Caught in World Series hangover, and loving it

I’m happy in my Royals’ Blue Heaven. Since late Sunday night — or early Monday morning, depending on how you look at things — I’ve been riding on a blue cloud nine and walking in a blue haze. What a great feeling!

Kansas City Royals fans are still floating along on the amazing high our MLB team has given us after a 30-year wait. I’ve experienced this before. I was right there in the middle of it in 1985 at Kauffman Stadium (Royals Stadium then) when Kansas City claimed its first World Series championship.

How did the 2015 World Series Championship affect Royals fans? It shut down Kansas City metropolitan as an estimated 800,000 strong basked in the crowning of the Royals as the best MLB team this season during the Royals’ parade and rally Tuesday.

There were no super heroes for Kansas City, just baseball players having fun playing the game. No Thors (Noah Syndergaard) and no Dark Knights (Matt Harvey) as New York Mets have on their team.

I take that back. You could consider referring to Salvador Perez, the Royals’ catcher, as superman. He took foul balls off his mask, collarbone and fingers, and he kept on bouncing back.

Kansas City closed the World Series just like it opened it — dramatic ninth-inning comeback and a win in extra innings. Game 1 it was Alex Gordon hitting a game-tying solo home run in the ninth inning and the Royals winning in the 14th inning.

Game 5 was against Matt Harvey, who pitched Game 1 also for the Mets, and Harvey was cruising. The Mets held a 2-0 lead and Harvey got greedy, convincing his manager he should pitch the ninth. A walk to Lorenzo Cain and an RBI-double by Eric Hosmer chased Harvey out of the game.

The Royals still had to tie the game and Hosmer was at third base. Perez stepped to the plate bringing back memories of the 2014 World Series Game 7. Gordon was at third as the tying run against San Francisco that night with Perez batting. Perez fouled out and the Giants won the 2014 crown.

Not this time — Perez hit a slow grounder to Met’s third baseman David Wright, who looked at Hosmer, then threw to first. Hosmer broke for home, doing what the Royals do — put pressure on teams to make a play. The Mets couldn’t as first baseman Lucas Duda fired a wide throw to home and Hosmer was safe tying the game at 2-2.

The Royals turned things over to their bullpen, which held the Mets in check. Perez, the World Series MVP, looped a leadoff single in the 12th off losing pitcher Addison Reed, and pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson stole second. One out later, Christian Colon stepped in as a pinch-hitter for his first plate and he lined a 1-2 pitch into left-center and pounded his chest at first base. Alcides Escobar added an RBI double, and Cain’s bases-loaded double off Bartolo Colon broke it open.

Five runs crossed the plate for the Royals in the 12th, and Wade Davis to closed it out on the mound for Kansas City. He threw a called third strike past Wilmer Flores to end it and tossed his glove high in the air as the Royals rushed toward the mound to celebrate.

Man, oh, man, the Royals celebrated. Their fans celebrated. I called my dad, my sister Sunday night and celebrated. My nephew called — we celebrated.

It was fun to watch Royals manager Ned Yost welcome Perez’s final Gatoraide bath right there on the Mets’ Citi Field. I remember being sprayed with champagne by Frank White at Royals Stadium in 1985 while I was covering that victory.

What a rush! I’ve seen the Royals play in four World Series since 1980. They are 2-2. Not bad for a team, which has never had many “star” players throughout its history.

In the 1980s, it was George Brett. Now, we have Salvy, Alex, Eric, Moose (Mike Moustakas) and the Gang. Way to go Royals and thanks for the hangover.

One quick note — through the blue haze, I heard the news of American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown champion, winning the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic by 6.5 lengths Saturday in Lexington, Ky.

The 3-year-old colt ran 1 1/4 miles in a track-record 2:00.07. Jockey Victor Espinoza rode American Pharoah to a victory in the horse’s final career race.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com