Final thoughts
That was the seventh comeback win by the Kansas City Royals in this postseason and at this point the games where they fail to pull one off are the surprising ones. The New York Mets now need to win three straight games and they have no margin of error, which is not good because it’s clear they very much need some sort of margin of error to survive. Tomorrow’s Game 5 could be the end of their season, or the start of their own wild comeback. Either way, we’ll be covering it here at the Guardian. However, that’s the end of our World Series liveblogging for today. Thanks to all who followed along with us for an eventful nine innings of playoff baseball, especially those of you who contributed. Ciao!
Updated
Royals a win away from winning the World Series
Email from Barby Franks:
Who is winning the series right at this moment hunter n thx?
Seems like a good time to mention that. With the win tonight, the Royals have taken a 3-1 lead in the World Series, one more win and they’re champions.
Royals win!
Royals 5-3 Mets, Final
Lucas Duda is up, representing the winning run. This is going to be interesting. Duda fouls off Davis’s first pitch for the at-bat. 0-1. On 0-2, Duda pops up to Moustakas who doubles up Cespedes on the play to end the ballgame.
Wow.
Royals 5-3 Mets, bottom 9th
Of course Murphy gets on thanks to a defensive miscue by an infielder. How else? Cespedes is up as the tying running. He takes a pitch. 1-0. Cespedes swings away. 1-1. Cespedes lines a single!
Royals 5-3 Mets, bottom 9th
Daniel Murphy is up, and looking to bunt? He takes the first two pitches instead, which is a decent idea as they’re outside. 2-0. Davis works his way back to 2-2 and Murphy hits a ball that bounces away from Moustakas!
Royals 5-3 Mets, bottom 9th
Wade Davis is facing David Wright here to start the 9th. Wright takes a ball, then fouls one off. 1-1. Wright swings and misses. 1-2. Davis’s next pitch is a ball. 2-2. Davis throws a beauty of a curve that fools a swinging Wright. One down. Two away.
Royals 5-3 Mets, top 9th
Two down for Escobar who flies out to Kirk Nieuwenhuis, late-inning defensive replacement. To the bottom of the 9th.
Reliever hitting!
Royals 5-3 Mets, top 9th
Wade Davis doesn’t swing the bat and eventually strikes out. NATIONAL LEAGUE BASEBALL
Royals 5-3 Mets, top 9th
Robles faces Orlando, who works a full count with Wade Davis, a reliever, on deck with a bat in his hands. Robles finally retires Orlando on strikes.
Royals 5-3 Mets, top 9th
The Mets used to have a lead and now Hansel Robles is going to pitch the 9th. That’s how you know something has gone wrong.
Royals 5-3 Mets, bottom 8th
And now it’s Granderson’s time to try to figure out Davis. He doesn’t, he grounds out to end the eighth.
Royals 5-3 Mets, bottom 8th
Kelly Johnson is the pinch-hitter, he hits a flyball to Paulo Orlando, who now patrols RF.
Royals 5-3 Mets, bottom 8th
Wade Davis on for a six-out save. Maybe the smartest move Yost has made in this series. Possibly career.
Davis strikes out Wilmer Flores to start his outing out.
Royals 5-3 Mets, bottom 8th
At a certain point it’s not luck. This is how the Royals are built to win games. It’s not fun to watch, unless you’re a Kansas City fan (in which case, it’s a blast) but it seems to work, especially against this Mets defense.
Royals 5-3 Mets, top 8th
Alex Gordon now, he grounds out to Murphy who is able to turn the double play but, well, too late. Too late, man.
Run! (Royals)
Royals 5-3 Mets, top 8th
Hosmer is at third and there’s still only one out. Moustakas is at first. Perez is at the plate... and HE hits a single! Hosmer scores! Still just one out!
Run! (Royals)
Royals 4-3 Mets, top 8th
Moustakas grounds ANOTHER ONE PAST MURPHY! Cain scores on the single! The Royals take the lead!
Run! (Royals)
Royals 3-3 Mets, top 8th
Jeurys Familia will be in to protect a one-run lead, with two on and one out in the 8th. KIND OF A KEY SPOT. Eric Hosmer is at the plate.
Hosmer swings at a sinker and comes up with nothing. 0-1. He grounds out to Murphy... WHO CAN’T MAKE THE PLAY! Zobrist comes into scores!
Royals 2-3 Mets, top 8th
Clippard walks Zobrist to bring up Cain. Will we see Familia sooner rather than later? You have to think he’s available for more than three outs tonight.
Clippard gets Cain in a 1-2 count. Cain fouls off a pitch that he probably would love to get a second shot at. The next pitch. High. Ball two. 2-2. Slider way outside. 3-2. This has to be Clippard’s last batter no matter what.
Ball four. Here comes Terry Collins to put an end to this.
Royals 2-3 Mets, top 8th
Tyler Clippard is the new Mets pitcher and oh god I’ve liveblogged this guy in the playoffs before and it’s never gone well for him. Oh and Legares is in the game at CF now, pushing Cespedes to the much easier position of LF.
Clippard gets Escobar to ground out for the inning’s first out.
Royals 2-3 Mets, bottom 7th
d’Arnaud strikes out for the second out. Then comes the big trouble tonight: Michael Conforto. Can he make it 3-for-3?
Nope he strikes outs on a changeup out of the zone. That’s the end of seven full.
Royals 2-3 Mets, bottom 7th
New pitcher: Ryan Madson will face same first baseman Lucas Duda. Duda works a full count but ends up popping up to Moustakas.
Seventh inning stretch
Royals 2-3 Mets, top 7th
Jarrod Dyson comes up to hit in the pitcher’s spot. He strikes out. The Mets are six outs away from evening the series.
Royals 2-3 Mets, top 7th
“His name is Rios” falls behind 0-2, takes a ball, and then strikes out. Except the umpire calls it a foul ball. Rios can’t take advantage of the situation, he lines out to short.
Royals 2-3 Mets, top 7th
Addison Reed is on for the Mets which is sad because this game was so much brighter with Colon in it. Alex Gordon leads off the 7th by starting 0-2. (Well, at least the umpire says that second pitch was a strike.) The next three pitches are all outside though. Full count. Then Gordon fouls off the next two pitches, reminder that these hitters are known for being able to make contact.
And Gordon fouls off another. It sometimes feels like they could do this forever. But not this time, Gordon flies out to Granderson for out number one.
Royals 2-3 Mets, bottom 6th
Daniel Murphy flies out to Alex Gordon. It’s up to Cespedes to make something happen this inning. Nope, he can’t, he hits a ball that hangs in the air long enough for Rios to get under and make the play with about as much drama as a Beckett play.
Royals 2-3 Mets, bottom 6th
Luke Hochevar relieves Duffy for the Royals. David Wright hits a mammoth near home run that Cain is just barely able to track it down.
Okay, I’m done with the “Cain is able” wordplay.
Royals 2-3 Mets, bottom 6th
The might have been the most dramatic at-bat of the World Series so far. It was exhausting just trying to describe it.
Royals 2-3 Mets, top 6th
The 42 year old Colon is in the game to retire Salvador Perez with a runner on second and two outs. It’s about as a key spot as possible.
Wait, he throws a breaking ball as a first pitch? Well, I guess he was going for the element of surprise. It didn’t work, Perez takes it for a ball.
Cain tries to steal third, a chance to get him, BUT COLON THROWS IT INTO CENTERFIELD!
Cain’s at third. Less room for error now. Colon’s next pitch is taken for a strike. 1-1. As is the next pitch. 1-2. The Mets are one strike away from getting out of this. Fans are getting loud.
Perez fouls the next pitch off. Still alive. 1-2. Next pitch is outside. 2-2. Perez fouls off a slider. Still 2-2. This is drama people. Another fastball to foul off. Still 2-2. 8th pitch of the inning next. And Perez fouls off another pitch, some sort of breaking thing. Fastball next? Yes, but Perez FOULS THAT OFF TOO. Gotta think this ends badly for Colon, Perez is seeing him too well.
Nevermind. FINALLY Perez fails to make contact, swinging and missing to end the inning.
Royals 2-3 Mets, top 6th
@hunterfelt Bartolo Colon cuts an imposing figure from the 'pen. In a block out the sun kind of way
— MJG78 (@Techn0phobe) November 1, 2015
Bartolo Colon is a heavenly object.
Royals 2-3 Mets, top 6th
Moustakas grounds out to Wright at third and again Cain can’t advance. Terry Collins is back out, it’s looking like it’s Bartolo time.
Royals 2-3 Mets, top 6th
Jonathon Niese is coming in and, honestly, it feels like the game is already tied. Eric Hosmer is the first hitter he’ll face. Hosmer takes a ball on 2-2, to work a full count and allow Cain to take second.
Hosmer hits one right at Cespedes, Cain isn’t able to advance.
Run! (Royals)
Royals 2-3 Mets, top 6th
Cain singles in Zobrist and it’s one run game again. Terry Collins is in now to remove Matz.
Royals 1-3 Mets, top 6th
Zobrist greets Matz with a leadoff double. So much for an easy inning, this one’s going to be tricky.
Royals 1-3 Mets, bottom 5th
David Wright swings and misses at Duffy’s first pitch, thinking a home run all the way. Wright swings again, still nada. 0-2. Wright takes a low ball one. 1-2. Wright takes ball two and Granderson is off and running and gunned...
down. A caught stealing ends the inning.
Royals 1-3 Mets, bottom 5th
Granderson beats out an infield hit. This is exactly the stuff the Royals kept doing the first two games of the series.
Royals 1-3 Mets, bottom 5th
Steve Matz is hitting for himself here, meaning he’s start the sixth. If he can get to the seventh you have to think the Mets will be happy to take it.
Matz hits a long flyball that’s right to Cain. Well, again, that’s not his job.
Royals 1-3 Mets, bottom 5th
Conforto is the new Murphy.
Flores is up next. And down next, he falters on strikes almost immediately.
Home run! (Mets)
Royals 1-3 Mets, bottom 5th
Daniel Duffy is the first reliever we’ll see tonight. Expect about a half-dozen more. Michael Conforto leads off the fifth and there’s no way he could top his-
OH HE DOES IT AGAIN! HOME RUN!
Royals 1-2 Mets, bottom 5th
We’re halfway through nine, so this is when I remind everyone that you can contribute to this liveblog via email (Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com) or tweeting (@HunterFelt).
Royals 1-2 Mets, top 5th
I wonder if Matz is starting to lose effectiveness. So does Terry Collins, as they’re getting pitchers warming up in the bullpen, Jon Niese and Bartolo Colon.
Escobar flies out to end the inning though, and Citi Field can exhale for a second.
Royals 1-2 Mets, top 5th
Well Morales gets a base hit, so maybe this will work out. Runners on first and second and still two down.
Royals 1-2 Mets, top 5th
Rios flies out. With a runner on first and two down, Yost pulls back his starting pitcher for a pinch-hitter, Kendry Morales.
A bit early to use Morales for what will be a single at-bat, there’s not even a runner in scoring position.
Run! (Royals)
Royals 1-2 Mets, top 5th
Alex Gordon lines one to rightfield and that’s going to score the Royals first run! The outfield misplay immediately burns New York.
Royals 0-2 Mets, top 5th
Perez hits a flyball that Cespedes tries to make the play on, it ricochets off of him and rolls away. It essentially goes from potential out to single to double in the matter of about a second.
Updated
Royals 0-2 Mets, top 5th
Matz is out to start the fifth inning. His first pitch to Moustakas is, of course, a strike. Moustakas grounds out to Duda immediately afterwards.
Royals 0-2 Mets, top 5th
9:20pm is late enough that you can just assume that any Halloween candy you have left is yours and no longer has to be saved by potential trick-or-treaters, right?
Asking for a friend.
Royals 0-2 Mets, bottom 4th
Big, big out here. d’Arnaud pops out on the first pitch and, it lands in Eric Hosmer’s glove. Exactly the inning Kansas City needed.
Royals 0-2 Mets, bottom 4th
Petter Settli:
Might just as well get it in. Young gets pulled this inning,
Cespedes might have given Young a little help in avoiding that fate here. And so does Duda, who strikes out for the second out.
Royals 0-2 Mets, bottom 4th
Steven Matz dished out candy before dishing out Ks tonight. (via Annemarie Zwycewicz) pic.twitter.com/Y0LykGCwo7
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 1, 2015
Posted entirely for cuteness reasons.
Let’s see if Chris Young’s command is any better here. Cespedes is here to start things off and he works a 3-1 count, which might be his most danger-
Oh nevermind, he swings right through the next pitch. 3-2. And on 3-2 he does it again and, well, there is no 3-3 count.
Royals 0-2 Mets, top 4th
Eric Hosmer grounds out to Murphy and man was that quick.
Email from Petter Settli:
Was thinking - ptiching duel. Who’s going to crack first? Young. Fastball up, home run. And it happens, but I didn’t email my prediction. So no cigar.
It’ll be interesting to see if he can bounce back at all, it is after all just a two-run lead for New York.
Royals 0-2 Mets, top 4th
And Lorenzo Cain falls behind 0-2. Lordy. Matz wastes one high but Cain declines to swing. 1-2. He doesn’t swing at a closer ball. 2-2. Cain keeps alive by fouling one off. Still 2-2. He then k’s on what looks like to be a borderline pitch. That’s Matz’s fifth strikeout.
Royals 0-2 Mets, top 4th
Ben Zobrist, whose first inning interference is no longer the biggest brain cramp of the game, falls behind 0-2 to Matz. And then he takes a called strike three. That’s the fourth strikeout for Matz.
Royals 0-2 Mets, bottom 3rd
Young falls behind 2-0 on Daniel Murphy who pops up on the third pitch to end the inning. That...
That went poorly for Kansas City.
Royals 0-2 Mets, bottom 3rd
Back to baseball. David Wright runs up a full count and then takes advantage of another bounced ball from Young to take first base on a walk.
Royals 0-2 Mets, bottom 3rd
The replay committee comes in and says: the run counts. Oof. Huge, huge, huge mistake by Rios who had a play at the plate to get Flores.
Royals 0-2 Mets, bottom 3rd
Ned Yost is out to challenge the play, however, as Flores may have left early. Replays show that he has a case.
RUN! (Mets)
Royals 0-2 Mets, bottom 3rd
So all Granderson has to do to tack on an extra run is to hit a decent flyball, which is something definitely in his arsenal. Young gets ahead in the count 1-2 and makes Curtis have to foul off a few pitches just to stay alive.
Granderson flies out to Rios... who forgets there’s less than two outs! Flores scores easily!
Royals 0-1 Mets, bottom 3rd
Wilmer Flores follows that up with a solid base hit. Matz is in the batter’s box next and before he even can attempt to move the runner over, Young throws a wild pitch that allows him to make second easy.
Matz bunts and now Flores is on third base with only one out.
Home run! (Mets)
Royals 0-1 Mets, bottom 3rd
MICHAEL CONFORTO HITS A HOME RUN ON THE FIRST PITCH HE SEES! That’s to the second deck!
Updated
Steven Matz, who seems like a perfectly nice young man, is throwing an extremely disrespectful curveball tonight.
— David Roth (@david_j_roth) November 1, 2015
Royals 0-0 Mets, top 3rd
Escobar is back out, he grounds out to David Wright and the crowd is quite happy about that turn of events.
Royals 0-0 Mets, top 3rd
Oh right, we’re under National League rules here. Matz has to face Young. Young strikes out BECAUSE THIS IS TOTALLY NOT HIS JOB.
Royals 0-0 Mets, top 3rd
Alex Rios, very much a “trick or treat” player, is up to start the 3rd for Kansas City. This time around he’s able to work a full count, that’s a treat, and then he hits a long flyball ball that Cespedes is able to get a good read on and track down.
Now that’s a neat trick.
@HunterFelt this World Series is missing perma-cross coach faces. Showalter vs Matheny: imagine the intense glares, the fury!
— Paul C (@TheSlowRun) November 1, 2015
There is something to be said about coaches who can pull off the “I am attempting to make this umpire’s head explode using only my mind like I’m a freaking Scanner” face.
Royals 0-0 Mets, bottom 2nd
Travis d’Arnaud grounds out to end the inning. So, yeah, what I said about this being a potential offensive showcase? Not so much yet.
Royals 0-0 Mets, bottom 2nd
The Royals fielders overshift for Lucas Duda, who hits what looks like a foul ball but... it just goes fair, unfortunately for Duda as Hosmer is able to field it for the inning’s second out.
Royals 0-0 Mets, bottom 2nd
Chris Young will face Yoenis Cespedes, the greatest trade deadline acquisition of the regular season. It’s 2-1 but Perez frames a pitch to get a strike call that evens out the count. Cespedes fouls off the next pitch and then swings at a ball in the dirt. Some great tandem work by Young-Perez there.
Royals 0-0 Mets, top 2nd
Alex Gordon is up next, with Alex Rios on deck (I guess he’s okay to stay in the game for now). Gordon grounds one to Duda at first to end the inning. The baserunner proves harmless.
Royals 0-0 Mets, top 2nd
Salvador Perez is up next. He’s down 0-2 but then he rifles a base hit of what looks to be a mistake pitch from Matz who probably wanted to waste one there.
Royals 0-0 Mets, top 2nd
Mike Moustakas, obviously the player with the most fun name to say, comes up next. Matz gets ahead of the Moose 1-2 but he doesn’t offer at a ball at 1-2. On 2-2 he fouls one off to stay alive. And then he fouls off another that the catcher can’t quite handle for the tip.
But he grounds out to David Wright to end a worthy at-bat.
Royals 0-0 Mets, top 2nd
Rios might have hurt himself on that play. We’ll see shortly whether or not he can remain in the game. A costly web gem, perhaps.
Eric Hosmer leads off the second inning for the Royals. Well, he doesn’t stay up there long as Matz strikes him out on three straight breaking balls. Filthy.
Royals 0-0 Mets, bottom 1st
Daniel Murphy, who has reverted back to Daniel Murphy after hitting all of the home runs in the Mets’ first two postseason series.
He hits one loooong here, but Alex Rios is juuuuust able to corral it for the third out. I don’t approve of Daniel Murphy’s new lifestyle of not hitting dingers.
Royals 0-0 Mets, bottom 1st
David Wright hits a routine flyball. Two out just like that.
Royals 0-0 Mets, bottom 1st
Chris Young, who pitched in the extra innings in Game 1, comes out to pitch for the Royals. Leading off for the Mets is Curtis Granderson who has been on fire this entire season.
Young falls behind the hitter 3-1, Granderson hits one hard but hits it foul. Full count. Granderson grounds out on the next pitch.
Royals 0-0 Mets, bottom 1st
Well, Steve Matz has faced the minimum, it just took some fluky circumstances. The Mets will take it, especially considering the breaks all went Kansas City’s way in the first two games.
Royals 0-0 Mets, top 1st
Ben Zobrist strikes out swinging and interference is called on him, meaning that Escobar, who was attempting to swipe second on the play, was called out. It’s a very bizarre double play. Lorenzo Cain then flies out and that’s it, that’s the end of the inning.
Royals 0-0 Mets, top 1st
Escobar is booed mightily as he comes to the plate. He swings at the first pitch, shockingly, but misses it completely. The next pitch is outside. 1-1. Escobar swings at a fastball away. 1-2. He then grounds one... and, of course, when a Royals hitter makes contact it ends up in a base hit.
And the New York Mets take the field! This is exciting. I’m excited. I’m also have eaten my weight in Halloween candy so I’m on a sugar rush you wouldn’t believe.
This will either help this liveblog or turn it into a major disaster. Either way this will be entertaining.
Joe Buck's World Series beard is a terrorist. #2015WorldSeries #KCvsNYM #WorldSeries
— Sarah Colonna (@sarahcolonna) November 1, 2015
She is not wrong.
Tim McGraw, son of Mets legend Tug McGraw and occasional country music superstar, throws out the ceremonial first pitch and we’re almost to real baseball.
National Anthem
As for this liveblog? Well, we’re going to go a bit retro for our Star Spangled Banner choice:
Demi Lovato is going to perform the anthem for tonight’s game, I believe she appeals to a slightly different demographic than yesterday’s singer, Billy Joel. Me? I’m not satisfied, I’d rather have it be the full Lovato.
There has to be at least one other person out there who appreciates prefix humor...
The Toronto Blue Jays’ Josh Donaldson is here, so he picked up the AL Hank Aaron Award in person from, who else, Hank Aaron.
For my Blue Jays followers here's Josh Donaldson getting his Hank Aaron award pic.twitter.com/VJTgHwSQLQ
— Caryn Rose (@metsgrrl) October 31, 2015
Updated
Bryce Harper is receiving the Hank Aaron Award for being the best offensive player in the NL, but he’s not in attendance apparently. Maybe he’s worried that Jonathan Papelbon might be somewhere about?
Updated
I want this baseball game to start so everyone will shut up about last night.
— Scary Gotsulias (@StaceGots) October 31, 2015
This is starting to become the general mood among baseball fans here. It’s almost as if this was a story that we in the media have decided to talk about nonstop to fill this stretch of time between the actual games.
The most important person in organized baseball, for what it’s worth, had no problem with Syndergaard’s first pitch:
Rob Manfred calls the Syndergaard pitch "good, hard baseball." @MLB #WorldSeries
— Anthony Castrovince (@castrovince) October 31, 2015
Email from Petter Settli:
No her wasn’t trying to hit him in his head.. With the control he has, if he wanted to hit him in the head he would have. it was a push back.
I tend to agree here, it wasn’t an attempted headhunting. It made me uneasy, but that didn’t seem to be the intent.
When you’re the mayor and you don’t know whether to celebrate Halloween or the Mets being in the World Series:
.@billdeblasio as @Mets slugger Yoenis Cespedes; First Lady @Chirlane clutch right fielder Curtis Granderson. pic.twitter.com/VyyWngX11L
— Matthew Chayes (@chayesmatthew) October 31, 2015
Predictions
As I mentioned last time around, I predicted that the Royals would win in five games which means that I’m going to have to go against the Mets here. Maybe like a 10-7 victory? It feels like this one’s going to be won or lost by the bullpens, and Kansas City has the advantage.
Your predictions? Email them to Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com or tweet them to @HunterFelt.
New York Mets starting lineup
1. Curtis Granderson, RF
2. David Wright, 3B
3. Daniel Murphy, 2B
4. Yoenis Cespedes, CF
5. Lucas Duda, 1B
6. Travis d’Arnaud, C
7. Michael Conforto, LF
8. Wilmer Flores, SS
9. Steve Matz, P
Kansas City Royals starting lineup
1. Alcides Escobar, SS
2. Ben Zobrist, 2B
3. Lorenzo Cain, CF
4. Eric Hosmer, 1B
5. Mike Moustakas, 3B
6. Salvador Perez, C
7. Alex Gordon, LF
8. Alex Rios, RF
9. Chris Young, P
Question of the night
Your thoughts? Was Syndergaard aiming for Escobar’s head?
We officially have a series! In game 3 of the World Series, the New York Mets did to the Kansas City Royals what they did to them in the first two: they took advantage of the other team’s mistakes. New York erased an early Kansas City lead and ended up winning by the final score of 9-3. It’s a good thing for them, as a loss would have dropped the Mets to 0-3, which would most likely have made the rest of this series academic. As of now they are merely down 2-1.
The conversation over the last 24 hours has revolved around the first pitch of Friday’s game, when starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard threw a very high fastball at Royals leadoff man Alcides Escobar. The purpose pitch, presumably, was designed to make Escobar, who hit an inside-the-park home run with the very first pitch he saw in game 1, a little less comfortable. The Royals are convinced that Syndergaard was deliberately aiming for their shortstop’s head. Royals manager Ned Yost has suggested that their will be retribution sooner rather than later.
Ned Yost: "We've got a few tricks up our sleeve, too." https://t.co/8IpppcEO11 via @HardballTalk
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) October 31, 2015
So that would be the trick portion of today’s Halloween game. We could also be in for a treat. In the fourth game of a seven game series, teams start their fourth starters rather than their aces, in this case, the Mets are starting inexperienced lefty Steven Matz while the Royals will put the exceedingly tall Chris Young on the mound. This could mean we’re into an offensive showcase tonight
As always, we want to hear from you throughout tonight’s Spooktacular (note: this liveblog may not be spooky or spectacular). Send in your emails (those can go to Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com) or tweets (to @HunterFelt) as the night develops about your thoughts on the series so far, Syndergaard’s purpose pitch or anything baseball-related, really. It’s the Kansas City Royals vs the New York Mets at Citi Field for Game 4 of the World Series. First pitch is scheduled at 8:07pm EST but we’ll be back before then with starting lineups, predictions and other assorted things.
Hunter will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Les Carpenter on David Wright:
