the nail in the coffin.
Thoughts:
There’s nothing more to say other than the Mets made their own beds this series. After failing to seal the deal in both games 1 and 4, the Mets lead this game until the ninth tonight and again couldn’t end it. The Royals were relentless and did what any good team would do, in making the Mets pay for their mistakes. The Royals were hungry after losing in the World Series last year, and came ready to play, and the Mets didn’t.
As for the Amazins, this World Series loss stings, but we have a bright future ahead of us. And I know that doesn’t help right now, but I doubt this is the only time we see this group make it this far. Our pitching is going to be a force to be reckoned with for years, and if we can solidify our bullpen and add a bat or two, we will be in the money.
Congratulations to the Royals. You deserve it. See you Opening Day.
