Kansas City giddy over gritty Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The jersey that Eric Hosmer wore in the decisive game of the World Series is headed to the Hall of Fame. So is the glove Salvador Perez used, the spikes Lorenzo Cain laced up and the bat that third baseman Mike Moustakas took to the plate.
Maybe they ought to ask for the goal posts from the University of Kansas.
Those were torn down inside Memorial Stadium in the wee hours Monday morning, shortly after the Royals beat the New York Mets to win their first championship in 30 years. Thousands of fans shot off fireworks, stormed sporting goods stores to buy
the latest apparel, and spent the night partying as if it were New Year’s Eve in downtown Kansas City.
“Our fan base and our team share a real special bond,” Hosmer said. “That’s grown throughout the whole entire world, I think, as the fans have watched us compete throughout this postseason.”
The Royals have done it with their fight-to-the-last-out style.
President Barack Obama called Manager Ned Yost on Monday and said the team was fun to watch and made Royals fans proud, according to White House spokesman Josh Earnest, who is from Kansas City
They won 95 games during the regular season and earned home-field advantage
throughout the playoffs. But they never seemed to be the favorites — not against the Astros, who were six outs from ousting the Royals in the fourth game of the division series; not against the power-hitting Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series or the hard-throwing Mets’ starting rotation.
“I think the resiliency of this team and the way we can come back and the way we just count ourselves in every single game, I think it makes for a fun team to watch,” Hosmer said. “It’s definitely a fun team to play for.”
In the Division Series, the Royals trailed the Astros by four runs in a game that could have ended their season, then rallied to win that game and the series. They kept fighting back when the Blue Jays kept pounding home runs, eventually winning their second consecutive ALCS.
They really shined in the World Series, though.
The Royals trailed in all five games against the Mets, winning three times when they were down in the eighth inning or later — something no team had ever done. In the decider, the Royals became the first team since the 1939 Yankees to trail by two runs in the ninth inning or later of a potential clinching game and rally to victory.
All told, Kansas City trailed by at least two runs in 7 of its 11 playoff victories.
“The way guys played all season,” Cain said, “the way guys stepped up even though we were down the entire game, it was a huge team effort.”
The Royals, once considered one of baseball’s model franchises, slipped badly in the 1990s and the downward spiral went on for more than 20 years. There were two streaks of nine consecutive losing seasons and three consecutive 100-loss seasons. Along the way, Royals players
made the All-Star game because every club needed to be represented.
Things started to change with the arrival of General Manager Dayton Moore in 2006. Ned Yost took over as manager in 2010, and a core bunch of players — Hosmer, third baseman Mike Moustakas and others — worked their way through the minor-league system. The final pieces were added at this year’s trade deadline, with the arrival of pitcher Johnny Cueto and the versatile Ben Zobrist.
“We believe in each other, you believe in the guy next to you,” Hosmer said, “and you realize you don’t have to do it all by yourself, you just do your part and we got a chance of winning ballgames. It’s something we’ve all believed in, it’s something we all bought into since day one and that’s why we’re world champions.”