Angels await euphoric Royals after wild rally
ANAHEIM, Calif. – The running theme among the Kansas City Royals as they traveled overnight to Southern California was that Tuesday night's epic win over the Oakland Athletics was the best game every participant had ever played in.
That's to be expected from a youthful club that had not sniffed the playoffs for ages, but the notion gained extra gravitas when 19-year veteran Raul Ibanez, who has played in 10 postseason series, chimed him with his own assessment.
"I've never seen anything like that,'' Ibanez said of the Royals' 12-inning comeback win in the American League wild-card game. "Down 7-3 against Jon Lester in the eighth inning … Incredible.''
Indeed, the Royals' first incursion into the postseason since 1985 – the year they won their only World Series – became an instant classic, punctuated by seven stolen bases, a tying run in the ninth inning and a two-run rally to overcome another deficit and win it in the 12th.
The topic continued to resonate after the Royals' early-afternoon workout at Angel Stadium, where they will face the Los Angeles Angels tonight in the opener of the AL Division Series.
"We're all so excited, everybody still talking about last night's game,'' shortstop Alcides Escobar said. "Everybody's like, 'Wow, I can't believe it.' 'Wow, this happened.' 'Wow, look how we came back.' We're all talking about it.''
Now the trick will be to carry that energy and confidence into a series against the team that registered the best record in baseball, one planning to send out ace starter Jered Weaver twice in the first four games. Angels manager Mike Scioscia said Weaver, would start Games 1 and 4 – the second on short rest – if the series does not end in a sweep.
Weaver won 18 games this season and has a history of success against the Royals, with a 7-4 record and a 2.21 ERA in 12 career starts.
"He mixes well,'' Royals left fielder Alex Gordon said. "You never see the same pitch twice, so he's going to keep you off-balance. You just take what he gives you.''
Surprisingly, Scioscia plans to start Matt Shoemaker instead of veteran lefty C.J. Wilson in Friday's Game 2 even though the rookie has not pitched since Sept. 15 because of a strained left oblique.
Shoemaker, who went 16-4 and helped Los Angeles overcome the loss of two starters, reported feeling well after throwing bullpen sessions Sunday and Tuesday.
"We're expecting Matt to be fine and pitch as deep as he can into the game,'' Scioscia said, adding that Wilson would start Game 3 in Kansas City. "We like the way Matt has been pitching, and I think Weaver getting out in Game 1 followed by Matt gives us the best look here.''
The Royals, who were pushing until the last day of the season in a fruitless effort to win the AL Central, won't have their ace available until Game 3 and instead will go tonight with former Angel Jason Vargas, who lost three of his four decisions and had a 6.57 ERA in September.
He will be followed in the rotation by rookie Yordano Ventura, with staff ace James Shields taking the mound Sunday.
Shields and Ventura were involved in the most debated maneuver of Tuesday's game, as Royals manager Ned Yost yanked his top pitcher with a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning to bring in the fireballing rookie. Ventura promptly gave up a three-run homer to Brandon Moss, eliciting a torrent of criticism of Yost, most pointedly from TBS commentator and former Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martinez.
Yost responded by saying the club had planned on bringing in a hard-thrower in the sixth inning if the game was close, to bridge the gap to its terrific bullpen combination of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and closer Greg Holland.
"It's one of those deals where (if) he comes in and throws a 94 mph two-seamer, (Moss) rolls over it and I look like a genius,'' Yost said. "He comes in and throws a fastball and (Moss) hits a home run, I look like a dope. OK, well, I was a dope last night for a little while. Just because it didn't work doesn't mean it wasn't the right move and I wouldn't do it again.''
With their combination of clutch hitting and daring base-running, the Royals spared Yost – who was booed by the capacity crowd at Kauffman Stadium when he lifted Shields – from further abuse.
Instead, the Royals enter their first playoff series in 29 years full of confidence that they can overcome any obstacle.
"They'll definitely be on a high,'' Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun said. "They just won a big game and they're going to come in here and try to win Game 1. And that's exactly what we're trying to do. Don't think for one second our intensity won't match theirs, because we're an intense ballclub.''
Told that they'd be viewed as the bad guys if they knock off America's new darlings, Calhoun laughed.
"That's fine, we'll be the bad guys,'' he said. "We'll keep playing hard.''