Kaufmann Stadium, Kansas City (MLB#5 - An exciting game, but there's a reason why we live in the desert)

The stadium:

I've always liked Kaufmann Stadium, even though I'd never been inside before today. It’s got fountains and waterfalls behind the outfield, and a big crown at the top of the scoreboard that is easily visible from Interstate-70 nearby. In fact, as I was walking into the stadium today, I realized that this stadium might be one of the reasons I've wanted to do this trek to baseball parks. I’ve driven past it on I-70 many times, and wished I could go to a game here. The stadium was built in 1973, so it’s probably best compared to the stadiums of the 1960s, and of those, St. Louis’ Busch II, with the Arch visible over the arches, is probably the only one that can compare.

It may be on its last legs, though. While the stadium is still beautiful, and seems to be well-maintained, even the fans we talked to today are talking about whether there will be a new stadium. One of the things that is very 1960s about the stadium is that it is out in the suburbs (Independence, Mo., in this case), and most modern stadiums have been built in downtown, where there are more hotels and restaurants nearby. There are a couple of hotels with walking distance of “The K”, but it’s clear that the neighborhood has seen better days.

The heat:

One of the things that this trip has reinforced is that while Arizona summers are hot, Midwest river valley summers are worse. Today was a 1:10 start, and the temperature was 95 degrees at the start, and just shy of 100 at the end of the game. Obviously, it would be really tough to be outside at an afternoon game in Arizona in June, but Chase Field has a roof over it, and when there was AAA baseball in Tucson and Phoenix, they never played afternoon games in June, July and August. And evenings cool off in the desert.

I was grateful that this game was in Kansas City rather than St. Louis. The ushers were suggesting to people who had seats in the sun that they move to unoccupied seats that were shaded by the grandstand (we sat 20 or 30 rows higher than the seats we purchased). It was still hot, but bearable. In St. Louis, that wouldn’t have worked - 90% of the seats are always occupied, so there wouldn’t be enough empty seats. Today’s attendance of just over 12,000 was less than a third of capacity here, and while it was below the Royals’ average, they are 28^th of the 30 teams in attendance.

Cleveland’s manager, Terry Francona, has been having some health issues, so he took his doctors’ advice and stayed in the clubhouse, and out of the heat, for the game. That would have been a good way to watch a great game.

New rules:

Of the 10 games we've gone to since we've been on the road, only one has lasted more than 3 hours. Naturally, it was last night, the only evening where we had a cross-state drive to an afternoon game the next morning. Even so, last night's walk-fest still lasted only 3 hours and 10 minutes, close to last season's average game. And we've seen two extra-inning games, both of which ended in under 3 hours. 

The speed-up is a direct result of the new pitch clock rules, and we heartily approve. Yes, it does sometimes affect the outcome of an at-bat - the only pitch-clock violation today was on a hitter who had two strikes on him, so he struck out. But they're professionals, and should be able to figure it out. And I truly don't miss the extra five or 10 seconds of dead time between pitches.

The game:

Today’s game was great to watch. There was lots of daring baserunning, mostly unsuccessful, but some spectacularly successful, and it culminated with a come-from-behind walk-off hit. If you aren’t fascinated by the minutae, the final was Kansas City 4, Cleveland 3, in 10 innings. But it you love the details:

Zach Greinke, was has been the starting pitcher for more games than any other current major leaguer, started for the Royals, and he wasn’t to be fooling hitters. Greinke’s fastball still occasionally reaches 90 mph, but his curveball is only in the 60s. However, he was effective, in part because of his fielding ability. After six innings, a Guardians fan behind us said, “How can we have 11 hits and only two runs?” The answer had to do with baserunning, and Greinke’s fielding. Here’s how:

Greinke picked Miles Straw off first in the 2^nd inning, in a situation where Straw probably wasn’t trying to steal, but Greinke still has a good pickoff move.

In the 4^th, with one out and Andres Giménez on third base, Straw hit a slow grounder to third baseman Matt Duffy. Giménez broke for home, and it was hit slowly enough that it was a tough play for Duffy, but he made a good throw, and Giménez was tagged out. Giménez made a good play, but the Royals made a better one.

At the end of the 5^th and start of the 6^th inning, the Guardians demonstrated why players are taught to “never make the first or third out at third base.”

With two out in the 5^th and two runs already in, Greinke was clearly on the ropes. Giménez blooped a ball that fell between the shortstop, third baseman and leftfielder for a hit, and Josh Bell, who was on first, rounded second, saw that no one was covering third, and raced (to the extent that a 250-pound designated hitter can race) for third. Greinke is not as agile as when he was regularly winning the Gold Glove as the best-fielding pitcher in the game, but he still pays attention, and he easily beat Bell to third, took the throw, and tagged him out to end the inning. It was not a good move by Bell. With only one out, there are lots of plays that can score a runner from third (a ground ball out, a fly ball to medium depth, as well as a hit), but with two out, it usually takes a hit, which probably would have scored you from second. The risk-reward ratio says you shouldn’t go. In fact, the next hitter did get a hit, which would have scored Bell from second.

That next hitter was Will Brennan, who started the 6^th inning by hitting a line drive between the right and center fielders that rolled to the wall. It was an easy double, but he tried for third base, and was thrown out easily. You aren’t supposed to make the first out of the inning at third base, either, because there are so many ways to score from second base with no outs (a ground ball out and a fly ball, for instance). In fact, the next hitter, Straw, got a hit that would have scored him easily. So while there’s no guarantee that hitters would have had the same success in different situations, you can argue that the Guardians ran themselves out of two runs in two at-bats.

The Guardians still had a 2-0 lead going into the 8^th inning. The Royals got one run back, and then, with two outs, Drew Waters of the Royals stole second base. Waters had been picked off second base earlier, a bad piece of baserunning. But trying to go from first to second with two outs is a good gamble, because if the hitter gets a single, which Nick Pratto did, you can score. The game was tied.

The game went into extra innings. In the 10^th, the Guardians got their automatic runner, Jose Ramírez, from second to third on a ground out, but after a strikeout, Ramírez was still on third base, with Aroldis Chapman of the Royals throwing 101 mph fastballs past the Guardian hitters. While Chapman throws hard, it takes him a while to uncork his 6-foot-4 frame. I saw Ramírez edging down the third base line, then go into a sprint in an attempt to steal home. The umpire called him out, but the replay showed that he was clearly safe, in part because he made a beautiful slide that kept him as far as possible away from the catcher's tag until he reached out a hand and tapped the plate. It was a daring, a joy to watch, and the Guardians were ahead.

In the bottom of the inning, the Royals’ first hitter, Nicky Lopez, reached base when he hit a slow roller to the first baseman, but no one covered first. That put runners on first and third. But the Guardian’s Emmanuel Clase, who also throws 100 mph fastballs, and whose off-speed pitches are often faster than Greinke’s fastball, struck out the next hitter. Then pinch-hitter Felix Fermin kept fouling off pitches until he got one he could handle, and lined a double down the left-field line to score two runs and win the game. It’s the fourth walk-off win (in 10 games) of our trip.