“The Mets have nothing to hold their heads down for, except they didn’t play that well and they
gave away this World Series”- Frank Thomas
We may be two days removed from Halloween bu, the following will read like a horror story for
Mets fans everywhere.
Closer Jeurys Familia, who tied a franchise record with 43 saves during the regular season and had up until the World Series started recorded five more in postseason play, became the first pitcher in the history of baseball to blow three save opportunities in a World Series.
Then there is Daniel Murphy, the Mets slugging second baseman, whose home run binge of 7 in nine games almost single-handedly propelled the Mets to the Series. It was a hot streak that is even more remarkable when you consider he only hit 14 homers over the course of the 162 game regular season. Yet, it’s Murphy’s glove more so than his bat that he will be most remembered for after two critical errors on routine plays in Games 4 and 5 cost the Mets dearly.
To paraphrase a famous New Yorker, Murphy was riding high in October and shot down in
November. That’s life for a player who went from postseason hero to zero as quickly as his home run balls flew through the sky.
But to focus solely on the Mets would be doing a huge disservice to the Royals. It’s one thing if your opponents make a mistake, it’s another thing to cash in on those errors. The Royals became the first team ever with 3 or more wins in a World Series after trailing in the 8th inning or later. In fact the Royals this postseason have outscored all opponents 51-11 from the 7th inning onwards and specifically the Mets 15-1.
A conveyor belt of relentlessly persistent contact hitters, air tight defense and a dominant bullpen
were the keys to success for the Royals but not all of their winning formula will be easy to replicate.
Their aggressiveness on the base paths, is at times as foolish as it is electrifying. But, Eric Hosmer’s mad dash to home plate to tie the game last night proves that for the Royals the reward justifies the risk.
Hosmer is one of a number of home-grown Royals who played during the postseason. The reward for years of futility is that the Royals amassed a number of high draft picks. Indeed nine of those who featured, were top 100 prospects in baseball in 2011. Kansas’s very own version of the class of 92 lived up to its promise and Kansas City finally has its first Championship in thirty years. Although I don’t know how many of these players are going to buy a minor league baseball team in Missouri when all is said and done on their careers.
