KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Usually the province of weddings, funerals and high-school graduations, the song "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" by the rock band Green Day is not quite a staple at baseball stadiums. It is acoustic and slow and melancholy, the orchestral sound of strings playing under lyrics about turning points and forks in the road and lessons learned in time. It's usually reserved for the final scenes of sit-coms.
But this is not a normal week at Kauffman Stadium, and Danny Duffy is not your normal frontline starting pitcher. So at some point before his start on Thursday night against the Detroit Tigers _ a 4-1 loss in a series finale _ he asked the in-stadium entertainment crew to play the song as he warmed up prior to the first inning.
The symbolism was not deep. At first base stood Eric Hosmer, a friend and teammate he had known for nine years. Inside the dugout was third baseman Mike Moustakas, a man with whom he had bonded for a decade. In three days, Hosmer and Moustakas _ along with center fielder Lorenzo Cain and shortstop Alcides Escobar _ could play their final games in a Royals uniform. As he stepped on the mound for his last start of the season, perhaps his final one alongside his friends, Duffy sought to capture the moments and put them in still frames in his mind.
His performance, perhaps, did not rise to the occasion. In his third appearance since returning from a forearm strain, Duffy permitted four runs in 4 1/3 innings against the Tigers' piecemeal lineup. In the top of the fifth, he issued two walks and allowed two singles before Detroit's Nicholas Castellanos cleared the bases with a three-run double. Moments later, Royals manager Ned Yost emerged from the first-base dugout and thrust his right hand in the air. As Duffy stood near the rubber, ready to hand the ball to his manager, he offered a bear hug to Hosmer before walking off to a standing ovation in the section behind the Royals' dugout.
The Royals (78-81) closed out their penultimate series of the season and must sweep the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend to finish .500 for a fifth straight season. On Friday night, starter Ian Kennedy will start opposite former Royals ace Zack Greinke, who will be preparing to start for Arizona in the National League wild-card game on Wednesday.
The Royals' future is something unpredictable. The looming class of free agents _ and the uncertainty they represent _ will define the offseason. Yet Kansas City can count on Duffy to be part of the ensuring chapter. On Thursday, he closed out his first season since signing a five-year, $65 million contract extension last winter. His campaign teetered somewhere between promising and inauspicious. He finished the season with a 3.81 ERA in 146 1/3 innings. He struck out 130, issued 41 walks and was dogged by an oblique strain that wiped out his June and a nagging elbow issue that caused pain in his arm in August and sidelined him for nearly a month.
Duffy has hinted that the elbow may need to be "addressed" in the offseason to root out the discomfort. Royals officials have stressed that his arm is structurally sound. Any procedure would likely be in the category of a clean-out.
And yet, Duffy still entered Thursday with the 15th best ERA in the American League among starters with at least 140 innings. The Royals believe he is capable of more.
In the aftermath of a career breakthrough in 2016, Duffy's next step could involve good health and good time. On Thursday afternoon, Yost used the word "consistency" at least three times.
"Do I think he has the ability to be one of those top-line guys in the American League? Yeah, I definitely do," Yost said, speaking to reporters in the dugout. "But you look at the top-line guys, they're going to the post. They're consistent. They don't have a lot of ups and downs over the course of the year."
Duffy will seek to make the best of this test. But he could be left playing without Hosmer and Moustakas and the rest of the free agents. So on Thursday, he sought to enjoy the moment. And in the end, it was right.
