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 The American League Royals ruled after executing their third
crucial, late-inning rally in a clinching 12-inning victory against
the National League champion Mets in the wee hours of Monday morning
in New York.
It was their eighth come-from-behind win of the postseason, a
stunning achievement even for a team as difficult to put away as the
Royals.
Kansas City, stung by a near miss in last year's World Series when
their rousing run as a Wild Card team fell short in a Game Seven
against the San Francisco Giants, were on a mission to go one step
further in 2015 and were not to be denied.
Their 7-2 victory at Citi Field in Game Five gave them the Major
League Baseball title by 4-1 in the best-of-seven Fall Classic.
The Kansas City comeback crew rallied in the ninth of Game One, the
eighth inning of Game Four and again in the ninth of the
Series-clincher with a relentless determination and dogged exercise
of fundamentals that ended a 30-year title drought.
"The way it ended last year, with everything that happened and such
a magical run, you knew it couldn't end like that," Royals first
baseman Eric Hosmer said during the team's celebration on the Citi
Field diamond.
"The ending of that story had to be way better than losing Game
Seven."
Moving baserunners along with grounders, stealing bases to get into
scoring position and daring the Mets to make plays under pressure
paid off for a Royals club that did not rely on home runs and
relished the good that can come from simply putting the bat on the
ball.
Catcher Salvador Perez was named the Series MVP, but the award could
just have easily gone to Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar or
closer Wade Davis.
Fittingly, the go-ahead run in the 12th on Sunday was driven in by
utility infielder Christian Colon with a line single in his first
at-bat of the postseason.
BLOWN SAVES
Mets closer Jeurys Familia goes down as having blown three saves in
the Series, but the reliever was set up to fail by the situations he
was brought into.
Familia, who had not blown a save in more than two months prior to
the Series, failed on his own in Game One when he gave up a massive,
game-tying home run to Alex Gordon in the bottom of the ninth in an
eventual 14-inning loss in the opener.
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But after using Familia to mop up a 9-3 win in Game Three, Mets
manager Collins was loathe to use him for a six-out save in Game
Four and only called him into the eighth inning to protect a 3-2
lead after Tyler Clippard walked the first two batters.
Familia did his job, getting ground balls from Royals hitters, but a
slow roller was muffed by second baseman Daniel Murphy for an error
that led to a 5-3 defeat.
New York led 2-0 heading into the ninth on Sunday, but instead of
calling on Familia to close it out, he allowed starter Matt Harvey
to talk him into finishing it by himself.
After a walk and a ringing double by Hosmer made it 2-1, Collins
summoned Familia, who got two more grounders but the second one
scored Hosmer on a wide throw by first baseman Lucas Duda to home
plate.
Collins said the game-plan had been to give the ball to Familia for
the ninth.
"'I want this game. I want it bad. You've got to leave me in,'"
Collins said Harvey told him in the dugout.
"Obviously I let my heart get in the way of my gut," admitted
Collins. "I love my players. And I trust them."
Hosmer said the Royals' approach to building rallies made for Kansas
City's happy ending.
"We believe in each other. You believe in the guy next to you and
you realize you don't have to do it all by yourself," Hosmer said.
"If you just do your part, we have a good chance at coming back,
we've got a good chance at winning ballgames.
"That's something we've all believed in, something we all bought in
since day one and that's why we're world champions."
(Editing by Andrew Both)
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