'Moose' leaves his tracks on Royals' magical run
KANSAS CITY – For a city that had gone 29 years without experiencing playoff baseball, it seemed only fitting that its long-suffering fans could say they had a hand in a win that pushed their team to the brink of the American League pennant.
As third baseman Mike Moustakas drifted toward the stands chasing Adam Jones' foul ball in the top of the sixth inning, the faithful seated in the box suites along the third base line could see the ball and Moustakas approaching at the same time.
After already making one stellar defensive play earlier in the game, Moustakas leaned into the crowd as the steady breeze was blowing the ball back toward the field. He tumbled over the railing, and into the sea of blue-clad fans - and somehow managed to make the grab and hold on.
"They gave me a chance to catch the ball," Moustakas said. "I just tried to keep my eye on it, find the railing and do everything I could to catch it."
On the 11th anniversary of another famous postseason foul ball – the misplay that turned Steve Bartman into Public Enemy No. 1 in Chicago – the Royals fans didn't interfere with Moustakas at all.
"I don't think I hit the ground. Everybody was over there lifting me up," Moustakas said. "I didn't really have any control of what I was doing after I fell. They just kinda threw me back out there. It was pretty cool."
And as a result, the Royals could be going back to the World Series for the first time since 1985.
Moustakas' career has followed an arc similar to the one followed by the franchise that took him with the second overall pick in the 2007 draft.
In his four major league seasons, Moustakas has a career batting average of .234 and an on-base percentage below .300. He was even sent to the minors earlier this season when his average dipped to .152.
"All that other stuff that happened this year is over with. It's done. Nothing I can do to change it. No need to sit back and look at how good of a season or how bad of a season you had," Moustakas said earlier in the series.
But in the postseason, he's been one of many stars as the Royals have yet to taste defeat – winning their wild-card playoff game, sweeping the Los Angeles Angels in the Division Series and jumping out to a 3-0 lead on the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS.
In the first two games of the series, Moustakas hit home runs in extra innings to help the Royals pull out late wins.
This time he made the big plays with his glove -- not only snagging the foul ball that conjured memories of frequent postseason hero Derek Jeter, but also diving to catch Steve Pearce's liner in the top of the fourth inning.
"We've got extremely good athletes at every position so you come to expect 'em," said designated hitter Billy Butler, who drove in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly.
"He made another play in the hole that was tremendous as well. You can't give him enough credit. Our defense played fantastic."
So how can a team with no playoff experience – of the starting nine only second baseman Omar Infante had ever appeared in a postseason game before this year – be so clutch when the pressure is at its highest?
Orioles manager Buck Showalter's words from before Game 3 sounded quite prophetic.
"Just because someone doesn't get an opportunity doesn't mean they're not capable of it. So nothing surprises me what these guys do," he said. "These guys are really good. Even when it hurts you … you do have that very quiet respect for what it takes to do that."
Quiet is definitely not the word to describe how the Royals fans will be Wednesday night when their team goes for a sweep – and an eighth consecutive win this postseason.
"It's cool to be in the position we're in but we've still got work to do," Moustakas said. "We're not done yet."
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