World Champions 1983, 1970, 1966

American League Champions 1983, 1979, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1966 American League East Division Champions 2014, 1997, 1983, 1979, 1974, 1973, 1971, 1970, 1969

American League Wild Card 2012, 1996

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Game Stories:

Wei-Yin Chen was good, but Orioles needed better to beat Royals The Sun 10/15

After 2-1 loss to Royals in Game 3, Orioles one game away from elimination The Sun

10/15

Orioles on the brink with Game 3 loss to Royals MLB.com 10/15

Pearce: "One loss left, so we've got to find some way to get it done" MASNsports.com

10/15

Royals edge Orioles 2-1 to take 3-0 lead in the ALCS MASNsports.com 10/14

Royals edge O's, move 1 win from Series Frederick News-Post 10/15

ROYALS WIN GAME 3, PUSH ORIOLES TO BRINK OF ELIMINATION

PressBoxOnline.com 10/14

Royals one game away from World Series after beating Orioles again in ALCS Game 3

Washington Post 10/14

Royals' pitching, defense top Orioles, has K.C. one win from World Series Sports

Illustrated 10/14

Orioles one game away from elimination after 2-1 loss to Royals CSN Baltimore 10/15

Royals do it again, grab 3-0 lead in ALCS FOX 45 10/15

Royals one win from World Series, lead ALCS 3-0 USA Today 10/14

Royals edge Orioles to grab commanding 3-0 lead in ALCS New York Post 10/15

Columns:

Needing to win four straight, Orioles need to 'just take it one day at a time' The Sun 10/15

Everything keeps coming up Royal blue The Sun 10/15

Jeremy Guthrie apologizes after postgame T-shirt sparks outrage from Orioles fans The

Sun 10/15

Oriole magic goes global The Sun 10/14

Orioles' Miguel Gonzalez to start Game 4 of ALCS against Royals The Sun 10/14

While focus is on the field, Orioles can cash in on postseason bonuses The Sun 10/14

Backs against wall, O's turn to Gonzalez in Game 4 MLB.com 10/15

Winning four games starts with winning one for O's MLB.com 10/15

In tight spot, Orioles focused on getting first win MLB.com 10/15

Chen gives O's a chance MLB.com 10/15

KC's 3-0 ALCS lead doesn't tell the whole story MLB.com 10/15

Royals aim to sweep their way into Fall Classic MLB.com 10/15

Tale of the Tape: Orioles-Royals, Game 4 MLB.com 10/15

Orioles running out of time to silence Royals MLB.com 10/15

Gausman pitching like grizzled veteran in ALCS MLB.com 10/15

Orioles-Royals, Game 3: Did you know? MLB.com 10/15

One more loss and the Orioles are done in 2014 MASNsports.com 10/15

O's say comeback not impossible, but they're one loss from the end of their season

MASNsports.com 10/15

Adam Jones on the Orioles' loss in Game 3, plus other clubhouse quotes

MASNsports.com 10/15

Orioles take first lead of ALCS (O's lose 2-1, trail 3-0 in series) MASNsports.com 10/14

Showalter meets with the media MASNsports.com 10/14

Notes on Gonzalez, Cruz and Joseph MASNsports.com 10/14

Anderson reminds Orioles to keep their perspective going into Game 3 MASNsports.com

10/14

O's game blog: Orioles look for first win of ALCS tonight at Kansas City

MASNsports.com 10/14

Yost on windy conitions, Vargas on Game 4 start MASNsports.com 10/14

In Buck they trust: O's skipper calm and relaxed despite 0-2 hole in ALCS

MASNsports.com 10/14

HOW DO ORIOLES MATCH UP AGAINST ROYALS GAME 4 STARTER JASON

VARGAS? PressBoxOnline.com 10/15

A ROYALS SWEEP AGAINST THE ORIOLES IN THE ALCS FEELS INEVITABLE

PressBoxOnline.com 10/15

Monumental task in front of Orioles ESPN.com 10/15

Rob Long: Now Wait A Minute Orioles Fans CBS Baltimore 10/15

Royals' Jeremy Guthrie stirs up anger with O's-bashing shirt WBALTV 10/15

Davis' suspension could last into 2015 season CSN Baltimore 10/15

Royals could make baseball history by beating O's CSN Baltimore 10/15

Frustrated Orioles impressed with 'scrappy' Royals CSN Baltimore 10/15

Showalter concerned Orioles might want series too much CSN Baltimore 10/14

Gonzalez preparing for Royals' aggressive baserunning CSN Baltimore 10/14

Showalter tabs Gonzalez to start Game 4 CSN Baltimore 10/14

Royals try to punch World Series ticket and sweep O's FOX 45 10/15

Orioles, Adam Jones in dire straits: 'We gotta win' USA Today 10/15

Orioles at Royals ALCS Game 4 preview: Gonzalez vs. Vargas CBSsports.com 10/15

Orioles plan to extend qualifying offer to Cruz, decline Markakis option CBSsports.com

10/15

Dyson says Oriole dropped knee on him following his bold remark CBSsports.com 10/15

Orioles face huge odds in overcoming 3-0 deficit in ALCS Kansas City Star 10/14

Sign it’s over for Orioles: Calls for Jason Giambi’s ‘golden thong’ New York Post 10/15

ALCS: Orioles down to 'one more opportunity' after Game 3 loss Sporting News 10/15

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-sidebar-1015-20141014-story.html

Wei-Yin Chen was good, but Orioles needed better to beat

Royals

By Dan Connolly / The Baltimore Sun

October 15, 2014

Wei-Yin Chen's plan heading into Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on

Tuesday was to keep the ball down and pitch as long he could.

The Orioles starting pitcher accomplished the first goal, but, in a tense battle with the can't-go-

wrong Kansas City Royals, Chen didn't get through the sixth in a 2-1 loss — his first postseason

defeat in the major leagues.

If it were a regular season game, Chen, who threw just 80 pitches, would have been given a

longer leash. But after allowing two singles in a tied game in the sixth, Orioles manager Buck

Showalter pulled the Taiwanese lefty to bring in fireballing rookie Kevin Gausman. One

sacrifice fly later and the Orioles, essentially, were staring at a 3-0 deficit in the best-of-seven

ALCS.

“I'm not upset about my performance because this is the playoffs and Buck has his plans,” Chen

said through an interpreter. “So I just try to do my job and, unfortunately, we lost again. That's

what matters.”

Chen bounced back from his first start of this postseason, a no-decision against the Detroit Tigers

in Game 2 of the American League Division Series in which he allowed five earned runs in 3 2/3

innings.

Chen allowed seven hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings Tuesday; both runs charged to him scored

on outs. He retired nine of the first 11 batters he faced, but ran into trouble in the fourth when he

loaded the bases with one out on a walk and two bloop singles. Alex Gordon's ground out scored

the Royals' first run, making it 1-1 and wiping out the Orioles' lone lead of this series.

"They are on that wave right now. When you're on that wave, when you feel unbeatable, it's a

great feeling to have as a ball club, I'll tell you that."

“They pitched us a little bit better, not much,” Showalter said. “Wei-Yin, tough luck. Made a

couple really good pitches … and didn't get much to show for it.”

Entering the sixth, Chen had thrown an economical 71 pitches. He was in a good position to go

fairly deep, but he ran into an old nemesis, Royals outfielder Nori Aoki, who was 2-for-9 versus

Chen in the majors. But the two have a long history against each other dating back to Japan,

where Aoki hit nearly .400 against Chen. He lined a single to center to lead off the sixth.

“In that at-bat, the pitch to Aoki, he got a hit, it was kind of a mistake. And after that I didn't

think about it too much,” Chen said. “It was just one guy that got on base. I was just trying to get

the next guy out.”

Royals manager Ned Yost then brought in the speedy Jarrod Dyson to pinch run for Aoki. Chen

did a nice job keeping Dyson at first while striking out Lorenzo Cain. But Eric Hosmer followed

with a sharp single past a diving Steve Pearce, who had been trying to keep Dyson close to first

base.

“He hit it hard. Lefty on a fastball and as I'm holding the bag,” Pearce said. “It's tough to get off

and read the ball.”

Dyson dashed to third and Chen walked slowly off the mound. Orioles-killer Billy Butler hit a

sacrifice fly against Gausman to score Dyson, the eventual game-winner.

Chen, who became the first Taiwanese pitcher to start an ALCS game, will almost assuredly get

another chance to play for the Orioles next year. The club has a reasonable, $4.75 million

contract option that will almost certainly be picked up. But the 16-game winner has likely thrown

his last pitch of 2014, thanks to a red-hot Royals team.

“They've just been finding ways to get it done,” Pearce said. “They are on that wave right now.

When you're on that wave, when you feel unbeatable, it's a great feeling to have as a ball club,

I'll tell you that.”

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bal-american-league-championship-series-game-3-

orioles-royals-2014-20141014-story.html#page=1

After 2-1 loss to Royals in Game 3, Orioles one game away

from elimination

By Eduardo A. Encina / The Baltimore Sun

October 15, 2014

At this point, the Orioles don’t need magic. They need a miracle.

For a franchise that has waited so long to be in this spotlight -- 17 long years since its last trip to

the American League Championship Series -- nearing the possibility of an unfortunate end

stings. There’s now no room for error. The Orioles’ dream of playing in their first World Series

in more than three decades is on the brink of coming to an ugly end.

After their 2-1 loss to the Royals in Game 3 of the ALCS in front of an announced 40,183 at

Kauffman Stadium, the Orioles face a now seemingly insurmountable 3-0 hole in the series.

Since the best-of-seven league championship series format began in 1985, 10 teams have fallen

behind 3-0, and just one -- the 2004 Boston Red Sox -- has came back to win. For the Orioles,

the old “one game at a time” cliché has never been more relevant.

We've got to win. We're down 3-0. There's no ifs, ands or buts. It's do at this point.

“If we can get one [win] under our belt and get a few things to work our way … we feel like we

can get it spinning the other way,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “Otherwise, we

shouldn't show up tomorrow. I know what our guys in our locker room feel like. They know

they’re up against some good competition. But [there’s] always one more opportunity away,

which is tomorrow.”

It has been a fine line between winning and losing in the first three games of this series. All three

games have been decided by two runs or less. The Orioles were 49-37 in those situations during

the regular season.

An Orioles team that led the major leagues in homers has just one in three games. And on

Tuesday, the Orioles hitters went quietly into the chilly Kansas City night. After Nick Markakis’

third-inning single, Royals pitchers retired 21 of 22 batters, including 16 straight to end the

game.

Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas has four postseason homers, but he turned the momentum

of Tuesday’s game with his glove, robbing Steve Pearce of a hit with a diving play into the hole

to open the fifth inning. Moustakas also reached into a field box and fell into the stands to snag a

pop-up from Adam Jones to open the sixth.

“To be honest with you, I didn’t even see him catch it,” Jones said. “I just seen him fall over and

then I’m like, ‘He caught that.’ When things are going good, things are going good. We played

three really good games, just really fell short in each of the games. Now we kind of have a good

idea of the uphill battle is now. We’ve just got to win.

“We’ve got to win. We’re down 3-0. There’s no ifs, ands or buts. It’s do at this point."

Orioles' J.J. Hardy on losing Game 3 of the ALCS

Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy talks about losing Game 3 of the American League Championship

Series to the Kansas City Royals. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

The Royals bullpen didn’t allow a hit in four innings Tuesday. Kansas City closer Greg Holland

needed just six pitches to retire the Orioles in the ninth -- making easy work of Jones, Nelson

Cruz and Pearce -- sending the crowd into a frenzy.

While the Royals fans celebrated the win loudly through the concourse, the Orioles clubhouse

was silent. Steps away, Royals starter and former Orioles pitcher Jeremy Guthrie wore a T-shirt

that said, “These O’s ain’t Royal,” in his postgame news conference.

The Royals have backed up the talk, becoming just the third team in major league history to win

its first seven postseason games.

On Tuesday, they didn’t get a hit to score a run. The Royals drove in the winning run on a

sacrifice fly by Billy Butler in the sixth inning, scoring pinch runner Jarrod Dyson from third

base.

After right fielder Nori Aoki opened the sixth with a single, Dyson pinch ran for him and went

from first to third on a one-out single by Eric Hosmer. Hosmer’s hit went just past a diving

Pearce, who was holding Dyson on to keep him close to the back.

The problems are multiple. When the Orioles hit well, the Royals hit better. When the Orioles

pitch well, the Royals hit better. Every bloop, bounce, and break has gone to the Royals. I

understand why the O's players are pressing -- when it feels like everything is going against you,

you...

All Butler needed was to hit a routine fly ball, and that’s what he delivered off reliever Kevin

Gausman, flying out to left fielder Alejandro De Aza. Dyson scored easily from third on the

play.

Left-hander Wei-Yin Chen lasted just 5 1/3 innings -- the third time in as many games this series

that an Orioles starter failed to get through six full innings. He gave up two runs and seven hits.

Leading 1-0, Chen loaded the bases in the fourth, allowing back-to-back bloop singles to

Lorenzo Cain and Hosmer, then walking Butler. Alex Gordon then tied the game with an RBI

groundout to second.

The Orioles needed 20 innings to take their first lead of the series when Pearce and J.J. Hardy hit

back-to-back doubles off Guthrie in the second inning to claim a 1-0 lead.

Even though the Orioles seemed on the verge of breaking through against Guthrie -- including a

32-pitch fourth inning -- they couldn’t muster any more offense against him.

“It was a good start,” Hardy said. “Any time you score first is a good start. He didn’t give us

many pitches to hit. He threw the ball well. Their bullpen threw the ball well.”

Early on, the Orioles took advantage of the ballpark's spacious gaps. Pearce recorded his first hit

of the series with a one-out double into the left-center-field gaps, and Hardy followed with an

RBI double into the right-center-field alley.

Guthrie then walked third baseman Ryan Flaherty on four pitches, but he escaped the inning

without further damage, inducing flyouts from No. 8 and 9 hitters Nick Hundley and Jonathan

Schoop.

Nick Markakis opened the third with a single, but the Orioles couldn’t take advantage of getting

the leadoff runner on base.

Guthrie lasted just five innings, but he didn’t allow a hit after Markakis’ single. Flaherty’s two-

out walk in the fourth was the Orioles’ only base runner after that.

Guthrie said Moustakas’ two defensive plays, which both led off innings, were key in giving

Kansas City momentum.

“To start an inning off like that, people don’t understand how important that is for a pitcher to

get that first out ... plays like that. That turns around the entire inning, that’s a ‘player of the

game’-type performance, when someone is able to do that.”

Despite the short start, Guthrie passed the game off to Kansas City’s bullpen, which didn’t allow

a base runner. Royals relievers Jason Frasor, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland shut

the door on the Orioles, each pitching a scoreless inning.

The Orioles left Kauffman Stadium knowing their season could be over within the next 24 hours.

After winning an AL East title and 96 games in the regular season, the only game that is

promised them now is Wednesday’s Game 4.

“We put ourselves in the best possible situation for the city of Baltimore and Kansas City is

doing the same thing for their city,” Jones said. “They’re grinding it out. They got into the

playoffs. You never know what can happen when you’re playing with house money.

"Both franchises, we weren’t supposed to be here but we’re here and we’re grinding it out.”

http://m.orioles.mlb.com/news/article/98506378/baltimore-orioles-on-the-brink-with-game-3-

loss-to-royals

Orioles on the brink with Game 3 loss to Royals

Baltimore hasn't been able to slow down KC, which leads ALCS 3-0

By Brittany Ghiroli / MLB.com

October 15, 1:00 AM ET

KANSAS CITY -- The Orioles finally took their first lead of the American League

Championship Series on Tuesday night and looked poised to take some of the momentum back

from the Royals, who held a commanding series lead after two games. But Baltimore never got

that far, wasting several early chances and again falling victim to dazzling defense and a Kansas

City club that never stops putting the ball in play in a 2-1 Game 3 loss that puts the O's on the

brink of elimination.

The O's, who swept the Tigers in the AL Division Series, continue to be baffled by a speedy

Royals team and will have to do the near-impossible in winning four consecutive games to

advance to the World Series. It can be done, but once again the Orioles find themselves backed

into a corner by a red-hot Royals club seemingly incapable of doing anything wrong.

"It's hard to take advantage of mistakes when they aren't making any," first baseman Steve

Pearce said of a Royals team that has gone 7-0 so far this postseason. "[Royals third baseman

Mike Moustakas] did a great job, made some great plays. The one [catch] he had over the railing

was amazing. And plays like that, killing rallies. It's something where we can't get anything

started. On top of their pitching. They have really good pitching. So it's been a frustrating series

so far."

Kansas City, which has trailed in just two innings of the first 28 in the ALCS, used a standout

bullpen to ensure Billy Butler's sixth-inning sacrifice fly held up as the final tally. The Orioles,

who mustered three hits, had just one baserunner after Nick Markakis' third-inning single as the

offense -- which scored on a pair of second-inning doubles by Pearce and J.J. Hardy -- had no

answer for the three-headed monster of relievers Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland.

The Orioles have come close -- so close -- in each contest, with two or fewer runs deciding each

of the series' first three games. And now they'll be tasked with trying to become just the second

team in baseball history to turn the tables after being down 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason

series.

"You never imagine coming out and getting down 0-3, but we had our backs against the wall all

year kind of with a lot of injuries," said Ryan Flaherty, who is playing third base in place of

injured Manny Machado. "This is no time to quit now."

Hardy's RBI double

J.J. Hardy gives the Orioles an early 1-0 lead with a double to center that scores Steve Pearce

HOW IT HAPPENED

In true Royals fashion, Kansas City got some well-placed hits -- including a pair of broken-bat

singles -- before tying the game at 1 on a fourth-inning groundout. Orioles lefty Wei-Yin Chen,

who was cruising along, allowed a leadoff single to Nori Aoki in the sixth inning and, after

striking out Lorenzo Cain, exited when Eric Hosmer's hit put runners on the corners.

"You get a three-hopper in the four-hole, you can't really do anything about that," catcher Nick

Hundley said of Hosmer's single into right field. "Two feet one way, two feet the other way it's a

double play."

Right-hander Kevin Gausman, who replaced Chen, surrendered a sacrifice fly to Butler for the

decisive tally, which plated pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson.

Butler's go-ahead sac fly

Butler's go-ahead sac fly 00:00:2410/14/14: Billy Butler puts the Royals on top with a sacrifice

fly to left in the 6th inning

THE MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Wasted chances off Guthrie

Pearce and Hardy's doubles put the O's up early, but they weren't able to do any further damage

off Guthrie, stranding a pair of runners later in the inning and Markakis after a leadoff single the

following frame. The Orioles worked their former teammate to multiple double-digit pitch at-

bats, but didn't have a baserunner after Flaherty's two-out walk in the fourth.

"We can't get it done with three hits," O's designated hitter Nelson Cruz said. "The offense has to

do a better job, has to find a way to score runs, get hits and we haven't been able to do it."

The Orioles saw just 44 pitches over the final four innings as the Royals' bullpen retired all 12

batters it faced.

Guthrie holds Orioles to one

Jeremy Guthrie pitches five innings, allowing one run on seven hits and one walk while striking

out five in Game 3 of the ALCS

Royals' ridiculous defense:

Kansas City's defensive wizardry was on full display again in Game 3. Moustakas, who robbed

Pearce of a hit with a diving grab in the fourth inning, retired Adam Jones on one of the best foul

popup catches you'll ever see. Moustakas made a perfectly timed leap into the left-field field

boxes to record the first out of the sixth inning.

"They made a lot of good defensive plays. Probably the difference in the series so far," Orioles

manager Buck Showalter said. "We've played good defensively, too. But they turned a lot of hits

into outs and foul balls that would have been an at-bat."

Moose's incredible catch

Moose's incredible catch 00:00:5710/14/14: Mike Moustakas makes an athletic play on an Adam

Jones popup, going over the railing to make the fantastic catch

Chen gives the O's a chance:

The lefty gave the Orioles a chance, keeping them in the game over 5 1/3 innings to mark

Baltimore's longest start of the series. Chen allowed seven hits and was charged with two runs,

including Butler's sac fly after he departed, in the 80-pitch outing.

Chen's Game 3 start

Chen's Game 3 start 00:01:2910/14/14: Wei-Yin Chen strikes out four over 5 1/3 innings of two-

run ball against the Royals in Game 3 of the ALCS

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS

This is the 10th time in 58 LCS since the inception of the best-of-seven series that a team holds a

3-0 lead, including the sixth in the AL. The only team that forced a Game 7, and advanced, was

the 2004 Boston Red Sox.

The Royals have won 10 straight postseason games, which is the longest active streak in the

Majors. It's also tied for third on baseball's all-time list.

Following Flaherty's fourth-inning walk, the Royals retired 16 consecutive Orioles -- with a

reliever (Jason Frasor) taking the win for the sixth time in Kansas City's seven playoff wins this

year.

NEXT GAME

Game 4 of the ALCS will take place in Kansas City today at 4 p.m. ET (watch on TBS) with

Miguel Gonzalez making his first playoff start this year and taking the mound for the first time

since Sept. 28. He will be opposed by the Royals' Jason Vargas in the potential clinching game.

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2014/10/pearce-one-loss-left-so-weve-got-to-find-

some-way-to-get-it-done.html

Pearce: "One loss left, so we've got to find some way to get it

done"

By Roch Kubatko / MASNsports.com

October 15, 2014 12:10 AM

KANSAS CITY - So it's come to this: The Orioles will attempt to become only the second team

to rebound from a 3-0 deficit in games to win the League Championship Series.

Tall order? It's nosebleed territory.

The Orioles have lost three games by a combined five runs, including tonight's 2-1 setback to the

Royals before 40,183 at Kauffman Stadium.

They pitched well enough to win. The Royals pitched a little bit better, retiring the last 16 batters

and 21 of 22.

"It's tough," said first baseman Steve Pearce, who doubled in the second inning and scored on J.J.

Hardy's double. "We lost another close game. We've got to find some way to start pulling these

games out. One loss left, so we've got to find some way to get it done.

"They've been pitchers' duels, really good pitching. I think they're offensively just getting it

done, finding some way to get that run across and all three days it's always been what's going on.

They've been getting that big hit, that big timely hit that we haven't been able to get."

Pearce smoked three balls and was rewarded with one hit. Third baseman Mike Moustakas

robbed him with a sensational diving catch in the fourth.

"Hits are hard to come by this series," Pearce said. "We've got to find some way to get on base,

maybe start working the count or something."

Now comes the biggest challenge of the season.

"One game at a time. That's it. Just one game at a time," Pearce said. "We've got to look to just

win tomorrow."

To do it, they've got to fight off a Royals team that won't take no for an answer.

"They're a good team, they're a scrappy team," Pearce said. "They don't strike out, they managed

to put the ball in play and get hits. That's just the way the series has gone so far.

"It's hard to take advantage of mistakes when they're not making any."

The Royals scored the go-ahead run in the sixth on singles by Nori Aoki and Eric Hosmer off

left-hander Wei-Yin Chen and Billy Butler's sacrifice fly off Kevin Gausman. Hosmer ripped a

single past Pearce, who was holding pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson off the bag.

"He hit the ball hard," Pearce said. "I've got to hold on as long as possible because I don't know

if (Chen's) going to the plate or coming over to first base. A lefty on a fastball as I'm holding the

bag, it's tough to get off and read the ball.

"It was huge. And Butler got it done. They've just been finding ways to get it done. They're on

that wave right now and when you're on that wave and you feel unbeatable, it's a great feeling to

have for a ballclub. I can tell you that."

It's making the Orioles feel pretty lousy.

"It was tough," said outfielder Nelson Cruz. "We can't get it done with three hits. We have to do

a better job finding a way to score runs, getting hits. We haven't been able to do it.

"We've had to win four games since the series started, so hopefully we start tomorrow."

Wei-Yin-Chen-ALCS-gray.jpgCruz added that the Orioles "should do a better job."

"We did a really good job the first two games," he said. "The only difference is we didn't get

ahead late in the games. But right now, like I said, we should do a better job. The pitching was

great today. The offense wasn't there."

The offense disappeared tonight and had no chance to reappear with the procession of Kelvin

Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland throwing gas.

"It's tough. They're good pitchers," Cruz said. "Like I said, we've have to win four games since

the series started, so we should start tomorrow."

They have no choice but to start Wednesday or they're going home.

This is the 10th time in 58 LCS since the advent of the best-of-seven format in 1985 that a team

has held a 3-0 advantage, including the sixth time in the ALCS. Only the 2004 Red Sox rallied to

win it. The other teams in the ALCS were swept.

"They're earning everything," said Orioles manager Buck Showalter. "Strong people. Thing you

notice up here, strong guys, the strength and they muscle balls over the infield. Squaring up these

pitchers, especially the guys they are pitching this time of year, is hard to do. Our guys, I always

feel like they're one away from getting the thing going the other way.

"Always feel like the momentum can change. If we can get one under your belt and get a few

things to work our way and make some things, we feel like we can get it spinning the other way.

Otherwise, we shouldn't show up tomorrow.

"I know what our guys in our locker room feel like. They know they're up against some good

competition. But always one more opportunity away, which is tomorrow. And we'll sleep fast

and our guys will be ready."

Jeremy Guthrie wore a T-shirt in his postgame interview that read "These O's Ain't Royal." The

hits just keep on coming. Just not the kind that the Orioles needed tonight.

"It's been such close games and they pitched us a little bit better. But not much," Showalter said.

"Wei-Yin, tough luck. Made a couple of really good pitches on (Lorenzo) Cain and Hosmer and

didn't get much to show for it. Nicky (Markakis) had a flare to left field. We just couldn't take

advantage. Just not a lot offensively."

Showalter said he's sticking with Miguel Gonzalez in Game 4, though he admitted to the

temptation to start Chris Tillman.

"Gonzalez has pitched some big games for us and especially on the road and in tough spots,"

Showalter said. "They'll get challenged again tomorrow."

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2014/10/kansas-city-edges-the-orioles-2-1-to-take-

a-3-0-lead-in-the-alcs.html

Royals edge Orioles 2-1 to take 3-0 lead in the ALCS

By Steve Melewski / MASNsports.com

October 14, 2014 10:03 PM

KANSAS CITY - After scoring 31 runs in five playoff games and 10 in the first two games of

the American League Championship Series, the Orioles were held in check by Kansas City

pitching tonight and and now the Royals are closing in on a World Series berth.

Billy Butler's sac fly in the sixth put Kansas City ahead and the Royals' late-inning relievers

made a lead hold up again to beat the Orioles 2-1 in front of 40,183 screaming fans at Kauffman

Stadium.

The Orioles were held to just three hits for the game, none after the third inning. K.C. pitchers

combined to retire the last 16 O's hitters and 21 of the last 22. They were that dominant tonight.

The Royals take a commanding three games to none lead in the best-of-seven series and the

Orioles face elimination here tomorrow afternoon. They'll now need four straight wins to return

to the World Series for the first time since 1983.

In a 1-1 tie, Kansas City pushed across the go-ahead run in the sixth. Nori Aoki led off with a

single off starter Wei-Yin Chen and Jarrod Dyson came in to pinch-run. Dyson moved to third

on Eric Hosmer's one-out single and manager Buck Showalter called for Kevin Gausman out of

the bullpen.

Butler hit a 98 mph Gausman fastball to left for a sac fly and 2-1 lead. It was his fifth RBI of the

postseason. Gausman retired all eight hitters he faced tonight on 33 pitches.

With a one-run lead, the Royals had the game set up to bring in late-inning relievers Kelvin

Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland. That trio held O's hitters to a .172 average in the first

two games, allowing one run over eight innings.

Tonight, Herrera pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, Davis a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts, and Holland

ended it with a 1-2-3 ninth.

The Orioles got their first lead of this series in the top of the second. Steve Pearce, who was 0-

for-9 the first two games, doubled to left-center with one out and scored on J.J. Hardy's RBI

double for the 1-0 lead. It was Hardy's third RBI of the postseason.

Kansas City tied it 1-1 in the fourth, but could have had more. Two singles and a walk loaded the

bases, but Chen got Alex Gordon to ground out as a run scored. He then got Salvador Perez on a

popup with runners at second and third.

Former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie pitched well in his first career postseason start. Over five innings,

he allowed three hits and one run on 94 pitches. Not a bad outing since he had not pitched since

Sept. 26. Jason Frasor pitched a scoreless sixth for Kansas City.

Chen took the loss. Over 5 1/3 innings, he gave up seven hits and two runs with one walk and

four strikeouts on 80 pitches. The Orioles have just one quality start in six postseason games.

Kansas City improves to 7-0 this postseason and has now won 10 consecutive postseason games

to tie for the third-longest streak in baseball history.

In Game 4 on Wednesday afternoon at 4:07 p.m., Miguel Gonzalez (10-9, 3.23 ERA) pitches

against left-hander Jason Vargas (11-10, 3.71 ERA).

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/public/associated_press/royals-edge-o-s-move-win-from-

series/article_72fc6e74-8ce5-5da2-bf97-ffa7c20b529a.html

Royals edge O's, move 1 win from Series

By Associated Press / The Frederick News-Post

October 15, 2014 2:00 am

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals have embraced the bloop, bunt and sacrifice

fly all postseason.

Add in more sparkling defense and that dominant bullpen, and the wild-card Royals are suddenly

one win from the World Series.

Billy Butler drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, and the Royals’

steel-curtain bullpen shut down the Baltimore Orioles the rest of the way for a 2-1 win Tuesday

night and a commanding 3-0 lead in the AL Championship Series.

Third baseman Mike Moustakas made two marvelous plays as the picture-perfect Royals won

their 10th straight postseason game, including all seven this year. Making its first playoff

appearance in 29 years, the only thing that’s slowed Kansas City so far was a rainout Monday.

Kansas City will send Jason Vargas to the mound for Game 4 today, trying to advance to its first

World Series since 1985. Miguel Gonzalez will try to help the Orioles stave off elimination.

The Royals’ Jeremy Guthrie and Orioles’ Wei-Yin Chen hooked up in a tense pitching duel for

five innings.

Chen gave up a leadoff single to Nori Aoki in the sixth. Eric Hosmer followed with a one-out

single to put runners on the corners, and Orioles manager Buck Showalter brought in hard-

throwing reliever Kevin Gausman to face Butler.

The Royals’ designated hitter sent a fly ball to left field for the tiebreaking run — just the latest

example of Kansas City doing the little things right.

One of the best bullpens in baseball took care of the rest — the relievers combined with Guthrie

to retire Baltimore’s final 16 batters.

After winning pitcher Jason Frasor breezed through the sixth, Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis

nailed down the next two innings. All-Star closer Greg Holland worked a perfect ninth for his

third save of the series, setting off a wild celebration in the stands.

It was the 13th game to be decided by one run this postseason, matching the record set in 2011

and tied last year. Six games have gone to extra innings, including the Giants’ 5-4, 10-inning

victory over the Cardinals hours earlier in the NLCS.

After failing to take the lead in the first two games of the series, Baltimore managed to strike

first, temporarily silencing a frigid, flag-waving capacity crowd.

It happened in the second inning, when Steve Pearce and J.J. Hardy connected off Guthrie with

back-to-back doubles for a 1-0 lead. Ryan Flaherty later drew a walk, but Guthrie retired Nick

Hundley and Jonathan Schoop to escape his biggest jam of the night.

Guthrie wound up grinding through five innings against his former team, allowing just one more

hit in his first start since Sept. 26 — a span of nearly three weeks.

Chen matched him pitch-for-pitch until the fourth, when the Royals put together one of their

quintessential innings: a pair of bloop singles by Lorenzo Cain and Hosmer, a walk by Butler,

and an RBI groundout by Alex Gordon that tied the game.

The Royals played catch up with their gloves, too.

Moustakas made a diving grab to rob Pearce of a single in the fourth.

Then in the sixth, Moustakas tracked a popup by Adam Jones into foul territory, steadied himself

at a railing near the dugout, then extended himself to catch the ball and tumbled into the stands.

The blue-clad crowd rose to its feet to give Moustakas a rousing cheer, and many fans were still

standing when Butler drove in the go-ahead run in the bottom half of the inning.

By the time the Royals’ “Big Three” of Herrera, Davis and Holland had closed it out, the small-

market and perennially downtrodden Royals were on the verge of another postseason sweep.

STATS AND STREAKS

Orioles DH Nelson Cruz had his streak of six straight multihit playoff games end. He was 0 for

4. ... Pearce had been 0 for 9 in the series before his double in the second inning.

UP NEXT

Orioles: Gonzalez has not started since his final regular-season outing on Sept. 28. “I’m going to

try as best as possible to give our team a chance,” he said.

Royals: Vargas has also had a long stretch without a start, last taking the hill against the Angels

in Game 1 of AL Division Series on Oct. 2. “I’ll be ready to go,” he said.

http://www.pressboxonline.com/2014/10/14/royals-win-game-3-push-orioles-to-brink-of-

elimination

ROYALS WIN GAME 3, PUSH ORIOLES TO BRINK OF

ELIMINATION

By Paul Folkemer / PressBoxOnline.com

October 14, 2014

The Baltimore Orioles' fortunes in the American League Championship Series didn't improve

with a change of setting.

As the ALCS shifted to Kansas City, the Birds lost to the Royals, 2-1, Oct. 14 to fall into a 0-3

hole in the series. The game followed much the same formula as the first two, as the Royals

scratched out a timely run and rode their bullpen and defense to another close victory. The

Orioles' offense couldn't solve spacious Kauffman Stadium or the Royals' quintet of pitchers,

with the Birds managing three hits -- none after the third inning -- while their final 16 batters of

the game were retired in order. The offensive blackout left the Birds one loss away from

elimination.

Former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie -- who played five years for the O's, but never for a winning team

-- had a chance to all but seal the Birds' fate as he made his first career postseason start. Guthrie

hadn't pitched since Sept. 26, but the 17-day layoff didn't seem to affect him as he mowed

through the Orioles in the first, throwing nine of his 10 pitches for strikes.

In the second, though, the Orioles took their first lead of the ALCS. With one out, Steve Pearce

drove a double to the gap in left-center for his first hit of the series, and J.J. Hardy followed with

a double of his own, plating Pearce. Ryan Flaherty followed with a four-pitch walk, and the O's

seemed primed to pad their lead. But the rally fizzled. Center fielder Lorenzo Cain tracked down

Nick Hundley's deep fly ball, and Jonathan Schoop popped out to first.

That second-inning run was Guthrie's only blemish. For the rest of his night, Guthrie didn't allow

a runner to reach second base, working past a Nick Markakis leadoff single in the third and

another Flaherty walk in the fourth. He got some defensive help from third baseman Mike

Moustakas, who made a diving catch on a Pearce liner to start the fourth. Guthrie, though, was

finished after five innings with a pitch count of 94, thanks in part to a 14-pitch at-bat by Hardy in

the fourth.

Jason Frasor relieved Guthrie in the sixth, but Moustakas was again the star of the inning. On an

Adam Jones pop-up, Moustakas raced into foul territory, jumped onto a railing separating the

field from the stands, and -- while sprawling horizontally over the railing -- made a sensational

catch and fell head-first into the stands. The sellout crowd of 40,183 at Kauffman Stadium

erupted in cheers and "Moose" calls, enjoying a Royals defense that has stymied the Orioles all

series.

Meanwhile, Wei-Yin Chen got the start for the Birds, hoping to rebound from an abbreviated

3.2-inning, five-run outing against the Detroit Tigers during the Division Series. His start Oct. 14

followed a similar pattern -- he began the game with three scoreless innings before running into

trouble in the fourth.

The Royals didn't exactly sting the ball, but -- as was common during Games 1 and 2 -- their

softly hit bloopers managed to find open grass. Cain and Eric Hosmer both reached on bloop

singles with one out in the fourth, and Billy Butler drew a walk to load the bases. Alex Gordon

followed with a grounder to the hole on the right side; Jonathan Schoop fielded the ball but had

only one play, throwing out Gordon at first as Cain crossed the plate with the tying run.

Chen stranded two runners in scoring position by retiring Salvador Perez on a popout, but the

momentum was back on the Royals' side. Two innings later, the top of the Royals' lineup struck

for another rally. Nori Aoki led off with a single, and pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson replaced him.

Chen fanned Cain on a high fastball, but Hosmer delivered the pivotal hit of the inning, a sharp

single to right that moved Dyson to third.

With the right-handed Butler up next, manager Buck Showalter replaced Chen with righty Kevin

Gausman, hoping for a double play to end the inning or a strikeout to keep the tying run frozen at

third. Butler, though, came through with a productive out, lofting a sacrifice fly to deep left that

easily scored Dyson. With that, the Royals took a 2-1 lead.

As the daunting Kansas City relief trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland

loomed, the one-run lead was all the Royals would need -- especially against a struggling O's

offense. The Orioles didn't know it at the time, but Markakis' leadoff single in the third inning

marked their final hit of the night, and Flaherty's fourth-inning walk was their final base runner.

Herrera, Davis and Holland were their usual dominant selves. Herrera reached 99 mph on the

radar gun as he breezed through a perfect seventh inning, striking out two. Davis retired all three

batters he faced in the eighth, adding a strikeout of his own. And Holland required six pitches to

set down the heart of the Orioles' order in the ninth, retiring Jones on a first-pitch pop-up, Nelson

Cruz on a fly to right and Pearce on a grounder to second.

The Orioles now will need to pull off a nearly unprecedented feat to keep their season alive.

Only once in the history of baseball has a team come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-

seven series (the Boston Red Sox did it to the New York Yankees during the 2004 ALCS). The

Royals are on the brink of advancing to the World Series, while the Birds' 2014 season is on the

verge of reaching its end.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/playoffs/royals-one-game-away-from-world-

series-after-beating-orioles-again-in-alcs-game-3/2014/10/14/0d6883be-53eb-11e4-ba4b-

f6333e2c0453_story.html

Royals one game away from World Series after beating

Orioles again in ALCS Game 3

By Rick Maese / The Washington Post

October 14 at 11:32 PM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals crossed a threshold Tuesday night in front of

40,183 witnesses, all standing, twirling towels and screaming themselves hoarse. This team isn’t

“plucky,” and it’s not “cute.” Let’s not call this group “surprising” or “fun” either. None of that

does justice to the incredible run the Royals have put together.

“They’re built to win,” Baltimore Orioles Manager Buck Showalter, one of the more reluctant

witnesses, said. “Period.”

With their 2-1 win in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, the Royals have

sent a message that echoed well beyond raucous Kauffman Stadium. One team here has its head

in the clouds, the other has its backs against the wall and the entire baseball world is lying if it

still feigns shock at what’s happening in Kansas City. At Lorenzo Cain’s glove, at Jarrod

Dyson’s feet, at Mike Moustakas’s bat.

By now, Showalter’s Orioles have seen enough, there’s a good chance they’ll never forget. The

Royals have played seven memorable postseason games this year, and they’ve won every one.

“No one can stop us right now,” Dyson said. “That’s how I feel.”

Easy to overlook not long ago, the Royals take the field Wednesday with a chance to punch their

ticket to the World Series for the first time since 1985, to sweep a talented, smart — and

suddenly stunned — Orioles team.

Count Dyson as perhaps the least surprised. Following his team’s Game 2 win on Saturday, the

Royals’ speedy outfielder made headlines and earned a spot on the Baltimore bulletin board by

saying he didn’t think this ALCS would return to Charm City. Kansas City Manager Ned Yost

gave him a chance Tuesday to back up his talk.

Game 3 was knotted at 1 when Yost inserted Dyson as a pinch runner at first base with one out in

the sixth. Dyson advanced to third on Eric Hosmer’s single to right and as Baltimore went to the

bullpen, pulling starter Wei-Yin Chen, Dyson stood 90 feet away from backing up his words or

eating them.

That’s when Kansas City’s Billy Butler drilled Kevin Gausman’s 98-mph fastball to left, plenty

far enough for Dyson to tag up and give the Royals the lead.

By now, seven wins into the postseason, grinding out victories has become status quo for the

Royals. If there were ever any postseason nerves, they certainly didn’t stick around long enough

for the autumn weather to change. The Royals entered their wild-card game two weeks ago with

only five players who’d ever seen action in the playoffs.

“You could tell somewhere in the course of that game, something clicked for them,” Yost said,

“and they were playoff veterans.”

On Tuesday, Baltimore finally managed to grab its first lead of the series, thanks to back-to-back

doubles in the second inning by Steve Pearce and J.J. Hardy. The Royals weren’t daunted.

The Post Sports Live crew looks toward next for the Nationals and assesses if the team needs to

make any major offseason changes. (Post Sports Live/The Washington Post)

“This team just doesn’t panic,” Moustakas said.

The Royals’ long-suffering fan base spent much of the night on its feet. On the field, there was

plenty worth cheering. The Royals tied the game in the fourth inning when Cain scored from

third on Alex Gordon’s groundout. As it has all series, the Kansas City defense bailed out

pitchers and kept its offense in the game. “Probably the difference in the series so far,” Showalter

said.

Unlike previous outings, much of the defensive magic in Game 3 happened in the infield. Two

innings after Moustakas somehow snared Pearce’s lead-off liner in the fourth, the Royals third

baseman dove over a railing at the start of the sixth inning, falling into a pool of blue-clad fans in

a field box. There’d be no fan interference and no Steve Bartman redux here, though. Fans

cushioned Moustakas’s head-over-heels fall and he somehow held on to the ball for the

highlight-reel out.

“At first I thought, ‘No way!’ ” Butler said. “Another great play. We continue to make them. . . .

You start to come to expect them.”

Kansas City’s bullpen was perfect through the final four innings to preserve the win and put

Baltimore on the brink of elimination. Royals reliever Jason Frasor cruised through the sixth to

earn the win. For the Orioles, Chen allowed two runs on seven hits in 51 / 3 innings and suffered

the loss.

Desperately needing a win to prolong the series, the Orioles will turn to Miguel Gonzalez in

Game 4. Gonzalez, a 30-year-old right-hander, is coming off a 16-day layoff and hasn’t pitched

under the lights since the regular season finale on Sept. 28. The Royals will counter with Jason

Vargas, who was 11-10 with a 3.61 ERA this year. He opened the ALDS against the Los

Angeles Angels, where he allowed two earned runs in six innings of work.

This marks the 10th time a team has jumped out to a three-game lead in a seven-game LCS. Six

resulted in sweeps. Only one team has ever rebounded to win the pennant — the 2004 Boston

Red Sox, who went on to win the World Series. On the other hand, only one team has ever

managed to sweep both the division series and the LCS — the 2007 Colorado Rockies, who were

then swept in the World Series.

The Orioles’ postgame locker room late Tuesday night was not surprisingly quiet. As players

showered and tried to wipe away the shock, a couple were already studying video, knowing their

next time on the field could be their last until spring beckons.

“You never imagine coming out and getting down 0-3,” said Orioles third baseman Ryan

Flaherty. “But we’ve had our backs against the wall all year kind of — a lot of injuries. This is

no time to quit now.”

http://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/14/royals-defeat-orioles-alcs-game-3-pitching-defense-one-win-

world-series

Royals' pitching, defense top Orioles, has K.C. one win from

World Series

By Cliff Corcoran / Sports Illustrated

Oct. 14, 2014

The Royals' undefeated postseason continued Tuesday night as they beat the Orioles 2-1 to take a

3-0 lead in the American League Championship Series. Kansas City is now 7-0 this postseason

and one win away from the World Series. The Orioles, meanwhile, are down 0-3 in a best-of-

seven series, a spot that just one team in major league history has ever come back from, that

being the 2004 Red Sox, who did so against the Yankees in that year’s ALCS. Here are three

take-aways from Tuesday night’s Game 3.

1. Ned Yost’s pro-active pitching change

Royals manager Ned Yost caught a lot of heat for his hair-brained decision to bring rookie starter

Yordano Ventura in to face an opposite-handed slugger with two-on, none out and Kansas City

nursing a one-run lead in the sixth inning of the single-elimination Wild-Card Game, and has

been derided for his in-game management in general this season. However, since the Royals

advanced to the Division Series, Yost has done little to fuel those fires, and his bullpen

management in this series has been exemplary.

impressed in Game 1 by using “seventh-inning guy” Kelvin Herrera and “eighth-inning guy”

Wade Davis for two innings each starting in the sixth to hold a tie long enough for the Royals’

bats to break it (which they did, right on schedule, in the top of the tenth). He impressed again in

this game by going to his bullpen to start the sixth inning despite the fact that his starter, Jeremy

Guthrie, had retired nine of the last 10 men he had faced, allowed just one run on three hits in the

game and had thrown just 94 pitches.

It was the right move to make because Guthrie, despite the generally positive results, had given

up a lot of hard contact, was pitching on 17 day’s rest and was due to face the heart of the

Orioles' order (starting with Adam Jones, Nelson Cruz and Steve Pearce, the last of whom broke

an 0-for-11 slump with a ringing double in the second inning and had hit a screaming liner to

third in his second at-bat) for the third time. Instead of Guthrie facing those three again in a tie

game, Jason Frasor took the mound and retired them in order.

The Royals then rallied to take the lead in the bottom of the inning, allowing Yost to turn to his

Big Three of Herrera, Davis and closer Greg Holland, each of whom also worked a 1-2-3 inning.

Together, Guthrie, Frasor, Herrrera, Davis and Holland retired the final 16 Orioles to come to the

plate in the game, with the last man reaching being Ryan Flaherty via a two-out walk in the

fourth.

2. The Royals’ defense

It’s worth noting that the out Jones made against Frasor leading off the top of the sixth came due

to the most spectacular defensive play of what was another outstanding fielding performance by

the Royals. On that play, Jones hit a foul pop-up into the exterior Dugout Suite seating beyond

the third base dugout only to have Mike Moustakas climb over the railing and make the catch

while falling into the crowd and briefly disappearing below field level.

Royals Orioles postgame ALCS Game 2

That was the most exciting defensive play of the game, but it wasn’t the most important. That

was probably yet another ranging catch by, you guessed it, Lorenzo Cain with one out and men

on first and second in the top of the second. The Orioles had just taken their first lead of the

series on doubles by Pearce and J.J. Hardy after which Flaherty had walked on four pitches. Nick

Hundley followed by hitting a blast into the right centerfield gap, but Cain, as he has done so

often this postseason that we’ve come to expect it, tracked it down, making the catch without so

much as a dive.

Cain later made a similarly ranging catch on Pearce for the final out of Frasor’s inning in the

sixth and, after being shifted to rightfield in favor of Jarrod Dyson, another near the wall in right

field for the penultimate out of the game. Meanwhile Moustakas made a full-extension dive to

catch Pearce’s liner in the fourth. Eric Hosmer made a spectacular diving stop and scramble to

the bag on a ball hit by Cruz ahead of the two second-inning doubles, and Omar Infante ranged

to the other side of second base to get the first out of the seventh on a groundball by Hardy. All

were outstanding plays that helped limit the Orioles to one run in a game in which the Royals

scored just two.

3. Baltimore’s positives

It’s hard to find positives for the Orioles in this series, but at least they finally got a lead in Game

3, their first of this series. The Orioles went up 1-0 in the top of the second. That lead lasted all

of two innings, and they never got another one. The other positive for Baltimore in this game is

that they only needed one relief pitcher as repurposed starter Kevin Gausman worked 2 2/3

perfect innings in relief of Wei-Yin Chen, needing just 33 pitches to do so. Unfortunately for

Baltimore, he entered the game with runners on the corners and one out in the sixth, and the first

batter he faced, Billy Butler, hit a sacrifice fly to leftfield that drove in pinch-runner Dyson with

what proved to be the winning run of the game.

http://www.csnbaltimore.com/blog/orioles-talk/orioles-one-game-away-elimination-after-2-1-

loss-royals

Orioles one game away from elimination after 2-1 loss to

Royals

By Rich Dubroff / CSN Baltimore

October 15, 2014, 12:15 am

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Orioles spoke bravely about the task that faces them on Wednesday.

They also spoke realistically.

After going hitless for the last six innings on Tuesday night, the Orioles trail the Kansas City

Royals by three games to none in their American League Championship Series.

The Orioles had just three hits, none after Nick Markakis’ leadoff single in the third as they lost

2-1 to the Royals before 40,183 at Kauffman Stadium.

If the Orioles don’t win Game 4, their fascinating season will come to an unexpected end.

“Always feel like the momentum can change. If we can get one under your belt and get a few

things to work our way and make some things we feel like we can get it spinning the other way.

Otherwise we shouldn’t show up tomorrow,” manager Buck Showalter said.

Only once in postseason baseball history has a team come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series.

Ten years ago, the Boston Red Sox won four straight after trailing by three to beat the New York

Yankees in the ALCS.

“We just have to win. We're down 3-0. It's no if, ands or buts. It's do at this point. We don't have

any excuses,” Adam Jones said.

The elite K.C. bullpen retired all 12 Orioles hitters it faced and the Royals’ defense kept coming

up with those great plays.

“It’s hard to take advantage of mistakes when they’re not making any,” Steve Pearce said.

For the third time, the Orioles were competitive with the Royals, but once starter Jeremy Guthrie

left, there was nothing his former team could do.

With one out in the second, the Orioles took their first lead of this ALCS when Pearce doubled

and scored on J.J. Hardy’s single.

Wei-Yin Chen pitched to one batter over the minimum in the first three innings.

In the fourth, Lorenzo Cain single with one out. It was the 10th time in 12 at-bats that Cain

reached base this series. Eric Hosmer blooped a single, and Billy Butler walked. Alex Gordon’s

grounder to second scored Cain, and it was tied at 1.

The Orioles made it difficult on Guthrie. He threw 83 pitches in the first four innings. One at-bat,

to Hardy took 14 pitches before Hardy grounded to third in the fourth.

In the fifth, Jonathan Schoop, Markakis and Alejandro De Aza quickly were retired with none of

the balls leaving the infield.

Guthrie was relieved by Jason Frasor in the sixth. He allowed a run on three hits.

Jones was Frasor’s first batter and he lifted a foul pop over third base. Mike Moustakas drifted

over and leaned against the railing, caught Jones’ pop and vaulted into the stands, head first. It

was his second excellent play of the game. He robbed Pearce of a possible extra-base hit in the

fourth when he snared his line drive.

“They made some great plays tonight. The one he had over the railing, that was amazing. Plays

like that, they’re killing rallies. You can’t get anything started because he’s making plays over

there,” Pearce said.

Frasor, who got the win, finished off the inning by retiring Nelson Cruz on a fly to right and

Pearce on a fly to left.

Nori Aoki singled off Chen leading off the sixth. Jarrod Dyson, who raised the ire of many

Orioles fans by suggesting the series was over after the Royals won the first two games in

Baltimore, ran for Aoki. After Cain, who has a lifetime regular season batting average of .195

against the Orioles, struck out, Hosmer singled Dyson to third.

Kevin Gausman relieved Chen, and after he nearly picked Dyson off third, Butler’s fly ball to

left scored Dyson, and Kansas City took a 2-1 lead.

Chen allowed two runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Kelvin Herrera retired Hardy on a grounder to second and struck out Ryan Flaherty and Todd

Hundley in the seventh.

In the eighth. Wade Davis struck out Schoop, got Markakis on a fly out to left and retired De

Aza on a grounder to first.

Jones popped to second against Greg Holland in the ninth. Cruz fouled out to Cain in right, and

Pearce grounded to second.

The Orioles don’t think their task is impossible.

“We’re not looking at it like that. I can assure you that. We know we have to come out tomorrow

and win,” Hardy said.

The Orioles will turn to Miguel Gonzalez on Wednesday as they try to avoid being swept for the

first time in 20 postseason series. Jason Vargas will try and end the series for Kansas City.

“We lost a close game. We have to find some way to start pulling these games out. We’ve got

one loss left. We have to find some way to get it done,” Pearce said.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sinclair-

baltimore&page=/mlb/news/AAN4730947.htm#.VD6BRvldV1Y

Royals do it again, grab 3-0 lead in ALCS

By Sportsnetwork / FOX 45

10/15 00:51:38 ET

Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Timely hitting and great relief pitching

have carried the Kansas City Royals a long way this postseason.

It's looking like all the way to the World Series.

Billy Butler drove in the eventual deciding run with a sacrifice fly in the

sixth inning, and Kansas City's sensational bullpen made it stand up in a 2-1

decision over the Baltimore Orioles that has the resurgent Royals just one

win away from the Fall Classic.

Four Kansas City relievers combined for four perfect innings in Tuesday's Game

3 of the American League Championship Series. Jason Frasor (2-0) worked a

perfect top of the sixth in relief of Jeremy Guthrie before the three-headed

monster of Kelvim Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland protected the 2-1 lead

and gave the Royals a 3-0 advantage in this best-of-seven set.

Kansas City, now a spotless 7-0 during these playoffs, will attempt to nail

down its first World Series trip since 1985 Wednesday afternoon on its home

turf of Kauffman Stadium.

"To be in this position right here, it's tremendous, because there's times you

feel like you don't know if (success) going to happen," Butler said. "(General

manager) Dayton (Moore) has done a great job of drafting tremendous players,

and the city's been reaping the benefits of that and so are we."

Lorenzo Cain followed up a four-hit performance in Saturday's Game 2 by going

2-for-4 with a run scored, while Eric Hosmer also had two hits for the Royals.

The Orioles managed just three hits as a team, with J.J. Hardy knocking in

their lone run with a second-inning double.

"(The Royals) have been getting that big hit, that big timely hit that we

haven't been able to get," said Orioles first baseman Steve Pearce.

Wei-Yin Chen provided the desperate Orioles with the solid start they were

counting on, but surrendered a leadoff hit to Nori Aoki and a one-out smash

single to Hosmer that forced his departure in the bottom of the sixth with the

game deadlocked at 1-1.

Kevin Gausman came in with the intent of getting the slow-footed Butler to

ground into a double play in the runners-on-the-corners situation. However,

the veteran designated hitter was able to drive a ball plenty deep enough to

left field to easily score pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson without a throw.

"Threw a great first pitch, tried to do the same one again. Think it kind of

stayed up a little bit," said Gausman of Butler's at-bat. He's a professional

hitter. He's been around the league for a while and guys in that situation,

they know what they need to do."

Kansas City's relief corps shut the Orioles down from there. Herrera fanned

two with a near 100-mph fastball during a flawless seventh, Davis registered

three quick outs in the eighth and Holland needed just six pitches to mow down

the heart of Baltimore's lineup -- Adam Jones, Nelson Cruz and Pearce -- and

notch his third straight save of the series.

The Royals set down the final 16 Baltimore batters, with the Orioles last

baserunner coming when Guthrie walked Ryan Flaherty with two out in the fourth

inning.

Chen (0-1) was charged with both runs and permitted seven hits while striking

out four over 5 1/3 innings of work.

Guthrie, working on an 18-day layoff, retired the side in order in the first

inning but was tagged for back-to-back doubles by Pearce and J.J. Hardy to

begin the second as Baltimore gained the early upper hand.

It marked the first time Kansas City had trailed since the Angels' Mike Trout

homered in the opening inning of Game 3 of the ALDS. The Royals had gone 46

consecutive innings without being behind at the conclusion of the frame.

Guthrie kept Baltimore's offense under wraps over the remainder of his stint,

but was removed in favor of Frasor after delivering 94 pitches through five

innings -- though he threw just 11 in a 1-2-3 fifth. The former Oriole held

his ex-club to three hits and a pair of walks while leaving in a 1-1 tie.

"I was running on fumes at that point, so they made a great decision," said

Guthrie. "Frasor was well-rested, he came in and was just nasty tonight. I

thought his stuff was as good as I've ever seen it."

Chen, meanwhile, was very sharp the first time through the Kansas City order

before running into some trouble in the fourth inning. Cain and Hosmer reached

on back-to-back singles and Butler drew a walk to load the bases in front of

Alex Gordon's grounder to second that pushed home the Royals' initial run.

Game Notes

The win was the Royals' 10th straight overall in postseason play, counting the

final three games of their 1985 World Series championship over St. Louis ...

Kansas City became the first team since the 2007 Rockies to win their first

seven contests of a single postseason ... Guthrie pitched five seasons for the

Orioles from 2007-11. At 35 years of age, he became the oldest starting

pitcher to make his postseason debut since 35-year-old Steve Trachsel did so

for the Mets against the Dodgers in the 2006 NLDS ... Cruz had an MLB-record

streak of six straight multi-hit games in the postseason end after going 0-

for-4.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2014/10/14/alcs-game-3-royals-orioles-mike-

moustakas-one-win-from-world-series/17282993/

Royals one win from World Series, lead ALCS 3-0

By Steve Gardner / USA Today

11:27 p.m. EDT October 14, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Breaking down the AL Championship Series Game 3 from Kauffman

Stadium:

The final: The Royals played small-ball to perfection once again, scoring their runs on a ground

out and a sacrifice fly – and getting flawless relief pitching to win their seventh consecutive

postseason game this season and 10th in a row overall.

In his first postseason start, Jeremy Guthrie allowed one run in five innings and the combination

of Jason Frasor, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland kept the Orioles scoreless the

rest of the way to put the Royals within one win of their first World Series since 1985.

State of the Series: With the rainout on Monday, both managers had an opportunity to go back to

their Game 1 starters on full rest for Game 4. However, both chose to stick with their original

Game 4 starters.

The Orioles will go with Miguel Gonzalez (10-9, 3.23 ERA), who didn't pitch in the Division

Series as the Orioles swept the Tigers in three straight. It will be his first game action since his

final start of the regular season on Sept. 28. Since then, he's thrown a couple of bullpen sessions

and live batting practice, but nothing compares to pitching under game conditions.

With the advantage of being ahead in the series, the Royals have the benefit of giving their top

two starters – James Shields and Yordano Ventura – an extra day of rest. Manager Ned Yost said

his decision may have been different if the Royals hadn't won the first two games in Baltimore.

For Game 4, the Royals will have left-hander Jason Vargas (11-10, 3.71), who started Game 1 of

the Division Series against the Angels and gave up two runs in six innings.

Game 3 pivot point: With the score tied in the bottom of the sixth and runners on the corners

with one out, Orioles manager Buck Showalter replaced starter Wei-Yin Chen with rookie Kevin

Gausman.

In need of a strikeout or a double-play ground ball, Gausman faced perhaps the slowest member

of the Royals, designated hitter Billy Butler.

Knowing a fly ball even medium-deep to the outfield would score the speedy Jarrod Dyson from

third, Butler won the battle – lifting a 98 mph fastball to left fielder Alejandro DeAza, whose

throw never had a chance to get Dyson as the Royals took a 2-1 lead.

Man of the moment: For the first time in the series, Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas didn't

hit a home run in extra innings. But he made his presence felt on defense with a pair of

spectacular plays.

In the top of the fourth, Moustakas robbed Steve Pearce with a diving grab of his scorched line

drive for the first out of the inning. Pearce scored the Orioles first run two innings earlier when

he laced a double to left, so keeping him off the bases was important with J.J. Hardy, who

doubled in Pearce in the second, up next.

Then, Moustakas turned in the defensive play of the game – possibly the series – in the top of the

sixth. Adam Jones lifted a high foul pop toward the seats beside the Oriole dugout.

The ball seemed to be heading toward the seats, but with a 12 mph wind blowing from left to

right, the ball kept drifting back toward the field of play. Moustakas never gave up as he ran

toward the dugout suite seats behind third base. He reached into the seats and caught the ball

while tumbling over the low railing, conjuring memories of one Derek Jeter.

Manager's special: Much of what Royals manager Ned Yost has done in the postseason has

followed a similar script. But no one can argue with the results.

The first step in the Yost Plan is to use a pinch-runner for right fielder Nori Aoki in the late

innings. And when Aoki predictably singled to lead off the sixth, Yost called on Jarrod Dyson to

run.

Although Dyson didn't try to steal second, he went from first to third on Eric Hosmer's single and

came home with the go-ahead run on Billy Butler's sacrifice fly.

With the one-run lead in hand, Yost went to his reliable bullpen trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade

Davis and Greg Holland to close out yet another victory.

Needing a mulligan: The Orioles took their first lead of the series on back-to-back doubles by

Steve Pearce and J.J. Hardy in the top of the second inning. Both hits split the Royals outfield, a

visible reminder of the difference in sizes of the two ballparks in this series.

With a chance to get to Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie early, Ryan Flaherty drew a walk to put

runners on first and second. However, Guthrie was able to get out of the inning with no further

damage, retiring Nick Hundley on a fly ball to center and Jonathan Schoop on a foul out to first.

What you missed on TV: Saxaphonist Michael Phillips had one of the longer versions of the

national anthem you'll hear, but in this case it was entirely justified. As his smooth jazz version

of the Star Spangled Banner came to the penultimate line, he held the last note of "the land of the

free" for roughly 30 or 40 seconds – which gave the KC Flight Team just enough time to pass

over Kaufman Stadium for the closing notes for "the home of the brave."

http://nypost.com/2014/10/15/royals-nip-orioles-to-grab-commanding-3-0-lead-in-alcs/

Royals edge Orioles to grab commanding 3-0 lead in ALCS

By George A. King III

October 15, 2014 | 12:21am

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The business plan is very simple, immensely effective and has the

smoking, wild-card Royals nine innings away from the World Series.

Get a lead after six innings and watch Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland dominate

the final three innings.

Tuesday night, in Game 3 of the ALCS against the Orioles at a rollicking Kauffman Stadium, the

Royals gave the trio of gas-throwing relievers a one-run cushion that looked like five.

Nine batters faced. Nine outs.

Now, the Royals are nine innings away from reaching the World Series for the first time since

1985 thanks to a pulsating, 2-1, win that was witnessed by 40,183 customers.

“If we have a lead after six innings it’s tremendous,’’ said Billy Butler, whose sacrifice fly off

Kevin Gausman in the sixth was the difference.

The Royals’ seventh straight postseason victory this season put them up 3-0 in the best-of-seven

series and they can close the Orioles out Wednesday night in Game 4 when Jason Vargas starts

for the hosts and Miguel Gonzalez goes for the visitors.

“It’s real comfortable,’’ Royals manager Ned Yost said of having Herrera, Davis and Holland

working the final third of a game even if the lead was a skinny run. “When Billy was up with

runners on first and third, my whole mindset with Billy was try to find a way to get the ball in the

air, score this run and we are going to turn it over to Kelvin, Wade and Holly. Odds of us

winning the game are going to be great.’’

Actually, the perfect bullpen work started before Herrera entered in the seventh. Jason Frasor

worked a clean sixth after taking over for starter Jeremy Guthrie.

After Guthrie walked Ryan Flaherty with two outs in the fourth, Royals pitchers retired the final

16 Orioles.

Herrera pushed the radar gun to 99 mph and fanned two of the three batters he faced. Davis

needed 13 pitches for three outs in the eighth and Holland ended it.

“We feel if we get a lead or the game is tied after six innings we should win every one of those

games,’’ Holland said.

Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas went 0-for-3 and hit into a double play, but turned in the

two best defensive plays of the night. In the fourth, he robbed Steve Pearce of a leadoff hit with a

diving catch of a line drive. He went into the stands to snag Adam Jones’ foul pop to start the

sixth and landed on his head.

“I am pretty familiar with the dugout suite over there. I have been in there once or twice but

never anything like that,’’ Moustakas said. “Those people helped me the entire way, didn’t let

me fall. It was pretty awesome.’’

The Orioles copped their first lead of the ALCS via consecutive one-out doubles by Steve Pearce

and J.J. Hardy in the second, but two bloop singles by the Royals in the fourth led to the hosts

tying the score 1-1 against Wei-Yin Chen on Alex Gordon’s ground out.

Chen left Gausman a first-and-third situation with one out, and the reliever gave up Butler’s fly

to left that drove in pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson.

This is the 10th time in 58 series since LCS play went to a best-of-seven deal in 1985 that a team

has held a 3-0 lead. In only one of those 58 series — the Red Sox over the Yankees in 2004 —

did the team trailing 3-0 win the series.

Of course, Orioles manager Buck Showalter wasn’t giving in to the math.

“If we can get one [win] under our belt and get a few things to work our way and make some

things, we feel like we can get it spinning the other way,’’ Showalter said. “Otherwise we

shouldn’t show up [Wednesday].’’

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-needing-to-win-four-straight-orioles-need-

to-just-take-it-one-day-at-a-time-20141014-story.html

Needing to win four straight, Orioles need to 'just take it one

day at a time'

By Peter Schmuck / The Baltimore Sun

October 15, 2014

The Orioles weren’t fooling themselves after Tuesday night’s 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals

put them in the deepest of sudden-death situations in the best-of-seven American League

Championship Series. They know the odds against winning the next four games are almost off

the charts, so there’s no sense talking about it in those terms.

J.J. Hardy dismissed any discussion of that improbability, choosing instead to focus on averting a

sweep in Game 4 on Wednesday afternoon. The World Series may seem to be way out of reach,

but he insists that no one in the Orioles clubhouse thinks it’s out of the question.

“We’re not looking at it like that, I can assure you," he said Tuesday. “I think we’ve got to come

out tomorrow and win and just take it one day at a time. It’s tough to look at it over the long

haul.”

So, it will come down to Orioles right-hander Miguel Gonzalez and Royals left-hander Jason

Vargas in Game 4. Gonzalez hasn’t pitched in more than two weeks, but that kind of layoff

didn’t keep Game 3 starter Jeremy Guthrie from holding the Orioles to just one run and three hits

in five innings.

Manager Buck Showalter said after Tuesday's game that he was not tempted to bring back Game

1 starter Chris Tillman on Wednesday. There’s no reason to juggle the rotation when the Orioles

are going to need four starters to pitch well to pull off a miracle comeback.

“And Gonzalez has pitched some big games for us and especially on the road and in some tough

spots," Showalter said. “They’ll get challenged again tomorrow.”

Showalter isn’t making any predictions either. He gave credit where credit was due in his

postgame news conference.

“They [the Royals] are earning everything," he said. “Strong people. The thing you notice up

here, strong guys, the strength, and they muscle balls over the infield. Squaring up there pitchers,

especially the guys they are pitching this time of year, is hard to do. Our guys, I always feel like

they’re one away from getting the thing going the other way.”

While we’re on the subject, here are our predictions for Game 4:

The irony here is that the prospect of the Orioles winning 4 straight is correctly viewed as so

improbable as to be beyond reach while KC just won 7 straight and I don't think anybody would

be surprised to see that extend to 8. So Orioles winning 4 straight? Impossible! KC winning 8...

Dan Connolly has given up on the series and is predicting the Orioles will go down meekly by a

4-0 margin. Eduardo A. Encina concurs, but he thinks the Orioles will get on the scoreboard

before falling, 3-1. Columnist Peter Schmuck believes the Orioles have reached the point where

they have nothing to lose and will finally put some swings on the Royals pitching staff. They’ll

win, 5-3, but it may be their last hurrah.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-schmuck-orioles-column-1015-20141014-

column.html

Everything keeps coming up Royal blue

By Peter Schmuck / The Baltimore Sun

October 15, 2014

Reality is a cruel mistress. It is angry and blunt. It is the mortal enemy of illusion.

Orioles fans were re-introduced to it Tuesday night, when the Orioles lost Game 3 of the

American League Championship Series, 2-1, and essentially served notice that the only orange-

and-black dream left is the impossible one.

OK, the almost impossible one if you want to get technical about it, since it is not totally outside

the realm of possibility that they could suddenly take flight today and win the last two games at

Kauffman Stadium, then sweep games 6 and 7 at Camden Yards to punch their ticket to the

World Series.

Orioles' Nelson Cruz on losing Game 3 of the ALCS

Orioles designated hitter Nelson Cruz talks about losing Game 3 of the American League

Championship Series to the Kansas City Royals. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

It's just that nothing like that ever has happened in the era of the best-of-seven League

Championship Series and there is nothing to indicate that the Orioles still have enough left of

what it takes to make that kind of improbable history.

The Kansas City Royals had to sneak into the postseason through the slimmest of cracks as a

wild card, but when they earned a new lease on life with their terrific comeback in that one-game

playoff against the Oakland Athletics, something magical this way came.

The baseball began bouncing in their direction in Game 1 of the Division Series against the Los

Angeles Angels and the wind they call momentum never has shifted.

The Orioles know all about that. They've been beating the odds all year and they had the same

kind of mojo rising in their three-game division series sweep of the Detroit Tigers.

Remember that home run by Nelson Cruz that landed right at the base of the foul pole at

Comerica Park? Remember the string of close calls and challenges that always seemed to go

against Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, who quickly reached the point where he had to be

convinced that Buck Showalter had come into possession of compromising photographs of the

baseball gods.

Well, they picked a bad time to balance the celestial books, at least from Baltimore's perspective.

The Orioles and their fans should have known something was up when Alex Gordon shattered

his bat with the bases loaded in Game 1 and all three of those base runners touched home plate

before the ball was safely in hand again.

Game 3 started with more promise — and the Orioles' first lead of the series — but a couple

more soft hits set up the Royals' tying run in the fourth inning and Billy Butler broke that tie with

a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Wei-Yin Chen pitched well, but he couldn't keep the heart of the

Kansas City lineup at bay and rookie Kevin Gausman couldn't bail him out. The Royals bullpen,

as usual did the rest.

It just happened with the 2004 Red Sox, down 3-0 to the Yankees in the ALCS they came back

to win 4 straight en route to the WS. Not saying this O's team has the same moxey as the BoSox,

but it has happened.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but that sixth inning began with Royals fans singing along to

Journey's “Don't Stop Believin'” and, really, why would they?

The Royals have spent the first three games of the ALCS finding every uncoverable inch of the

infield and poking baseballs there with amazing regularity. It's what they do, but if they had done

it this well during the regular season, they wouldn't have had to sweat out the AL Central race

and win a one-game wild-card playoff to get into the real postseason mix.

The Orioles, meanwhile, couldn't seem to find that one elusive square foot of the outfield that

some speedy Royal couldn't get to on a full run or with an Olympic-caliber swan dive. Don't

want to go all Eastern philosophy on you, but those balls fall in when your karma is right.

Take nothing away from the Royals. They battled right to the end of the regular season and have

not lost a game since. Monday night's win was their seventh straight postseason victory and

eighth straight win if you count the final game of the regular season. They swept the winningest

team in baseball — the Angels — in the ALDS, so it's not as if they were waiting in a dark alley

and the Orioles just happened by.

They are playing with so much confidence right now that they even got away with a little trash-

talking. Jarrod Dyson basically counted the Orioles out of the series after Game 2 in Baltimore,

but even the bulletin board material in the Orioles clubhouse took a funny bounce.

Surely, no Orioles fan who watched the Orioles overcome every obstacle during the regular

season and sprint right past three former Cy Young Award winners in the division series could

have imagined that the ALCS would go so sour so fast.

It's not over yet, but it sure feels that way.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-jeremy-guthrie-apologizes-after-postgame-

tshirt-sparks-outrage-from-orioles-fans-20141015-story.html

Jeremy Guthrie apologizes after postgame T-shirt sparks

outrage from Orioles fans

By Eduardo A. Encina / The Baltimore Sun

October 15, 2014

KANSAS CITY, MO. --- So let's catch everybody up on Jeremy Guthrie's poor wardrobe choice

for his ALCS Game 3 postgame news conference.

After holding his former team to one run over five innings in Game 3 at Kauffman Stadium, the

Kansas City Royals right-hander came to the podium to speak to reporters wearing a shirt that

said “These O’s ain’t Royal.”

Now, some people might be wondering what that even means. But it’s a play on a lyric from a

Chris Brown pop hit. If you’re curious, Google the lyrics for the song, “Loyal.” And look up the

explicit version, not the clean version. You’re on your own as far as that goes.

Well, Guthrie’s shirt caused a maelstrom of fury from Orioles fans, who called Guthrie such

things as “classless” and “gutless.”

Guthrie was the Orioles’ best starting pitcher through some lean years in Baltimore before he

was traded to the Colorado Rockies before the 2012 season in exchange for right-handers Jason

Hammel and Matt Lindstrom.

When Guthrie left, there was still a segment of the Orioles fan base that held him close, revering

him as gutsy pitcher who recorded three straight 200-inning seasons and deserved more than the

47-65 record he compiled in five seasons in Baltimore.

Guthrie certainly didn’t win any Orioles fans with his selection of postgame dress on Tuesday.

But the 35-year-old Guthrie used Twitter early Wednesday morning to apologize for offending

any Orioles fan.

“My intention was not to anger O’s fans or friends with my shirt [tonight],” Guthrie tweeted. “I

apologize to those I offended. Did not consider this reaction. Go Royals.

“My positive feelings for the Charm City, O’s organization, my former teammates and O’s fans

is well documented,” Guthrie said in a separate tweet. “Nothing I wore [tonight] changes that.”

Maybe Guthrie truly intended no harm by wearing the shirt. Sometimes athletes are given

apparel to wear in public to give it publicity.

Players do wear these shirts. Former Orioles reliever Luis Ayala wore a T-shirt that said “Buck

the Yankees” every time the Orioles went to Yankee Stadium. Most of the time, it’s done in

good fun.

But those shirts are usually relegated to the clubhouse or pregame activities, not worn in front of

a swarm of national media and cameras that are broadcasting a news conference live.

What’s confusing is that the Stanford-educated Guthrie wouldn’t have a better feel for the

situation. The Orioles are down 3-0 in the American League Championship Series. They’re

already angry in the clubhouse because of the deficit they face.

And Orioles players have bit their tongue in regards to Royals reserve outfielder Jarrod Dyson.

They've taken the high road when asked about his comments predicting the Orioles would

simply fold if they went down 3-0.

In fact, Dyson kept talking after Game 3, telling Yahoo Sports that third baseman Ryan Flaherty

jabbed his knee into his shoulder on a pickoff attempt at third base. “He can get mad,” Dyson

told Yahoo. “I’ll let our sticks do the talking.”

Again, Guthrie might have truly meant no harm. You can’t blame him for naiveté. You can

blame him for bad timing.

Even though the Orioles are on the brink of elimination, both Guthrie and Dyson ought to hope

the O’s don’t have two wins in them this series. I’m sure Camden Yards would greet them

warmly.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-faraway-oriole-fans-20141015-

story.html#page=2

Oriole magic goes global

By Jonathan Pitts / The Baltimore Sun

October 15, 2014

Her favorite baby bottle bore an Orioles logo. Her most beloved childhood memories involve

listening to the radio play-by-play as Mike Mussina pitched. And when Aili Sarapik, then 6,

attended an event in honor of Cal Ripken in 1995, the Oriole great looked right at her during his

speech.

"I was over the moon," she said.

Sarapik, 25, now lives in Tartu, Estonia, 4,300 miles to the east, but her love for the O's hasn't

faded. She'll be watching live on her laptop when her team takes the field against the Kansas

City Royals in Game Four of the American League Championship Series.

Sarapik, a college student, is one of the thousands of Oriole rooters around the world following

every pitch, swing and diving catch as their heroes try to keep their 2014 season alive. Having

lost the first two at home to the red-hot Royals and Game 3 Tuesday in Kansas City, manager

Buck Showalter's team faces long odds, but fans in places as far away as Australia, Israel and

Uganda — and even in outer space — are keeping the faith.

"I grew up with Oriole magic, and I became cynical in the lean years, but if any team can make

[this] comeback, it's these guys," said Dean Burnett, a native of Springfield, Va., who lives on

Oahu, Hawaii, and catches games via Internet livestream and sometimes satellite TV.

"My head says this Royals team looks like the baseball gods are on its side, but my heart says

they're going to find a way to get past KC and that there will be no stopping them then," said

Tom Mudd, 51, a Towson native who lives in Haywards Heath, England.

"We won't stop!" wrote Kattie Jones, 17, in a Twitter message from her native Taiwan.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Reid Wiseman, an astronaut who grew up in Cockeysville, even tweeted a

picture of himself in an Orioles jersey on the International Space Station as the team began its

playoff run two weeks ago.

New communications technologies, of course, have made it possible for fans to follow their

favorite teams from thousands of miles and many time zones away.

The last time the Orioles made the World Series, in 1983, global fans had little choice but to look

up scores in USA Today or the International Herald Tribune a day or two after the fact. Today

they can listen live on Internet radio, watch online box scores unfold pitch by pitch, catch games

streaming live via MLB.TV, and more.

Bert Williams, a Christian missionary in Uganda who spent several years in Baltimore, follows

the team via Twitter; the night they pummeled the Tigers, 12-3, in the ALDS, he was listening on

Internet radio at 4:30 a.m. in Kampala.

Xavier Gleeson of Melbourne, Australia, learned about baseball and the O's from his father, who

served with Americans in Vietnam. He said via email that he listens or watches live on his

iPhone or iPad using the MLB app.

"I usually stream the games and have them playing in the background while I work away —

[though] there are times when I'm listening it's best I don't have a hammer in my hand," quipped

the Aussie construction worker, 35, who attached a picture of himself modeling his scraggly

"playoff beard."

In taking the pulse of O's fans worldwide, The Sun heard from followers in 10 nations, three

states and two territories across six continents, and one fact stands out: When a Kansas City

hurler, probably James Shields, fires the first pitch at 4:07 p.m. Wednesday, a global community

will come to life.

In Singapore, the sun will be rising Thursday for O's diehard Michael S. Smith, 51, a native of

Govans. In Melbourne, 14 hours ahead of Kansas City, Gleeson will just be arriving for work.

In the Cayman Islands, it will be dinnertime when Baltimore-born Robyn Larkin, 38, tunes in to

WBAL on the Internet. It will be just after 10 p.m. when Mudd, an online editor with the Wall

Street Journal, tunes in at his home near London and when Telmo Pereira, 32, hoists a gametime

Radeberger brew in Dresden, Germany.

And it will be 1:30 a.m. in Afghanistan when Staff Sgt. Adrienne Toliver and SPC Daneaa Natt,

soldiers with the Maryland Army National Guard, catch the livestream on the Armed Forces

Network at their military base.

Why do they follow the team, even in a war zone? "They are playing to win," Toliver said.

For the typical night game, Pereira, who works in IT, goes to bed at 8, sets his alarm for 2 a.m.,

and watches his adopted heroes, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, until the sun comes up.

"After the game I just go take a shower, eat my breakfast and go to work, and my bosses say,

'Hey Telmo, you look tired, did you watch baseball all night again last night?'" said Pereira, a

Portuguese expatriate, in an email. "They think I'm crazy. Most of my friends think baseball is a

boring sport."

Overseas fans disagree, especially this year.

Like their cousins in Charm City, many fell in love with the team not so much because it

dominated the competition on the field but because, one way or another, some personal

experience won their affection.

Teenager Jones might never have become a fan had the Orioles not signed her fellow Taiwanese,

Wei-Yin Chen, to a contract in 2012. A year later, she met the lefty pitcher near her home as he

signed copies of his book, "Will Win, Chen," then took 100 fans to the movies.

"Good man," said Jones, who admitted to finding the 16-game winner — and several of his

teammates — "adorable" even as she admires the club's determination to "stay hungry."

Adam Rickwood of Burnley, England, 24, was traveling in the United States five years ago when

he decided to visit the hometown of the crime drama "The Wire." He caught a game at Camden

Yards and got a whole different view of the city.

The O's lost to the Angels, but "everybody I encountered that day, the people selling tickets, the

grounds crew, the security, the fans in the club store and the fans in my section were simply

delightful, each helping me in a wonderfully unique way," wrote Rickwood, who learned the

game, became a die-hard O's fan, and watches about 120 games a year on MLB.TV.

And 10,000 miles away from the Yards, Daniel Clark was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1985.

He fell in love with baseball watching Australian professional league games. When he decided to

play himself — he is a base-stealing center fielder — the club he joined was called the

Blackburn Orioles.

Now 29, he follows the big-league team via the Internet, writes a weekly baseball column for

MASN, and plans to bring his fiancee to Baltimore during their honeymoon next March, where

they hope to see his favorite team play Toronto.

Clark has connected with 17 other O's fans in the state of Victoria via Twitter.

"When, not if, the O's make the World Series, a few of us are planning to head to a pub in

Melbourne to watch," he wrote in an email.

It can feel lonesome — even a little weird — being an Oriole fan where there's little baseball

history.

Few overseas fans hesitate to wear their black and orange — Gleeson said he'd wear his "old,

sweaty O's hat to bed if it didn't hurt when I rolled over" — but Oriole gear can draw less than

supportive reactions.

Craig Beatty, 33, a Christian missionary in Puerto Rico, said many people he knows in San Juan

have some tie to New York, and when he wears his O's T-shirts, he gets a face full of Yankee

aggression.

"I just smile proudly," he wrote.

Mudd said his collection of shirts and hats gets little rise out of his fellow Brits.

"I catch people looking at them, but they generally don't show much of a reaction. One

supermarket checkout guy did see my 'Hakuna Machado' shirt and ask me what it was all about.

He just looked confused after I explained," Mudd said.

And Baltimore native and O's fan Josh Sherman, 22, on a kibbutz in Jaffa, Israel, this year,

doesn't mind that his O's gear raises few eyebrows. He's on the hunt for an ensemble topper.

"I think an Orioles yarmulke would be a great addition to my wardrobe," he said.

Wiseman, the astronaut, couldn't be reached for comment, but here on Earth, Baltimore's far-

flung fans seem to agree that this year's players, perhaps more than others in the past, enjoy one

another's company, play like a team and show few traces of the kind of baseball egotism that can

prevail in rival cities like New York and Boston.

The formula has spread Oriole Magic worldwide, whether it carries them to the World Series or

not.

"The boys need to rally and Buck's gotta do his thing," said Sarapik, a student at the Estonian

University of Life Sciences in Tartu. "I don't want to jinx them, but I know they have it in them

to turn [the series] around. If nothing else, let's not go down without a hell of a fight!"

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-miguel-gonzalez-gets-starting-nod-for-

game-4-20141014-story.html

Orioles' Miguel Gonzalez to start Game 4 of ALCS against

Royals

By Dan Connolly / The Baltimore Sun

October 14, 2014

Right-hander Miguel Gonzalez hasn’t pitched since the Orioles ended the regular season Sept.

28, but he’s not particularly worried about how a 16-day layoff will affect him Wednesday in

Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.

“It’s been two weeks, but I’ve been preparing myself to stay focused,” said Gonzalez, who threw

three innings of live batting practice Oct. 6 and a bullpen session Sunday. “I’m excited. I’m

excited to go out there and give my team a chance to win a ballgame.”

Gonzalez, who was 10-9 with a 3.23 ERA in 27 games this season, was particularly good toward

the end of the year. He had a 2.19 ERA in his final 11 starts of 2014.

“Confidence,” Gonzalez said, explaining his upswing down the stretch. “I moved toward the

middle of the pitcher’s plate, and I felt a lot more comfortable there. … I felt a lot better the

second half.”

Gonzalez was scheduled to start Game 4 of the American League Division Series in Detroit, but

the Orioles won the series in three. He then was scheduled to pitch Tuesday, but a rainout pushed

the entire series back a day.

That created the possibility that Game 1 starter Chris Tillman could pitch again in Game 4 on

Wednesday and Gonzalez could be skipped again.

But manager Buck Showalter sent Gonzalez to the pregame news conference Tuesday, a slot

reserved for the next day’s starter, and he said Gonzalez would start unless he was needed in an

all-hands-on-deck Game 3.

Showalter said he wasn’t worried about Gonzalez’s layoff — it’s similar, Showalter said, to that

of the Kansas City Royals’ Game 3 starter, former Orioles right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, who

hadn’t pitched since Sept. 26.

“Same thing with Jeremy, and they’ll be fine,” Showalter said. “They don’t get to this level using

things like that as an excuse.”

Gonzalez has pitched just one playoff game in his career — in the 2012 ALDS, when he allowed

just one run in seven innings against the New York Yankees in a no-decision.

“I felt good coming out of that game,” he said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t win that game. But it’s

definitely exciting again to be in this position and be able to play in the ALCS.”

Showalter said he talked to several people, and it was basically even on who should start behind

the plate for the Orioles on Tuesday. He eventually decided to pick Nick Hundley, a seven-

season veteran who has more overall playing experience than rookie Caleb Joseph.

“I talked to everybody and it was 51-49, take your pick,” Showalter said. “We feel good about

both of them. Caleb’s gonna probably catch [Wednesday], the day game.”

Joseph had been in an 0-for-33 slump before getting two singles and a sacrifice fly in Game 2,

while Hundley had just one hit in 12 at-bats this postseason heading into Tuesday. Joseph has the

superior arm, throwing out 40 percent of would-be base-stealers during the regular season.

The way the Royals run the bases — they led the major leagues in steals this season — curtailing

the running game normally would be a major factor into the decision at catcher. But the Orioles’

Game 3 starter, Wei-Yin Chen, is a left-hander with a good pickoff move, making arm strength

behind the plate less of a concern. Showalter wouldn’t go into any more specifics as to what gave

Hundley the edge.

“We’ve had two catchers all year, and we feel real good about either one of them being there,”

Showalter said. “And [there’s] just a very small tiebreaker now that we decided to go with.”

Showalter’s switch analogy

Those who pay attention to Showalter’s pregame news conferences are accustomed to his

homespun tales, country analogies and asides that seemingly stop short. But on Tuesday there

was some headshaking when Showalter veered off on a tangent that ended up inadvertently

referring to a hot-button topic — something he has done in the past without issue.

Showalter was asked about the Royals and whether they were built to win, and he tried to spin an

analogy about how even though you may not like something — such as currently losing to the

Royals — you have respect for it.

This is how it came out: “They're built to win, period. … They've done a great job. There's a part

of you, just like when your grandmother makes you go get a switch to whip your own butt with,

it's not much fun. Don't come back with a little one. There's a part of [you] that really pulls for

people like them.”

Nothing was said about Showalter’s comments, but there was a sense in the room filled with

national media that he had tiptoed around a now taboo subject — especially since Minnesota

Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was suspended indefinitely after being charged with

punishing his son with a “switch.”

Guthrie makes the playoffs

At 35, right-hander Jeremy Guthrie became the oldest player in Royals history to start a

postseason game Tuesday, passing Paul Splittorff, who was 34 when he started Game 3 of the

ALCS in 1980.

Guthrie became the oldest starting pitcher to make his postseason debut since New York Mets

right-hander Steve Trachsel in Game 3 of the 2006 NLDS. Trachsel and Guthrie were Orioles

teammates in 2007 and 2008.

The Orioles dealt Guthrie to the Colorado Rockies before the 2012 season.

Around the horn

In Game 4, the Royals will start left-hander Jason Vargas, who is 2-3 with a 1.94 ERA in eight

starts against the Orioles. … Nelson Cruz is expected to start in left field Wednesday, with

Delmon Young acting as the designated hitter against Vargas. … Kansas City outfielder Nori

Aoki was just 2-for-7 in the major leagues against Chen coming into Tuesday’s game. But,

according to the Japanese media reports, Aoki was 14-for-36 (.389 average) when the two faced

each other in the regular season and postseason in Japan.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-playoff-shares-20141014-

story.html#page=1

While focus is on the field, Orioles can cash in on postseason

bonuses

By Don Markus / The Baltimore Sun

October 14, 2014

Hall of Famer Jim Palmer knows exactly how much his bonus was for helping pitch the Orioles

to a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1966 World Series.

To the penny.

"It was $11,683.40," Palmer recalled last week. "It doesn't seem like a lot of money, but

compared to salaries then — I made $7,500 — it was more than I made all year, so it was

somewhat significant."

As the Orioles compete in the American League Championship Series, players say they're far

more focused more on winning than any extra money they'll make for advancing in the

postseason. But the share of postseason revenue that players split can be significant.

Members of the 2012 World Series champion San Francisco Giants who received full shares

took home a record $370,872. Each full share for last year's champion Boston Red Sox was

worth $307,322.

Even trips to the ALCS can be worth more than $100,000 per man.

The pool of bonus money available to all teams that reach the playoffs is generated from gate

receipts. Last year's total was formed from 50 percent of the gate receipts from the wild-card

games; 60 percent of the gate receipts from the first three games of the division series; 60 percent

of the gate receipts from the first four games of the league championship series; and 60 percent

of the gate receipts from the first four games of the World Series.

Teams get a portion of that total based on how far they advance, and then each team decides

individually how to divvy up its shares, with most voting to include non-uniform personnel who

assist the club. Teams can also award partial shares.

When the Orioles reached the AL Division Series in 2012, they were awarded $2.1 million. They

divided that into 54 full shares, 5.85 partial shares and 25 cash awards — including even

members of the minor league coaching staff in the winnings — making each share worth

$34,825.

"It's like the icing on the cake," said reliever Darren O'Day, who is also the Orioles' players

association representative. "For the guys who are in their first three years and haven't made it to

arbitration yet, it's a significant amount of money. It certainly does help a little bit."

It isn't clear how the 2014 Orioles will split up their playoff shares. A team meeting was held

shortly before the playoffs began to discuss it.

In general terms, O'Day said, shares are given to "anybody in the clubhouse who's helped the

team. The guys that clean the shoes, help us out with day-to-day things, cook the food, minor

league coaches, players who've been here for a couple of days."

The size of the postseason bonuses have increased as time has gone on, but the tradition of

sharing earnings with non-players is a longstanding one.

When the Orioles won the 1970 World Series, the team gave a partial share to its batboy, a 16-

year-old from Parkton named Jay Mazzone who lost all 10 fingers in a fire when he was 2.

"It was really unexpected," Mazzone, 61, recalled last week. "It was just an honor for those guys

to feel that I was enough a part of the team and one of the guys, so to speak, that they would

include me. When they told me they had voted me a share, I was taken back a little. It was very

gratifying."

Mazzone had put money aside from his first three years as a batboy to save up for his dream car.

With the $1,500 bonus he received from the Orioles, he went ahead and bought a midnight-green

1969 Firebird.

"It was beautiful," he said.

Palmer said there was some "heated" discussion regarding Mazzone, who was the visiting batboy

in 1966 before moving over to the home team the following season. He stayed there until

graduating Northern High School in 1971.

"The guys didn't want to give him a full share, but because it was democratic, everybody voted

and the majority won," Palmer said. "But he was there all year, same as the clubhouse guys. I

actually thought it was a chance to reward guys who had been there all year. It was kind of like

having a feast."

Palmer said he and his wife Joan, who was expecting their first child in November of 1966, had

put money down on a modest house in Timonium shortly before that year's World Series.

"I bought a house for $26,250. We couldn't afford the $28,000 house," Palmer said. "[Winning

the World Series] allowed me to buy a television, buy a couch, buy some furniture."

The postseason bonus is something that players will discuss, but it's not something that consumes

them at this time of year, Orioles reliever Brad Brach said.

"It's one of those things guys talk about, but it's definitely not the focus on my mind right now,"

said Brach, who has spent parts of four seasons in the major leagues during a seven-year

professional career. "It's in the back [of my mind] and I'm just trying to help us win every game."

Brach — whose salary for this season is $509,500 — said friends and family have asked him

about how much he stands to make.

"You don't know how much it is, but you know it's going to be a pretty decent amount," he said.

You just want to get to the next round."

Last year's World Series runner-up, the St. Louis Cardinals, split a pool of more than $15 million

into shares of $228,300.

The teams that lost in last year's League Championship Series each received a little more than

$7.5 million. The Detroit Tigers split that money into shares of $129,278; the Los Angeles

Dodgers awarded more full shares, reducing the value of each to $108,037.

So, even if the Orioles lose to the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS, players stand to make six

figures in bonuses.

Brach said he hasn't started planning any exotic vacations or purchasing any big-ticket items

with his wife, Jenae.

"Nothing too extravagant," he said.

Some players pay more attention to the money than others. Brady Anderson said he doesn't recall

how much his postseason share was when the Orioles made it to the ALCS in 1996 and 1997.

"I didn't care one bit about the [playoff] share," said Anderson, now the team's vice president of

baseball operations. "Especially if you're an everyday player, it's so far down the list of what

you're thinking of. There's so much focus and attention [on winning]. People are motivated by

different things. I'm sure some guys are counting the money."

Whatever the final sum of the Orioles' playoff share is, O'Day said it won't be worth more than

the club's ultimate goal.

"If you go back and ask guys if they'd trade their World Series share for a ring if they lost, they

would," he said.

http://m.orioles.mlb.com/news/article/98509498/well-rested-miguel-gonzalez-gets-nod-for-

baltimore-orioles-in-game-4

Backs against wall, O's turn to Gonzalez in Game 4

In effort to extend ALCS, Showalter relying on well-rested righty against KC

By Ian Browne / MLB.com

Oct. 15, 12:57 AM ET

KANSAS CITY -- For Miguel Gonzalez, the wait between starts has been so long that his own

manager couldn't resist playing mock reporter and asking him about it before they switched

places in between news conferences Tuesday afternoon.

Gonzalez is the choice of Orioles manager Buck Showalter for Game 4 of the American League

Championship Series on Wednesday (4 p.m. ET, TBS) at Kauffman Stadium. Showalter made it

official after the Orioles lost, 2-1, in Game 3 on Tuesday night. They trail the Royals, 3-0, in the

best-of-seven series.

The right-hander will start on 16 days of rest. He last pitched in the regular-season finale Sept.

28 at Toronto.

So, as Showalter playfully asked, and a reporter repeated with the first question in the news

conference, how much of a challenge will that be for Gonzalez?

"It's been two weeks, but I've been preparing myself to stay focused and I've had a couple of

bullpens and a live BP," Gonzalez said before Game 3. "So I'm excited. I'm excited to go out

there and give my team a chance to win a ballgame."

Showalter could have come back with ace Chris Tillman on regular rest, thanks to Monday's

postponement. Instead, he will put his faith in Gonzalez.

"Gonzalez has pitched some big games for us and especially on the road and in tough spots," said

Showalter. "He'll get challenged again tomorrow."

Tillman will be held back for Game 5 on Thursday, if the Orioles can extend the series.

Gonzalez's opponent will also be well-rested, as Royals lefty Jason Vargas last pitched in Game

1 of the AL Division Series on Oct. 2 against the Angels.

"They don't get to this level using things like that as an excuse," Showalter said. "I think we're all

operating on the same [schedule]. It didn't rain out for one team and not the other team. The wind

is not blowing for one team and not the other one. Everyone has the same off-days. Matter of

fact, we had the same off-days coming into it. We're on a level playing field."

Gonzalez would have pitched in the ALDS, but he wasn't needed when Baltimore swept the

Tigers in three games.

In an effort to stay fresh, Gonzalez threw a three-inning simulated game Oct. 6, the day after the

Division Series ended. He threw a bullpen Sunday.

"I'm pretty much ready to go," Gonzalez said.

The Orioles hope Gonzalez can regain the form he had down the stretch. In 11 starts after the

All-Star break, Gonzalez went 6-4 with a 2.19 ERA while holding opponents to a .222 batting

average. It turns out a slight mechanical adjustment keyed his in-season turnaround.

"I moved towards the middle of the [rubber], and I felt a lot more comfortable there," Gonzalez

said. "It worked out. My first couple of games of the season weren't great, but I felt a lot better

the second half."

For the season, Gonzalez went 10-9 with a 3.23 ERA.

This will be the second postseason start of Gonzalez's career. The first one was a solid

performance in a no-decision, as he held the Yankees to five hits and a run while striking out

eight over seven innings in Game 3 of the 2012 ALDS.

"Yeah, 2012, it was a great game," Gonzalez said. "Went seven innings, gave up one run. And I

felt good coming out of that game. But unfortunately, we didn't win that game. But it's definitely

exciting again to be in this position and be able to play in the ALCS. I'm excited to go."

Last year, when Vargas was with the Angels, Gonzalez lost to him, 4-0, on May 3, and beat him,

3-2, on June 11.

"He's going to challenge our hitters, and I'm going to do the same thing against them," Gonzalez

said. "I think I feel good about myself right now."

Slowing down the running Royals can be a distraction to an opposing pitcher, but Gonzalez is

going to try to prevent that from being a deterrent.

"I've got to keep doing what I'm doing," Gonzalez said. "I've got to keep changing speeds and

my timing, as well, when there's runners on. I think that's really important. But I'm not going to

try to do anything different than what I've been doing the whole year."

Yet Gonzalez will certainly be more rested than he's been the whole year. And if he can't help

lead his team to victory, he will have more rest this winter than he ever wanted.

http://m.orioles.mlb.com/news/article/98569366/orioles-cant-win-four-in-a-row-until-they-win-

one-against-the-royals-in-the-alcs

Winning four games starts with winning one for O's

Looking to match the '04 Red Sox, Baltimore needs a Game 4 victory to stay alive in ALCS

By Ian Browne / MLB.com

October 15, 2014 3:00 AM ET

KANSAS CITY -- By narrowly losing three straight tense contests in the American League

Championship Series, the Orioles have left themselves with no choice but to reel off their eighth

four-game winning streak of 2014.

If they fall short of that, the goal of giving the city of Baltimore its first World Series since 1983

will be history.

Instead, the Orioles will try to make history and join the 2004 Red Sox as the only other baseball

team to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a postseason series.

"The Orioles are equally as talented and equally as capable to do what we did in 2004," former

Red Sox great Pedro Martinez tweeted on Tuesday night.

Orioles outfielder Adam Jones remembers full well what Boston's beloved "Idiots" did a decade

ago.

"It's been done before so it gives you a chance," Jones said. "We've won four games before.

Obviously not in this situation, but we've won four games in a row. We've got to start

[Wednesday], start in the first inning, get some runs across that board."

Here are four things the Orioles need to do to pull off the biggest four-game winning streak in

club history.

Win Game 4

Look it up. The toughest obstacle for teams trying to overcome a 3-0 deficit is simply avoiding

the sweep.

There have been five previous occasions when a team held a 3-0 lead in the ALCS. The 2004

Red Sox were the only team that won Game 4. And look at how that turned out.

If the Orioles can simply win Game 4, perhaps momentum can take a sharp turn.

"You always feel like the momentum can change," manager Buck Showalter said. "If we can get

one under your belt and get a few things to work our way and make some things happen, we feel

like we can get it spinning the other way. Otherwise, we shouldn't show up tomorrow."

In the NLCS, two of the four teams with 3-0 leads pulled out a sweep.

Jump out first, and add on

Not only did the Orioles take a 1-0 lead in the second inning of Game 3, but it was the first time

the Royals trailed in the entire series.

Hardy's RBI double

Hardy's RBI double 00:00:2310/14/14: J.J. Hardy gives the Orioles an early 1-0 lead with a

double to center that scores Steve Pearce

• Video: Hardy doubles in a run

The problem is that Baltimore didn't add on, even as it ran Kansas City starter Jeremy Guthrie's

pitch count up to 84 through four innings.

By not extending the lead, the Royals were able to turn the tables with one in the fourth and one

in the sixth, and then turn the game over to their lethal bullpen.

The bullpen is also a strength for Baltimore, but Showalter hasn't been able to set up his relievers

in the order he'd like.

"They've got a real good bullpen," Jones said. "They're just as good as advertised with [Kelvin]

Herrera, [Wade] Davis and [Greg] Holland, but we've still had opportunities against them. It's

not like they're just going to go out and shut everybody down. We've had opportunities. It's just

we've been unable to come through."

The best way for Baltimore to solve this problem? Play with a comfortable lead.

Pitch-to-pitch focus

The old cliché of taking one day at a time becomes even more simplified in the predicament the

Orioles are in.

When the Red Sox produced their epic comeback in '04, Jason Varitek spread the message

throughout the clubhouse that the team had to simplify the game to each pitch. He implored the

players to try to win every pitch and every inning, and the results would take care of themselves.

It's when a team takes a broader view -- thinking about having to win four games in a row -- that

it can be overwhelming.

"We're not looking at it like that," Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy said. "We've got to come out

tomorrow and win, and just take it one day at a time. It's tough to look at it in the long haul."

Ride the big guns

While the Royals are the masters of creating havoc with their legs, the Orioles are capable of

changing games with their power. Jones and Nelson Cruz, the team's two most impactful hitters,

went a combined 0-for-8 in Game 3.

If one of those players can get into a groove, much like David Ortiz did during Boston's 2004

comeback, the tone of the series could change.

"Yeah, it's tough," Cruz said. "We can't get it done with three hits. The offense has to do a better

job, has to find a way to score runs, get hits, and we haven't been able to do it. We had to win

four games since the series starts. So hopefully we can do it tomorrow."

Jones sounded loose as he spoke to the media following Game 3, and he didn't think his team

would put undue pressure on itself. In fact, maybe much of the pressure is off now.

"It's going to be just like we normally are. We're going to be having some fun, playing some

cards and getting ready for a big league game," Jones said. "Score more runs than them. We've

just got to win. We're down 3-0. Got to win. It's no ifs, ands or buts. It's 'do' at this point."

http://m.orioles.mlb.com/news/article/98575044/in-tight-spot-baltimore-orioles-focused-on-

getting-first-win

In tight spot, Orioles focused on getting first win

Baltimore, down 3-0 in ALCS, believes one victory can turn things around

By Brittany Ghiroli / MLB.com

October 15, 2014 2:00 AM ET

KANSAS CITY -- This will be perhaps manager Buck Showalter's toughest test. After cruising

to a 96-win season, an American League East title and a sweep of the Tigers in the AL Division

Series, Showalter's Orioles are down 3-0 to the Royals in the AL Championship Series.

"If we can get one under your belt and get a few things to work our way and make some things

[happen], we feel like we can get it spinning the other way," Showalter said following Tuesday's

2-1 loss. Otherwise we shouldn't show up tomorrow.

"I know what our guys in our locker room feel like. They know they're up against some good

competition. But always one more opportunity away, which is tomorrow."

The Orioles didn't appear particularly downtrodden following their third consecutive loss,

preaching that one win has the potential to turn everything around. Still, they are trying to reach

pretty esteemed territory. In the 58 LCS since the best-of-seven series was adopted, only the

2004 Red Sox have come back to force a Game 7 and advance to the World Series. Game 4 is

today at 4 p.m. ET (watch on TBS).

"It's a great challenge for us. That's why it's a seven-game series," catcher Nick Hundley said.

"These guys are playing hot, they're closely contested games that didn't go [in] our favor. But at

the same time we have a chance to go out tomorrow and win. That's all we care about."

"It's been done before so it gives you a chance," said center fielder Adam Jones. "We've won

four games before. Obviously not in this situation but we've won four games [in a row]."

And the Orioles will do their best to approach it like a regular-season win streak. The O's had

seven win streaks of at least four games this season and have been in every game this series,

losing twice by two runs before Tuesday's one-run defeat.

"It's tough," designated hitter Nelson Cruz said of the position the O's are in. "We can't get it

done with three hits. The offense has to do a better job, has to find a way to score runs, get hits

and we haven't been able to do it. We had to win four games since the series starts. So, hopefully

we can do it tomorrow."

http://m.orioles.mlb.com/news/article/98573416/chen-gives-os-a-chance

Chen gives O's a chance

Lefty allows two runs in 5 1/3 innings, but hard luck haunts him

By Austin Laymance / MLB.com

1:49 AM ET

KANSAS CITY -- Wei-Yin Chen gave the Orioles a chance to win their first game of the

American League Championship Series, but the left-hander was the victim of some hard luck

and bad breaks on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Chen allowed two runs on seven hits -- all singles -- over 5 1/3 innings, the deepest a Baltimore

starter has pitched in the ALCS, but the O's didn't provide much run support in a 2-1 loss to the

Royals in Game 3.

Of the seven hits Chen surrendered, two were infield singles by Lorenzo Cain and Alcides

Escobar. The final pitch Chen made resulted in a single by Eric Hosmer through the right side of

the infield, putting the go-ahead run on third base with one out in the sixth.

"Tough luck, made a couple of really good pitches on Cain and Hosmer, and didn't get much to

show for it," said Orioles manager Buck Showalter. "He didn't give up one hard-hit ball. ... Just

not a lot offensively."

Catcher Nick Hundley offered a similar analysis.

"A couple broken-bat hits, a couple bleeders and he gave up a couple runs," Hundley said.

"Obviously, it's the game. They got one more run than we did. So come out tomorrow and try to

get it done, but proud of the way Wei-Yin pitched for sure."

Chen struck out four against one walk. He consistently located his fastball and stayed out of the

middle of the plate. On most nights, that's enough to win.

Showalter stuck with Chen to open the sixth, rather than turning to his deep bullpen. Chen

allowed a leadoff single to Nori Aoki, then struck out Cain. But Hosmer's grounder found a hole

and that was it for Chen. Kevin Gausman relieved him and allowed a sacrifice fly, which proved

to be the difference in the game.

"In that at-bat, the pitch that Aoki got a hit was a little bit kind of a mistake," Chen said. "After

that I didn't think about it too much. It was just one guy on base. I was trying to get the next guy

out. Today lefties didn't really hit me well. I got a couple balls hit hard, but some of the balls

weren't hard, they were well placed."

In the regular season, Chen might have been allowed the opportunity to work out of the jam. But

he understood Showalter's decision to go to the bullpen.

"I'm not upset about my performance because this is the playoffs and Buck has his plan," Chen

said. "I just tried to do my job and unfortunately we lost again. That's what matters."

Given the way Chen pitched on Tuesday, the Orioles are confident he could deliver a strong

outing if the series extends and the lefty gets another start.

"He's thrown the ball great all year for us," Hundley said. "We love it. He won 16 games. We

love having him out there. He's a fiery competitor. We hope he gets another chance."

http://m.orioles.mlb.com/news/article/98578252/royals-3-0-lead-in-alcs-doesnt-show-how-close-

orioles-have-been

KC's 3-0 ALCS lead doesn't tell the whole story

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

2:34 AM ET

KANSAS CITY -- Jarrod Dyson stood in front of his locker in Kauffman Stadium's home

clubhouse on Tuesday evening, having raced down the third-base line to score the deciding run

in the Royals' 2-1 victory in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, and offered

a more measured version of the chest-thumping speeches that have stamped his reputation this

month.

The Royals have pinned the Orioles against the wall, owning a commanding 3-0 series lead

heading into Wednesday's Game 4 at The K, a 4 p.m. ET contest on TBS that could punch an

entrance ticket for the World Series. But this ALCS has been anything but lopsided, with Kansas

City on the fortunate side of bounces that could have changed the outcomes of all three games.

"We're just playing unbelievable baseball," Dyson said. "I don't think anybody expected us to

play this good. But we expect ourselves to play good. It feels better to be up 3-0 than down three,

I'll tell you that."

In the near-silent Baltimore clubhouse, the Orioles seemed to be figuring out how they could

have landed in this situation. Other than Steve Pearce and J.J. Hardy's back-to-back doubles in

the second inning, the bats were silent in Game 3, as Royals pitchers retired the final 16

Baltimore hitters.

But that hasn't been a consistent theme in this series. Game 1 in Baltimore was a taut extra-

inning affair, deadlocked at five runs apiece from the sixth inning on, and so it might have taken

just one big blow -- or a few of those flare hits that the Royals seem to keep collecting like '85

Topps cards -- to bust it open.

"They've just been a hit ahead of us right now, the first three games of this series," Baltimore's

Ryan Flaherty said. "It's baseball. That's the way the balls bounce sometimes. We didn't come

out and imagine being down 0-3, but we've had our backs against the wall all year. Just another

reason to fight."

Even in the 10th inning of Game 1, after Kansas City scored three times, the Orioles kept at it;

Delmon Young knocked a run-scoring single off closer Greg Holland to bring the potential

winning run to the plate before Nick Markakis grounded out.

"We came back in Game 1 and tied it up and ended up losing; obviously a tough pill to

swallow," Kevin Gausman said. "We still feel like we're playing pretty good baseball, we've just

got to play a little bit better than they're playing."

The Orioles put up similar fight in Game 2, knotting the game twice in front of their raucous

crowd but unable to push ahead -- including wasting a bases-loaded, one-out chance in the

seventh -- before Kansas City shattered the tie with two runs in the ninth.

"We've played three really good games; just fell short in each of the games," Adam Jones said.

"Now we have a good idea of what the uphill battle is."

The Orioles could go crazy playing the "what if?" game, and in manager Buck Showalter's

worst-case scenario, that's probably how he would spend some of the winter. Here in K.C.,

maybe if Mike Moustakas doesn't tumble over the dugout railing with a sensational catch, Adam

Jones would've put the next pitch into the fountains.

Or who knows what might have happened if Lorenzo Cain hadn't completed what he called his

longest run for a fly ball in recent memory, chasing down Flaherty's deep and wind-aided

second-inning drive to right-center field?

"It's been a lot of exciting games," Cain said. "Every game has been close and nail-biting, but

we've come out on top, that's the biggest thing. We have to continue to fight and continue to find

ways to win, and hopefully we can win tomorrow."

For all the couldas and wouldas, there are a few glaring numbers that have made the difference:

The Royals outhomered the O's 4-1 at hitter-friendly Camden Yards, and Baltimore's starters

taxed the bullpen by recording just 13 outs in each of the first two contests.

"Such close games," Showalter said. "They've pitched us a little bit better. Not much."

The three-headed monster of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Holland is a difference-maker,

and the Orioles have left 24 men on base in the series -- 10 in each of the first two games.

Baltimore has owned a lead for just two innings in the series -- the second and third innings of

Game 3. Nevertheless ...

Somewhere out there, the members of the 2004 Red Sox are nodding their heads with the

knowledge that this is no longer something that's unheard of. Those lucky breaks can still start to

show up, but for the Orioles' sake, it'd better happen within the next 24 hours.

"It's been done before," Jones said, "so it gives you a chance."

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_10_15_balmlb_kcamlb_1&

mode=preview

Royals aim to sweep their way into Fall Classic

If Kansas City tops the O's, it will reach first World Series since '85

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

10/15/2014 2:43 AM ET

The bubbly is on ice for these remarkable Royals, who have posted a victory in every single one

of their games so far this postseason. They sit one victory away from advancing to their first

World Series since 1985, pushing the Orioles to the brink of elimination.

Kansas City will be primed for that possible celebration today, as Game 4 of the American

League Championship Series gets underway at 4 p.m. ET (watch on TBS). The Royals are trying

to become the first team in history to open a single postseason with eight consecutive victories.

"We've got to finish it tomorrow," Kansas City outfielder Lorenzo Cain said. "None of us want

to leave here tomorrow with the loss. I told the guys to get ready to go, make sure your head is

on right, get locked in and try to win another ballgame."

The Orioles are facing the steepest climb possible in a playoff series, needing to win four straight

games after losing the first three -- an accomplishment only completed to date by the 2004 Red

Sox, who "Reversed the Curse" by stunning the Yankees.

"You never know what can happen when you're playing with house money," Baltimore's Adam

Jones said. "We're both franchises who weren't supposed to be here, but we're here and we're

grinding it out."

Baltimore will have a well-rested man on the mound as right-hander Miguel Gonzalez will try to

keep the O's alive for another day. Gonzalez is seeing mound duty for the first time since Sept.

28 in Toronto; in the interim, he stayed sharp by throwing bullpens and a live batting-practice

session.

"I'm excited. I'm excited to go out there and give my team a chance to win a ballgame," Gonzalez

said.

Kansas City will have a similar situation with left-hander Jason Vargas, who last pitched in

Game 1 of the AL Division Series on Oct. 2 against the Angels. Vargas atoned for a rough

September (6.57 ERA in 24 2/3 innings) by holding the Halos to two runs in six innings in his

first postseason appearance.

"I've never had this much rest, so I couldn't give you a good guideline on what I'll be looking

for," Vargas said. "But I'll be ready to go and be ready to try to execute my game plan and

execute pitches."

Though the Royals are potentially nine innings away from ecstasy, this series has been anything

but a blowout. Though Baltimore has led in just two of 28 innings thus far, the Royals --

wielding their speed as a weapon while sprinkling in some thump -- have only outscored the O's

16-11 through the first three games.

"We understand what's at stake tomorrow, we understand that we have a chance to do something

tomorrow," the Royals' Billy Butler said. "We understand that we have a chance to go to the

World Series tomorrow. We're going to take it one pitch at a time."

This is the 10th time in 58 LCS since the advent of the best-of-seven series in -- you guessed it,

1985 -- that a team has held a 3-0 series lead, including the sixth time in ALCS history.

Excluding the 2004 ALCS, each 3-0 lead in the ALCS resulted in a sweep, and no team has ever

rebounded from losing the first two LCS games at home in a best-of-seven series.

"We have to win four games," the O's Nelson Cruz said. "We need to start tomorrow."

Orioles: Business as usual, says Jones

The Orioles won 96 games in the regular season to take the AL East, plus three more in the AL

Division Series to advance to this round. Even with any margin for error now deleted, Jones sees

no reason to change the pregame formula that got them here.

"It's going to be just like we normally are," Jones said. "We're going to be having some fun,

playing some cards and get ready for a big league game."

Jones said that he and his Baltimore teammates would love nothing more than to spoil the local

fun and bring the series back to the Inner Harbor later this week.

"Score more runs than them. We've just got to win," Jones said. "We're down 3-0; got to win. It's

no ifs, ands or buts. It's 'do' at this point."

Royals: Cain has proven quite able

Lorenzo Cain has been one of the breakout stars of this postseason, flashing his skills on both

sides of the ball for Kansas City. He stroked another two hits in the Royals' Game 3 win,

improving to 8-for-12 (.667) with five runs scored, two doubles, an RBI and two walks in the

ALCS.

"We had our ups and downs throughout the season, but it's our speed and defense that has

stepped up and come into play as of late," Cain said. "A few guys have stepped up and swung the

bats like we're capable of doing, so that's definitely been an asset to our team."

Cain sits one hit shy of Willie Wilson's 1985 franchise record for hits in a single ALCS; Wilson

played center field and wore No. 6, just like Cain.

Worth noting

• With help from the '85 World Series championship club, the Royals have won 10 straight

postseason games, the longest active streak among Major League teams. Those 10 straight wins

are tied for third all-time with the Giants (2012, '14), the Athletics (1989-90) and the Yankees

(1937-39, '41). The Yankees own the top postseason win streak with 12, having accomplished it

twice (1927-28, '32 and 1998-99).

• Jarrod Dyson entered as a pinch-runner in the sixth inning of Game 3, marking the ninth time

that Royals manager Ned Yost has used a pinch-runner in Kansas City's seven postseason games.

The record for most uses of a pinch-runner in one postseason by a team is 11, held by the 1972

Athletics and 2004 Red Sox.

• Cruz went 0-for-4 in ALCS Game 3, snapping a string of multiple hits in six straight

postseason games dating back to the 2012 AL Wild Card Game when he was with the Rangers, a

postseason record.

http://m.orioles.mlb.com/news/article/98566870/tale-of-the-tape-orioles-royals-game-4

Tale of the Tape: Orioles-Royals, Game 4

By David Wilson / MLB.com

3:09 AM ET

Game breakdown

Why he'll win: The pressure lightens quite a bit with a 3-0 lead in the American League

Championship Series, and the left-hander has put up good numbers against the O's in his career.

Pitcher beware: Vargas has struggled at home this season, posting a 4.53 ERA in 16 starts, and

the Orioles led the AL with 56 home runs against lefties this season. Baltimore only has one

home run this series and figures to break out at some point after leading the Majors in homers

during the regular season.

Bottom line: Vargas doesn't have to give Kansas City all that much. With a chance to close out

the series, the Royals can hand the ball to their bullpen early if they grab a lead.

Miguel Gonzalez, Orioles

Against the Royals

2014: 1 GS, 0-1, 4.50 ERA

Career: 3 GS, 1-2, 4.82 ERA

Loves to face: Mike Moustakas, 0-for-7, 0 BB

Hates to face: Salvador Perez, 4-for-9, 0 BB

Game breakdown

Why he'll win: He's been really good lately. Since the All-Star break, Gonzalez ranks 13th in the

Majors among starters with a 2.19 ERA in 70 innings. He's struggled against the Royals in his

career, but that's in a small sample size.

Pitcher beware: Those numbers against Kansas City are shaky and Gonzalez hasn't started a

game since Sept. 28. The Royals' lefty-heavy lineup had the fifth-best batting average against

righties in the Majors during the regular season.

Bottom line: Gonzalez has waited a long time to make his first start of the postseason and has

been arguably Baltimore's best pitcher since the All-Star break. Unless he's especially rusty, it'd

be a surprise if he doesn't give the O's a strong start.

http://m.orioles.mlb.com/news/article/98569368/anthony-castrovince-orioles-running-out-of-

time-to-silence-royals

Orioles running out of time to silence Royals

Dyson's comments regarding ALCS not going back to Baltimore loom heading to Game 4

By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com

2:25 AM ET

KANSAS CITY -- Everything Jarrod Dyson said prior to Game 3 -- about this American League

Championship Series not going back to Baltimore and about the Orioles having to embrace their

fate as second fiddles, should they go down 3-0 -- is on the verge of proving prescient.

For the O's, that's the annoyance served as a side dish to their adversity. The only thing worse

than having your October opponent talk so much smack is not being able to make him eat his

words.

It's not as if the Orioles are playing brutal baseball in this series (although, even by the standards

of their hack-tastic ways, there were some poor at-bats over the course of the 2-1 loss they

sustained in Game 3 at Kauffman Stadium). It's just become abundantly clear that in energy and

execution and, yes, good fortune, the Royals have been just a bit better.

And in a series with a run differential of five, that little bit, clearly, goes a long way.

"I wish I didn't have so much stake in it," manager Buck Showalter said. "I'd probably enjoy

watching both teams play more than I do."

The O's have not had much to enjoy, obviously. They find themselves in a situation 33 other

teams have faced in a best-of-seven series. Twenty-seven of those clubs wound up getting swept.

Only the 2004 Red Sox went on to win four straight to take the series (or even three straight to

force a Game 7).

Which brings us to the rewind of what, exactly, Dyson -- the Royals' fourth outfielder and pinch-

running specialist – said.

"I'll just tell you this, man," he said between Games 2 and 3. "If we win Game 3, it's going to be

hard for [the O's] to look themselves in the mirror and say, 'We can win the next four.' … It can

be done, but not everybody's going to be on the same page. There's going to be some people

ready to go home. There's going to be people not cheering in the dugout. Just like if it was vice

versa on this side, it might be the same way."

Those would be strong words from a starter, let alone a dude coming in off the bench, and they

were particularly bold in the context of a sport in which status and seniority, and decorum and

deference to the game, and to the people who play it is considered paramount.

The O's did well to brush aside those comments publicly, but they were more irked by them than

they let on -- and understandably so. Still, Dyson wasn't totally incorrect. Nobody's expecting the

O's to mail this thing in, but if they're discouraged by recent developments (and does any

moment sum up this series quite as well as Mike Moustakas going heels-up over the rail to rob

Adam Jones?), that, too, is understandable. Their postgame body language did not necessarily

match the defiance of their postgame words.

Jones: "It's been done before, so it gives you a chance. We've won four games before. Obviously

not in this situation, but we've won four games."

Nelson Cruz: "We had to win four games since the series started. So hopefully we can do it."

J.J. Hardy: "We've got to take it one day at a time. Come out [Wednesday] and win and go from

there."

Nick Hundley: "It's a great challenge for us."

Now that I've fulfilled my reporter's obligation to relay that stuff, let's state the obvious: It's hard

to feel all that optimistic about the O's ability to outrun history given the way they let Game 3 --

a game in which Wei-Yin Chen and Kevin Gausman were excellent -- get away.

The Orioles created but did not capitalize upon opportunities against Guthrie, who needed 94

pitches to get through five innings and walked away relatively unscathed. Sure, they took

advantage of a Kauffman Stadium outfield with the largest square footage of any in the bigs

when Steve Pearce and Hardy ripped consecutive doubles in the second to put the first run on the

board, and Ryan Flaherty's ensuing walk gave them the opportunity for the breakout inning

they've been looking for all series. But Hundley's deep fly to center died in the spacious

Kauffman confines, and Jonathan Schoop's groundout let Guthrie off the hook.

In fact, that began a stretch in which the Royals retired 23 of the final 25 O's batters who came to

the plate. Jones struck me as the main offender, seeing just 10 pitches in his four at-bats on the

night, which for him concluded with a first-pitch popup against Greg Holland in the ninth. The

Orioles committed what at this point can only be described as the cardinal sin of falling behind

before Royals manager Ned Yost summoned his rested behemoth of a bullpen. The inability to

string a big inning together against Guthrie -- a guy with a 1.303 WHIP in the regular season --

was, ultimately, devastating.

"We've put together good at-bats," Jones said. "We leave it all on the field, so we don't have any

excuses."

No excuses and, unfortunately, not a whole lot of hope, either. This has been an incredible

season for the O's, and they might have a better claim to the old cliché of "overcoming adversity"

than anybody who advanced to October. But they've been little more than bit players in this

series, in this Royals' ascendance. Some of that is their fault (Chris Tillman and Bud Norris did

not give them needed length in Games 1 and 2, and the bats were frustratingly flat in Game 3),

but much of it is not. It has simply been three frustrating nights for a club unable to match its

opponent's unbelievable untouchability.

In keeping with proper baseball decorum, Dyson might have been wrong to say what he said. But

he still might have been right, all the same.

http://m.orioles.mlb.com/news/article/98575054/orioles-right-hander-kevin-gausman-pitching-

like-grizzled-veteran-in-alcs

Gausman pitching like grizzled veteran in ALCS

O's rookie righty has allowed just one hit in 4 1/3 innings of relief

By Austin Laymance / MLB.com

1:24 AM ET

KANSAS CITY -- The American League Championship Series has not turned out how the

Orioles envisioned it would, but Baltimore is finding out it has a blossoming young star in rookie

right-hander Kevin Gausman.

Gausman retired all eight batters he faced Tuesday night in relief of starter Wei-Yin Chen. But

like Chen, the 23-year-old was the victim of some tough luck as the O's lost Game 3 of the

ALCS to the Royals, 2-1, at Kauffman Stadium.

The rookie entered in a tough spot, with the tying run on third with one out in the sixth inning

and the game tied, 1-1. Gausman fired a 98-mph fastball in on the hands of veteran Billy Butler,

who managed to lift a fly ball to left that was just deep enough to score the speedy Jarrod Dyson.

"He executed the pitch and Billy Butler got it in the air," said catcher Nick Hundley. "You have

got to give him credit because we executed the pitch we wanted to throw and he got enough to

get it out there a little bit. Gausman threw the ball great to give us a chance and keep it at one

run."

Baseball can be a cruel game, as good pitches don't necessarily yield favorable results.

"Obviously it's frustrating," said Gausman, the fourth overall pick out of Louisiana State in the

2012 First-Year Player Draft. "But Chen pitched a great game and I tried to be the stopper when

I came in. There's some things I can't control. They just played a little bit better today. When I

came in, all Butler had to do was hit a deep fly ball and he did it on a pretty tough pitch. That's

just baseball for you."

Gausman didn't allow another ball out of the infield until the final out in the eighth. In 4 1/3

innings over two appearances in the ALCS, the right-hander has allowed just one hit.

"Really proud of Gaus tonight," said Orioles manager Buck Showalter. "It was pretty impressive.

He's had two really good outings for us."

Though the Orioles lost Game 3, they learned Gausman is up to the task should he find himself

on the mound again in a close game this October -- perhaps even as a starter in a potential sixth

or seventh game, should the series go that far.

http://m.orioles.mlb.com/news/article/98567366/orioles-royals-game-3-did-you-know

Orioles-Royals, Game 3: Did you know?

By Paul Casella / MLB.com

4:00 AM ET

The Royals moved within one win of a World Series berth on Tuesday night with a 2-1 triumph

over the Orioles in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

From yet another Royals player coming through with a late-game, go-ahead RBI to another

dominating performance by the Kansas City bullpen, Tuesday's game had plenty of interesting

facts and figures.

Game 3 highlights

Here is a look at some of the more intriguing ones to come out of Game 3:

• The Royals are the 34th team to take a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series. Of the previous 33

teams to do so, 27 went on to complete the sweep in Game 4. Three others finished off the series

in five games and two did so in six. The only series to make it to a Game 7 after one team led 3-0

was the 2004 ALCS, in which the Red Sox rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the rival Yankees in

seven games.

• The Royals' 2-1 victory in Game 3 marked the 13th one-run game this postseason, already

matching the single-season postseason record. There is still a minimum of seven more games --

and a maximum of 15 -- to be played this postseason.

• Kansas City on Tuesday night became the first American League team to win seven straight

games to start a single postseason. Only two NL teams -- the 2007 Rockies and 1976 Reds --

have accomplished the feat. No team has ever won eight in a row to start a postseason run.

• The Royals have now won 10 straight postseason games, dating back to their last appearance in

1985. The 10-game run is good for the longest active streak in the Majors and is tied for the

third-longest overall in postseason history, just two wins shy of the all-time record held by the

Yankees.

• With his sixth-inning RBI sacrifice fly, designated hitter Billy Butler became the sixth different

Royals player this postseason with a go-ahead RBI in the sixth inning or later. All other teams

combined have just 10 players with at least one RBI beyond the sixth inning. The Royals' six

such RBIs are also as many or more than four franchises -- the Rockies, Nationals, Marlins and

Brewers -- have in their histories.

• The Royals' bullpen dominated yet again in Game 3, this time to the tune of throwing four

perfect innings. The 2011 Cardinals are the only other team whose bullpen tossed at least four

innings in a postseason game without allowing a baserunner. They did so against the Brewers in

Game 3 of the NLCS.

• That type of relief work is a major reason why the Royals are now 74-1, including the

postseason, when leading after seven innings. They are 35-0 in those situations when playing at

home.

• Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie made the most of his first career postseason start, allowing just

one run and three hits over five innings. Guthrie had made 248 regular-season starts without ever

pitching in the postseason, the fourth-highest total among active pitchers.

Guthrie holds Orioles to one 00:01:0010/14/14: Jeremy Guthrie pitches five innings, allowing

one run on seven hits and one walk while striking out five in Game 3 of the ALCS

• Together, the bullpen and Guthrie combined to tie the Royals' franchise record for fewest hits

allowed in a postseason game. Strangely enough, the only other time they held their opponent to

three hits was actually in a loss. Despite allowing just three hits in Game 3 of the 1984 ALCS,

the Royals were swept out of the postseason with a 1-0 loss to the Tigers.

• The lone run allowed by Guthrie on Tuesday night came in the only early-game inning that he

had pitched well in all season. Guthrie was tagged for a run on back-to-back doubles in the

second inning, a frame in which he posted a 2.53 ERA during the regular season. He allowed just

nine earned runs in the second inning over his 32 starts. As for the other early-game innings,

Guthrie had a 5.06 ERA in the first, a 5.68 ERA in the third and a 5.52 mark in the fourth.

• Guthrie and Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy engaged in a 14-pitch battle in the top of the fourth

inning, with Hardy ultimately grounding out after fouling off eight two-strike pitches. It marked

the longest at-bat of Hardy's career, easily more than his previous high of 12 pitches. For

Guthrie, the 14 pitches matched his career-high for one at-bat. He also tossed 14 pitches to then-

White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham on Aug. 8, 2011. Beckham ultimately flied out.

• The 14-pitch showdown also tied for the fourth-longest postseason at-bat since they started

tracking such data in 1974. Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler also worked a 14-pitch at-bat

against Orioles starter Chris Tillman in Game 1 of the AL Division Series earlier this postseason.

Prior to that, however, no postseason at-bat had lasted 14 or more pitches since 2004 when Red

Sox outfielder Johnny Damon worked a playoff-record 16 pitches out of Yankees pitcher Jon

Lieber in Game 2 of the ALCS.

• The Orioles lost Game 3 despite holding their first lead of the series. Hardy's RBI double in the

second inning staked the Orioles to a 1-0 lead, but the Royals rallied to tie it in the fourth before

taking a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning. That's the first time this series the Royals have had to play

from behind, though they are still yet to trail at all on the road this entire postseason.

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2014/10/one-more-loss-and-the-orioles-are-done-in-

2014.html

One more loss and the Orioles are done in 2014

By Roch Kubatko / MASNsports.com

October 15, 2014 5:55 AM

KANSAS CITY - The Orioles win this afternoon or they go home.

They must hold a lead going into the later innings of Game 4 of the American League

Championship Series. They can't let the Royals trot out Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg

Holland while they play from behind.

Easier said than done, of course, but it's got to happen. They must jump left-hander Jason Vargas

early and break out their own procession of Darren O'Day, Andrew Miller and Zach Britton.

Asked after last night's 2-1 loss what it's like watching the Royals bullpen in the seventh, eighth

and ninth innings, Orioles manager Buck Showalter replied, "Well, I've got a real good feel for

that because we have one very similar."

"That's one of the biggest reasons why we're both playing here, and the starting pitching," he

said. "That's what gets overlooked is the quality job the starting pitchers have done all year to

make leads matter and precious outs late in the game matter. You can't have one without the

other. But the off-days make it, in the playoffs, which is different, make it a little bit easier to

continue to follow a pattern and get a good return for it."

Vargas is 2-3 with a 1.94 ERA in eight career starts against the Orioles, with 12 earned runs in

55 2/3 innings. He tossed a complete-game three-hit shutout against them last season while

pitching for the Angels.

Vargas, the second left-hander to face the Orioles in the 2014 playoffs, allowed 18 runs in 18

innings over his last four starts of the regular season. However, he held the Angels to two runs

and three hits over six innings in the Division Series.

This is Vargas' second start since Sept. 24, and he brings interesting splits. He's 6-6 with a 4.53

ERA in 16 home starts, and opponents are batting .289. He's 5-4 with a 2.73 ERA in 14 road

starts, and opponents are batting .238.

Vargas was 8-4 with a 3.31 ERA in the first half and 3-6 with a 4.50 ERA in the second.

Nelson Cruz is 10-for-30 (.333) with two doubles, four home runs, eight RBIs and seven walks

against Vargas. He's going to start in left field today. Delmon Young is 7-for-18 (.389). He's

going to serve as the designated hitter.

Adam Jones is 5-for-27 (.185) with two doubles, and Nick Markakis is 5-for-25 (.200) with a

double and home run.

The Orioles tried to trade for Vargas at the 2013 non-waiver deadline, but they didn't know when

he'd be ready to come off the disabled list and pitch. They wanted to sign him as a free agent last

winter, but he received a four-year, $32 million contract from the Royals. They weren't going

near it.

Miguel Gonzalez makes his first start since Sept. 28, and he's pitching to keep the Orioles' season

alive. No pressure here.

Gonzalez is 1-2 with a 4.82 ERA in three career starts against the Royals. He allowed six runs

and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings in his only start at Kauffman Stadium on July 25, 2013.

Jarrod Dyson is 5-for-6 (.833) against Gonzalez. Salvador Perez is 4-for-9 (.444) with a home

run.

Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas are a combined 3-for-32 against

Gonzalez.

Will Dyson do more than pinch-run and play center field? Will he keep jawing at the Orioles?

Dyson felt that third baseman Ryan Flaherty purposely lowered a knee into his shoulder last

night on an attempted pickoff.

"He dropped a knee, hoping I would get upset," Dyson told reporters. "I just looked at him. He

can get mad. I'll let our sticks do the talking."

Has Dyson's bat done anything in this series? You'd think this guy was hitting .500.

Jeremy Guthrie infuriated some Orioles fans last night by wearing a T-shirt in his press

conference that read, "These O's Ain't Royal."

Guthrie tweeted the following early this morning:

"My intention was not to anger O's fans or friends w/my shirt 2night.I apologize to those

offended.Did not consider this reaction.Go Royals."

"My positive feelings for The Charm City,O's organization,my former teammates&O's fans is

well documented.Nothing I wore 2nite changes that."

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2014/10/os-say-comeback-not-impossible-but-they-

are-one-win-from-the-end-of-their-season.html

O's say comeback not impossible, but they're one loss from

the end of their season

By Steve Melewski / MASNsports.com

October 15, 2014 7:48 AM

KANSAS CITY - So the 2014 Orioles season may have just one day to go. I don't think anyone

could have predicted a four-game sweep of the 96-win Orioles coming off their three-game

sweep of Detroit.

But that is where this series is with the Orioles needing a miracle to pull out the American

League Championship Series now.

It seems the Royals are always one step ahead of the Orioles no matter what they do. Score six

runs in Game 1 and give up eight. Hold the Royals to just two runs in Game 3, but score only

one.

Hit a hot smash to third and watch Mike Moustakas play like Brooks Robinson. See two flares

fall in for hits in the fourth last night and watch K.C. tie the game at 1-1.

Over 162 games in the regular season, the Royals were not the better team. But they have been in

this series. It's almost like the games have been close, but the series overall now is not. The

Royals are on the brink of a sweep.

It is almost an impossible situation for the Orioles.

"We're not looking at it like that, I can assure you of that," shortstop J.J. Hardy said. "We have to

come out tomorrow and win and take it one day at a time. Right now, they are doing everything

right. Their pitching is tough, that's no secret. That bullpen is as good as it gets."

Adam Jones also addressed the Orioles' dire situation.

"We just have to win. We're down 3-0. It's no ifs, ands or buts. It's do, at this point," he said.

"We came and battled ourselves through spring training. And then yielded ourselves through the

entire season, won our division and put ourselves in the best possible situation to do something

special for the city of Baltimore.

"Kansas City is doing the same thing for their city. They are grinding it out and you never know

what can happen when you play with house money. Both franchises weren't supposed to be here

but we're here and grinding it out."

The Royals bullpen's big three of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland have been

unhittable at times. They have combined to pitch 11 innings allowing just one run in this series.

O's batters are hitting a combined .077 (2-for-26) against Herrera and Davis. Throw in the O's 3-

for-12 against Holland and they are still batting just .132 against that big three.

Last night, the O's took their first lead of the series on back-to-back doubles by Steve Pearce and

Hardy in the second inning. Outside of those two hits, the Orioles went 1-for-28 in the game. Not

nearly good enough.

Kansas City had no extra-base hits or even one single hit with a runner in scoring position last

night. But these Royals won again and the Orioles' season is close to over.

A few other ALCS notes:

* The Royals have won 10 straight postseason games dating to the 1985 World Series when they

rallied from down 3-1 to win in seven games. That is tied for the third-longest streak in baseball

history. The record is 12 postseason wins in a row, done twice by the Yankees.

* The Royals became the third team in history to win their first seven games of a postseason,

joining the 1976 Reds and 2007 Rockies. No team has ever opened a postseason with more than

seven wins in a row.

* Pearce was 0-for-9 in this series until his double in the second inning last night.

* Kansas City's Lorenzo Cain went 2-for-4 last night. He is 8-for-12 (.667) in this series and 12-

for-31 (.387) in the playoffs.

* Wei-Yin Chen allowed just two runs last night, but Orioles starters have pitched to an ERA of

7.08 in this series and 5.59 with just one quality start in six postseason games against the Tigers

and Royals.

'http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2014/10/adam-jones-on-the-orioles-loss-in-game-

3.html

Adam Jones on the Orioles' loss in Game 3, plus other

clubhouse quotes

By Steve Melewski / MASNsports.com

October 15, 2014 12:04 AM

KANSAS CITY - Now that they are one game from elimination, the Orioles need to run the table

in this American League Championship Series and win four straight games.

Kansas City won 2-1 tonight to take a 3-0 lead in the series. The Royals have won the three

contests in this series by five total runs.

A comeback from down 3-0 happened once before. That was in 2004 when the Boston Red Sox

came back to beat the New York Yankees in seven games.

"I mean, it's been done before, so that gives you a chance," center fielder Adam Jones said.

"We've won four games before, obviously not in this situation. Have to start tomorrow. Start in

that first inning and get some runs across the board."

The Orioles don't feel they've played badly in this series, but the Royals always seem to be one

step ahead of them.

"There is no answer to that. They've been able to get the big hit. Get the guy over. To get the guy

in from third," Jones added. "We've played three really good games, just fell short in each game.

Now we have a good idea of what the uphill battle is now. Just got to win."

The Orioles got their first lead in this series on back-to-back doubles by Steve Pearce and J.J.

Hardy in the third inning. But Jones felt like the O's left a run or two on the table as they had two

on with one out and didn't score any more in that inning.

"We did. Pearce with a big double. J.J. with a big double. Nick Hundley drove the ball, but

wrong ballpark to hit the ball to the warning track," Jones said. "But we put together good at-bats

and we leave it on the field. We don't have any excuses."

Once again, the Royals shortened the game with their outstanding late-inning relief as Kelvin

Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland retired the side in order in the seventh, eighth and ninth

innings. In fact, the last 16 batters were retired consecutively to end the game.

"They're real good," Jones said after going 0-for-4. "As good as advertised with Herrera, Davis

and Holland. But we still had opportunities against them. It's not like they are just going to shut

everybody down. We had opportunities, but we were unable to come through."

So what will the O's mood in the clubhouse be like tomorrow?

"We will be just like we normally are," Jones said. "Having some fun, playing cards and getting

ready for a big league game."

Elsewhere around the O's clubhouse:

Kevin Gausman on facing Billy Butler in a first-and-third situation in the sixth: "You know,

either get a strikeout or a groundball double play. Threw a great first pitch, tried to do the same

one again. Think it kind of stayed up a little bit. He's a professional hitter. He's been around the

league for a while and guys in that situation, they know what they need to do."

J.J. Hardy on O's possibly gaining momentum when they scored first: "It's a good start anytime

you score first. It's a good start. But all night, (Jeremy Guthrie) didn't give us many pitches to hit.

He threw the ball well, their bullpen. Chen threw the ball well. Gausman, too."

Hardy on if he feels the O's have played well even in losing three games: "Tough to say. They're

not giving us many chances to do things. They are playing really well. I don't know if you can

say we are playing well or not. Got to win some games."

Ryan Flaherty on the 3-0 deficit: "They've played a good three games. Been better than us for the

first three games. You know, get another one tomorrow. You know you never imagine coming

out and getting down 0-3 but we had our backs against the wall all year kind of with a lot of

injuries. So this is no time to quit now."

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2014/10/orioles-take-first-lead-of-alcs.html

Orioles take first lead of ALCS (O's lose 2-1, trail 3-0 in

series)

By Roch Kubatko / MASNsports.com

October 14, 2014 8:40 PM

KANSAS CITY - There are a few specks of orange at Kauffman Stadium tonight for Game 3 of

the American League Championship Series. A quiet "O" rang out during the anthem.

Orioles fans are far outnumbered in the sea of royal blue. A buoy in the ocean.

The atmosphere is completely different than what we encountered at Comerica Park for the

Division Series. Guess it changes when the home team has a 2-0 lead in games.

Hall of Famer George Brett threw out the ceremonial first pitch tonight, much to the surprise of

no one. Former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie threw the first pitch of Game 3, getting a called strike on

Nick Markakis, who grounded out on the next offering.

The Orioles came out hacking against Guthrie, who threw nine of his 10 pitches for strikes in the

first inning. They took their first lead of the ALCS in the second on back-to-back doubles by

Steve Pearce and J.J. Hardy.

Pearce was 0-for-9 in the series before finding the gap in left-center field. Hardy went to right-

center to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead.

Miguel Gonzalez gets the start in Game 4 after a long layoff.

"It's been two weeks, but I've been preparing myself to stay focused and I've had a couple of

bullpens and a live BP, so I'm excited," said Gonzalez, who posted a 2.19 ERA in the second

half. "I'm excited to go out there and give my team a chance to win a ballgame."

Does Gonzalez feel more pressure with the Orioles losing the first two games at home and

perhaps being on the verge of elimination if they don't win tonight?

"We've still got to play our game no matter what," he said. "We've been playing good, just a

little... At times we had some rough base hits off of us, and those two games were tough to

swallow, but we're in a good position. We're going to try to do as much as we've been doing the

whole season."

Gonzalez and Jason Vargas faced each other twice last season. Vargas, pitching for the Angels,

tossed a three-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory, and Gonzalez earned a 3-2 win.

"He's going to challenge our hitters and I'm going to do the same thing against them," Gonzalez

said. "All we've got to do is just try to give our team a chance to win a ballgame and do the

fundamentals. I think I feel good about myself right now. I'm going to try to do as best as

possible to give our team a chance to win the ballgame."

Gonzalez posted a 2.19 ERA in the second half. The key?

"Confidence," he replied. "I moved toward the middle of the pitcher's (rubber) and I felt a lot

more comfortable there. My first couple of games out of the season weren't great, but I felt a lot

better the second half."

Gonzalez is making his first postseason start since the 2012 ALDS, when he held the Yankees to

one run over seven innings.

"Yeah, 2012, it was a great game," he said. "I felt good coming out of that game. But

unfortunately, we didn't win that game. But it's definitely exciting again to be in this position and

be able to play in the ALCS. I'm excited to go."

Gonzalez knows he can't let the Royals' speed on the basepaths become a distraction.

"I've got to keep doing what I'm doing," he said. "I've got to keep changing speeds and my

timing, as well, when there's runners on. I think that's really important. But I'm not going to try to

do anything different than what I've been doing the whole year."

Update: The Royals scored once in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game 1-1.

They loaded the bases with one out on two singles and a walk, and Lorenzo Cain scored on Alex

Gordon's grounder. Cain is 8-for-10 in the ALCS.

Wei-Yin Chen got in trouble in the fourth inning of the ALDS and never escaped it. He's back in

the dugout tonight at 59 pitches. Guthrie has thrown 83 pitches in four innings, including 32 in

the fourth. Hardy worked him for 14 before grounding out.

Update II: Billy Butler's sacrifice fly off Kevin Gausman gave Kansas City a 2-1 lead in the

sixth.

Nori Aoki singled off Chen and pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson took third on Eric Hosmer's one-out

single to right.

Chen allowed two runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, with one walk and four strikeouts. He

threw 80 pitches, 53 for strikes.

Bud Norris is the only Orioles starter to complete six innings in the postseason, going 6 1/3 in

Game 3 of the Division Series.

Update III: The Orioles continue to trail 2-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth.

The Royals have retired 18 of the last 19 Orioles and 13 in a row. The Orioles don't have a hit

since Markakis' single leading off the third. Ryan Flaherty walked in the fourth.

Gausman has retired all five batters he's faced. The Orioles just can't score.

Update IV: The Royals beat the Orioles 2-1 before 40,183 at Kauffman Stadium to take a

commanding 3-0 lead in the series.

Gausman retired all eight batters he faced, but the Orioles' bats went silent. The last 16 hitters

were retired, and 21 of the last 22.

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2014/10/showalter-meets-with-the-media.html

Showalter meets with the media

By Roch Kubatko / MASNsports.com

October 14, 2014 6:48 PM

KANSAS CITY - As Orioles manager Buck Showalter joked with reporters again today before

heading to the field for batting practice, it was impossible to tell whether his team was up or

down two games in the American League Championship Series.

After a Kansas City sports radio personality introduced himself for a second time - it's not

necessary to do it once, let alone twice - Showalter said, "I remember you."

Showalter also wondered how reporters came up with new story angles every day.

"I don't know how you do it," he said. "There's only so much you can get there."

Reminded that he did it at ESPN before taking the Orioles job, Showalter replied, "I made up a

lot of stuff there."

Here's more from Showalter: Jason Vargas and Miguel Gonzalez had a couple of really good

matchups last year. What do you remember about Vargas?

Showalter: "I've always liked Vargas a lot. We actually tried to acquire him, too. But he's a

professional, solid left‑hander, does a lot of things well."

Q: Anything in particular that he...

Showalter: "Locates the ball well, changeup, pitches on a good plane, athletic, goes in when he

needs to, very smart pitcher."

Q: The layoff that Gonzalez has had, how do you feel he's going to come back?

Showalter: "Well, as opposed to what? How do we combat that? You can only play so many sim

games. Same thing with Jeremy (Guthrie), and they'll be fine. They don't get to this level using

things like that as an excuse. I think we're all operating on the same... it didn't rain out for one

team and not the other team. The wind is not blowing for one team and not the other one.

Everyone has the same off-days. Matter of fact, we had the same off-days coming into it. We're

on a level playing field. There are challenges that are presented all year long that you have to

respond to. I mean, the real challenge of the postseason is it's such a completely different routine

than you have during the season. That's why it's such a different type of baseball. The travel is

different, the off-days are different. You're traveling with families, which is great, but still it's

different. So off-days, extra off-days, I try to stay all season long, try to keep our guys' routine

the same. That's why start times fluctuate so much. But during the season, the other team may

get to the hotel half a day before you do. But it all equals out over the course of the season. It's

part of the challenge. And it will be different than something they've done during the season. But

I think everybody is facing those same challenges."

Q: Being down 0‑2, what do you tell your guys about the pressure about a game like this

tonight?

Showalter: "I don't know. I know our local guys have heard it a lot, I don't want to be Captain

Obvious here. They get it. They've gotten it. They know who they are. And it's unconditional. I

have respect for them. Sometimes you can get so involved in results, we live in such a result‑

oriented society. That's part of it. Why is everybody here? You've got to make sure that people

are paying for you all and me to be here. We've got responsibilities. So you try to stay in the

moment and not want something too much. Sometimes, you can want something too much and

get in your own way. I know that nobody is going to out‑want us. Our curiosity is always

satisfied. It doesn't always mean you like the results, but you've got to stay in the process.

Unfortunately, this time of year it's all about results."

Q: Ned (Yost) said that being up 2‑0 influenced his decision, his pitching the next two days.

Being down 0‑2 influence you?

Showalter: "It's something I'm aware of. We have to win. All of our starting pitchers have to

pitch well, regardless of what order we pitch them in. But they've earned that luxury, so to speak,

by winning the first two days, so he's able to do that. We're not in that position yet. No, I just

know that regardless of who we pitch... it's not like we've had somebody go out there in the first

two games and dominate them from a starting pitching standpoint, where you definitely want to

get somebody back out there as soon as possible. But we also hope and think that that's always

got the potential to be around the corner. If you look at all the playoffs, what's been the longest

stint of anybody starting pitching? I think there's been periods where pitchers have, I don't want

to use the word 'dominated,' done very well, but there's been such a great concentration level this

time of year, you grind so many at‑bats, and pitchers have a tougher time with staying out there

as long. But we know a guy like Jeremy Guthrie is capable of that, as is Wei‑Yin. That's what

makes it fascinating to see what's going to happen."

Q: Does it surprise you at all the Royals' roster has five guys with any kind of postseason

experience at all have played this kind of clutch?

Showalter: "Surprise? No. The only reason someone doesn't, same thing with our team, they

haven't been given the opportunity. Just because someone doesn't get an opportunity doesn't

mean they're not capable of it. So nothing surprises me what these guys do. There's not a night

goes by I don't see something on the field, 'Wow, that's pretty cool.' These guys are really good.

Even when it hurts you, you still have the respect for Lorenzo Cain making a great play in a

clutch situation or great hit. It hurts, but you do have that very quiet respect for what it takes to

do that. So I think sometimes, what does that mean? In a lot of cases it means that you are on a

real good team. It doesn't necessarily mean you were part of it if you've got a lot of experience.

What does experience really mean?"

Q: This is kind of a follow‑up - you've been very patient with your starting pitchers throughout

the season, letting them go a little deeper, when they get in trouble a little bit early. Will that

change?

Showalter: "I think it already has changed some. That's the difference. They know that. If I had

taken some of them out the first two games like I have, we'd probably have had to have a

conversation. They take a lot of pride in that. You do so many things during the season for it to

be conducive to long‑term success. And there's just a sense of urgency in that pitch, that inning,

that batter. Gonzo could start tomorrow, but we would use him in the bullpen tonight if we had to

and figure out what tomorrow brings. We're going to do what it takes to win that at‑bat, that

inning, and that game. When the smoke clears, see how many bullets we have left and if our

powder is still dry. It is different and it's already been different. But the problem is you have such

a track record with these guys that you know that a bad... giving up a run or two, and you see

them go six innings without giving up one. Which one is coming? You've got more bullets at

your disposal that are rested and ready to pitch. You've almost got too many toys to play with

sometimes."

Q: Because it's the postseason, there's so much attention, does it make away games that much

harder? Does it seem that much longer than a normal two days would be?

Showalter: "Of course. What about you? It does. But I don't think anxiety comes in. It's like I

told the guys, they earned this. They worked real hard to get this opportunity. I like Kansas City

a lot. I think it's one of the best towns in baseball. I really do. It has a lot of similarities to

Baltimore. But it seems like we've been here a while. But we're hoping to stay here tonight and

two more days. I'm sure they'll have something to say about that."

Q: You mentioned maybe guys trying to do too much or wanting something too much. Is there

anything you maybe say to your hitters or anything like that that you noticed yet?

Showalter: "No, you can't. I'm not taking that want-to from them. What comes first? You want

them to be - what's the lady, Doris Day, that sang 'Que Sera, Sera.' We don't live in that world.

It's important to our fans. Important to a lot of people. I tell them all the time, if we're playing the

Nationals in spring training or the Yankees and the fans think that's important and they've put it

on a different scale, then it should be important to you. That's really the barometer. You can't

take that away. You can't make somebody want something less. But just try to stay focused on

the things that really are separators. There's such a fine line in all these teams this time of year.

That's what makes it intriguing for people that watch it and cover it and whatever, because it can

turn on one play. And then we can sit there and triple analyze it afterwards and talk about it for

days."

Q: One of the biggest cliches that you hear now is that the Royals are built to win in the

postseason. What exactly does that really mean?

Showalter: "They're built to win, period. Every team, they've done a great job. There's a part of

you, just like when your grandmother makes you go get a switch to whip your own butt with, it's

not much fun. Don't come back with a little one. There's a part of it that really pulls for people

like them, and their front office people and their coaches and Ned, for that matter. Someone has

to go home unhappy and feel unfulfilled and that's sad. You try not to dwell on it. But it's the

reality of the world we're in right now. They qualified for the playoffs. What did they do? They

earned it, they earned it. And you can't say somebody is getting hot at the right time. We play too

many games. That's not the case at all. You are who you are. This case, you seek your level. And

because we play so many games, there are no Cinderellas in baseball. Play too many games.

Starts back in February and Sarasota and Surprise. I got to be real close with the organization

because I think we shared complexes. I know how much it means to them and how hard they

worked. Two forces, we have a lot in common, I think."

Q: What contributed to the decision for Nick Hundley over Caleb Joseph in this game?

Showalter: "Oh, it's 51-49, almost a flip of the coin. Obviously, it's a little more than that. With

the game tomorrow Caleb is going to catch. Even though the day game, night game doesn't play

at all for me like it does during the season. Just looking at some things that we're trying to not be

at an advantage or disadvantage at. I'm not going to go into particulars. But John Russell, our

catching guy and catching coach and bench coach, and Dave Wallace and Dom Chiti and I will

sit down and go over a lot of things. I feel perfectly calm either way. We've had two catchers all

year, and we feel real good about either one of them being there. And just a very small tiebreaker

now that we decided to go with."

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2014/10/notes-on-gonzalez-cruz-and-joseph.html

Notes on Gonzalez, Cruz and Joseph

By Roch Kubatko / MASNsports.com

October 14, 2014 5:33 PM

KANSAS CITY - Miguel Gonzalez will start Game 4 of the American League Championship

Series unless he's needed in relief tonight.

Gonzalez hasn't started since Sept. 28 in Toronto in the final regular season game. The layoff,

however, isn't the reason for his assignment on Wednesday.

"That whole thing about time off, this time of the year... In fact, Gonzo has handled it pretty well

when we've given him extra time," said manager Buck Showalter.

Nelson Cruz will start in left field in Game 4 against Royals left-hander Jason Vargas. Delmon

Young will serve as the designated hitter and Alejando De Aza will move to the bench.

The only hesitation for Showalter is because he doesn't like losing Cruz's bat when making a late

defensive substitution.

"I think he'll look forward to getting out there tomorrow," Showalter said.

Showalter said it was "51-49" in favor of starting Nick Hundley behind the plate tonight rather

than Caleb Joseph, who collected two hits and a sacrifice fly in Game 2.

Joseph will start Game 4 on Wednesday. Showalter likes the idea of having Joseph face Vargas.

Hundley is a career .200 hitter against left-handers.

"We feel good with both of them," Showalter said.

As I wrote yesterday, Wei-Yin Chen's start tonight is the first ever by a Taiwanese-born pitcher

in LCS history. Chen's third career postseason appearance will tie Chien-Ming Wang for most by

a Taiwanese-born pitcher in baseball history.

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2014/10/anderson-reminds-orioles-to-keep-their-

perspective-going-into-game-3.html

Anderson reminds Orioles to keep their perspective going

into Game 3

By Roch Kubatko / MASNsports.com

October 14, 2014 2:35 PM

KANSAS CITY - The sun is shining today and there isn't a hint of rain in the forecast. Game 3

of the American League Championship Series will be played without interruption.

Just don't mind the wind.

I went to bed in Missouri and woke up in Kansas. I'm talking heavy, blustery winds. The kind

that violently shake flag poles, as I've witnessed, and turn every fly ball and pop-up into an

adventure.

But it's not raining.

Following the Orioles' Game 2 loss at home to the Royals, I approached vice president of

baseball operations Brady Anderson in the clubhouse and asked what kind of advice he'd offer

his club.

Brandy Anderson Spring tall.jpg"Just to keep perspective," he replied. "It's not that big of a deal

to lose two games in a row. Obviously, you've got to win two out of three to come back here.

Again, two-game losing streaks happen during the season all the time. Obviously, you're in a

hole, you realize that, but it's no time to be down. It's really not."

The Royals have been good and they've been lucky. That's a tough combination.

"They're good defenders," Anderson said. "They've got some guys in the lineup who are hot right

now. They've got (Eric) Hosmer and (Mike) Moustakas hot at the same time. So they're pretty

balanced. Even though they're not a power-hitting team, they have some power hitters in their

lineup.

"As far as the playoffs go, they have been hitting with the highest slugging average, so right now

they are a power-hitting team as well as a base stealing team and a great defensive team. I think

their pitching and their bullpen in particular, their success is well-documented, so that's no

surprise. We've actually had some really good at-bats against their relievers, which is

encouraging."

The Orioles have been victimized by the longball, but also swinging bunts, infield choppers and

bloop hits.

"It's always like that when you lose," Anderson said. "You can look back on (Friday's) three-run

blooper down the right field line. A ball in the lights. Again, in a short series, plays like that

really show up. Everything's meaningful. That's the beauty of the playoffs. Every single play,

ever single at-bat usually counts.

"Two close games and I expect more in the next three days."

Baseball American released its Top 20 Prospects in the Eastern League and the Orioles were shut

out. However, one of their former farmhands is ranked No. 7 - left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez,

who was traded to the Red Sox for reliever Andrew Miller.

Rodriguez, 21, went 3-7 with a 4.79 ERA in 16 starts with Double-A Bowie and 3-1, 0.96 ERA

in six starts with Portland.

The Orioles have no regrets at this point. Scouts noted that Rodriguez seemed to regress this

summer. The major league club added the top reliever on the market at the non-waiver trade

deadline.

Miller has allowed one hit, walked one and struck out seven in 6 1/3 scoreless playoff innings.

He gave up three runs and eight hits in 20 innings over 23 appearances following the trade, with

four walks and 34 strikeouts.

You can't fully judge a trade until years later, but the Orioles don't care about prospect rankings.

They got the guy they wanted and he's delivered for them.

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2014/10/draft-pitchers-1.html

O's game blog: Orioles look for first win of ALCS tonight at

Kansas City

By Steve Melewski / MASNsports.com

October 14, 2014 6:14 PM

KANSAS CITY - After Sunday's workout day and Monday's rainout, the Orioles and Royals

have had two days without a game in the American League Championship Series.

But the weather will finally allow this series to resume tonight in windy and cool conditions in

Kansas City. The Royals lead the series, two wins to none. The Royals are two wins away from

returning to the World Series for the first time in 29 years.

Since baseball moved to the best-of-seven format in 1985, six teams won the first two games of

an ALCS on the road, and all six went on to win the series - four won by four-game sweeps.

So the O's are looking for a first and it needs to start with a Game 3 win tonight at Kauffman

Stadium.

In the first two games of the series, Kansas City batters are hitting .329 with 14 runs and 25 hits,

including five doubles and four homers. K.C. is batting .316 (6-for-19) with runners in scoring

position.

The Royals are averaging 6.3 runs per game with eight homers in going 6-0 in this postseason.

The Orioles offense has produced a .291 average in this series with 10 runs on 23 hits, including

three doubles and one homer. The Orioles are batting .364 (8-for-22) with RISP.

The Orioles are averaging 6.2 runs per game while going 3-2 this postseason.

Wei-Yin Chen (16-6, 3.54 ERA) gets the start tonight against former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie (13-

11, 4.13 ERA).

Chen against the Royals:

* 1-0 with a 2.19 ERA this season

* 1-1 with a 4.17 ERA in six career starts

* 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA in two career starts at Kauffman Stadium

Chen will make his third career postseason start, tying Chien-Ming Wang for the most playoff

starts by a Taiwanese-born pitcher in baseball history. His start today will be the first by a

Taiwanese-born pitcher in LCS history.

Chen did not receive a decision in his first start of the 2014 playoffs, allowing five earned runs in

3 2/3 innings against Detroit in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.

The Orioles are 20-12 in Chen's starts this year counting the playoffs, and are 11-5 in his last 16.

Guthrie has not pitched since Sept. 26 when he pitched seven scoreless innings against the White

Sox to cap a September where he went 3-1 with a 2.40 ERA.

In two 2014 starts against the Orioles, he is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA, and in four career starts,

Guthrie is 2-1 with a 2.67 ERA against the Orioles.

This season, left-handed hitters hit him much better than right-handed batters with a .297 average

as opposed to a .241 average. Lefty batters had an OPS of .828 against Guthrie.

Since 1954, when the Orioles moved to Baltimore, their .584 winning percentage in the

postseason (52-37 record) is the second-best in the majors behind the Miami Marlins (.667, 22-

11).

The ALCS is the Orioles' 21st playoff series as they have played in six World Series (3-3), 10

ALCS (5-4 coming into this one), four American League Division Series (3-1) and one wild card

game (1-0).

The O's are 19-14 in the World Series, 21-18 in the ALCS and 11-5 in the ALDS all-time.

The teams have played 8 hours, 54 minutes of baseball in the first two games of this series,

averaging 4:27 per contest. I have a feeling O's fans would be fine with another long game as

long as it ends in an Orioles victory.

The gusty winds here tonight seem to be blowing from left to right field, which I'm told is often

the case here. That could favor the left-handed batters and hurt the right-handed hitters.

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2014/10/yost-on-windy-conitions-vargas-on-game-

4-start.html

Yost on windy conitions, Vargas on Game 4 start

By Steve Melewski / MASNsports.com

October 14, 2014 5:46 PM

KANSAS CITY - The Orioles and Royals will play Game 3 of the American League

Championship Series tonight amid windy and blustery conditions, which figure to impact the

game.

At his pregame press conference earlier, Royals manager Ned Yost was asked how the wind

might make a difference tonight. He doesn't seem to feel it favors his team even though it has

played in these home conditions before.

"The wind plays the same for both teams," Yost said. "It will probably knock balls down in left

and left-center field and even into center field. But our guys have a pretty good idea. And you

know what, these guys, even Baltimore, who hasn't played here that much, their outfield is

outstanding.

"They'll get out there during batting practice and take balls and understand what the wind is

doing, too, in a matter of about 10 minutes. You just go play the game."

Yost named left-hander Jason Vargas his starter for Game 4 tomorrow afternoon at Kauffman

Stadium, electing not to bring Game 1 starter James Shields back on regular rest.

"The thought process, (Jeremy) Guthrie has had a bunch of rest, Vargy has had a bunch of rest.

We thought it beneficial to give Shields an extra day and (Yordano) Ventura an extra day," Yost

said.

"I think being up two games helps us do that. If it was tied 1‑1, it might have been a different

decision. But we just felt it was best to line it up that way, give everybody as much rest as we

can and go get it."

Yost was asked how his lineup matches up with tonight's Orioles starter, left-hander Wei-Yin

Chen.

"OK. I mean, I like the way our lineup has matched up against anybody here lately," Yost said.

"You look at normally during the course of the season Mous (Mike Moustakas) struggled against

lefties, but he's been really, really good for the most part against lefties in the playoffs.

"But our lineup has been doing extremely well. We've had a lot of guys getting on base at the top

of the order, a lot of production from the middle of the order."

A reporter asked Yost about Kansas City's pitch selection during at-bats, saying it was an issue

for the team earlier, but has been better lately. Yost agreed.

"Yeah, it just clicked and they figured it out. Those are all things we talk about every day," Yost

said. "When you're going good, that's why you're going good, because you're getting pitches to

hit and you're not missing them. Something just clicked and all of a sudden they're locked in at

the plate, all of them."

Vargas went 11-10 with an ERA of 3.71 in 30 regular season starts. He last pitched on Oct. 2 in

Game 1 of the AL Division Series, when he gave up three hits and two runs over six innings

against the Angels.

So he'll be pitching on 12 days rest when he takes the mound Wednesday.

"I don't know, I've never had this much rest," Vargas said. "So I couldn't give you a good

guideline on what I'll be looking for. But I'll be ready to go and be ready to try to execute my

game plan and execute pitches.

"I'm sure I'll have a lot of anxiousness, just like I did in the other playoff game. It might not seem

like it on the outside, but there's a lot of adrenaline going. And definitely in that first one, you get

up there, and your body feels a lot different than it normally does.

"We'll prepare the same way, and when we get out there, we'll see what it feels like again."

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2014/10/draft-35.html

In Buck they trust: O's skipper calm and relaxed despite 0-2

hole in ALCS

By Steve Melewski / MASNsports.com

October 14, 2014 1:16 PM

Don't worry, be happy.

Cue the Bobby McFerrin song.

If they take their lead from their manager - and the players, to a man, pretty much say they do -

then the Orioles are not exactly stressing over their 0-2 deficit in the American League

Championship Series.

Is Buck Showalter really as relaxed as he seems? Well, maybe not completely on the inside, but

the O's skipper's calm approach seems to be sending a we-can-do-this message to his clubhouse.

Now they just have to do it. Come back and make this a series. Right now, any part of the

baseball world that didn't know is finding out that these Royals have all the momentum and they

plan to ride it all the way to their first World Series in 29 years.

Unless the relaxed, unconcerned Showalter-led Orioles can change the script. They sure have the

appearance of a team ready to do that and soon we begin to find out if they actually can.

Maybe the key is Buck and luck. Follow their manager's lead and get a few of those bloops or

broken bat hits on their side. The Royals seem to be playing with a bit of a charmed life in this

series. Can't last, can it?

This might not surprise any O's fan, but Showalter also is in control in the interview room. While

he mixes in quips with reporters and drifts into occasional college football talk, he is also

masterful at answering any question he wants, avoiding any he wants and slipping in a

subliminal message if he feels the need.

For instance, Showalter ended his Sunday press conference here by saying this about his closer,

Zach Britton:

"I didn't find out until after the fact that first day that he was slipping out there and didn't want to

use it as an excuse. I didn't know that until he was telling somebody. That's the way Zach is. He

doesn't want to look for an excuse."

Showalter made sure reporters heard that about Game 1, when Britton threw 20 pitches and just

five strikes. He has Britton's back. By the way, that response came at the end of an answer to a

question about setting up his lineup.

For two days, Showalter has deftly avoided addressing anything about Jarrod Dyson. But

yesterday when asked how confident he is that his team can come back, he slipped this into the

conversation:

"I'm very careful about saying something that makes my players' job harder than it is. So that's

why I try to keep in mind, you think about the words, how they reflect on your team, your

organization, the city. It's tough sometimes. But I think that's the bottom line. The game is hard

enough as it is."

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but I took that as a shot of sorts at Dyson. As if Buck was saying,

"You can run your mouth, but I won't."

But all this talking and analysis of everything in this series including my own here today on

Showalter, will come to an end soon and the Orioles have to do it on the field.

They need better starting pitching, their bullpen needs to tighten up in the late innings and they

can use a few homers, even in a park where it's hard to hit them.

Jeremy Guthrie had a strong finish to this season but he also has an ERA of 4.13, gave up 215

hits in 202 2/3 and gave up an OPS of .828 to left-handed batters.

The Orioles need to ring up a six-spot or so on their former teammate tonight to send a message

that there's plenty of fight left in this dog.

Their leader has been calm, relaxed and in charge. Tonight we find out if that translates to the

field for the Orioles with their season two losses from ending.

http://www.pressboxonline.com/2014/10/15/how-do-orioles-match-up-against-royals-game-4-

starter-jason-vargas

HOW DO ORIOLES MATCH UP AGAINST ROYALS

GAME 4 STARTER JASON VARGAS?

By Eric Blum / PressBoxOnline.com

October 15, 2014

Trailing 0-3 in the American League Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals, the

Baltimore Orioles will try to keep their season alive Oct. 15 at Kauffman Stadium. Miguel

Gonzalez (10-9, 3.2.3 during the 2014 regular season) will take the mound for the Orioles,

making his first appearance of the 2014 postseason.

During Game 4, Orioles hitters will face Jason Vargas (11-10, 3.71 ERA), a 30-game starter for

the Royals in the regular season. Vargas was the starting pitcher for Kansas City in its Game 1

American League Division Series win against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

How do the Orioles match up against Vargas?

He has faced the Orioles eight times in his career, including his starts with the Angels and

Mariners, despite not pitching against them this season. He has held the Orioles to a .224 batting

average, giving up 46 hits in 55.2 innings. He is 2-3 with a 1.94 ERA including two complete

games.

Looking at the Orioles' lineup, outfielder/designated hitter Nelson Cruz has the most experience

against Vargas. Cruz was a member of the Texas Rangers, who are in the American League West

with the Angels and Mariners, for eight seasons prior to signing a contract with the Orioles in

February. In 30 at-bats, Cruz has 10 hits, including four home runs, eight RBIs, and two doubles.

Cruz has also worked seven walks against Vargas.

Center fielder Adam Jones and right fielder Nick Markakis have faced him 27 and 25 times,

respectively. Jones finished the 2014 regular season with a .281 batting average, but his numbers

against Vargas are much lower. He has five hits against Vargas and four strikeouts, leaving him

with an average of .185.

Markakis has fared slightly better against Vargas by attaining the same number of hits in two less

at bats, leaving him with a .200 batting average. The lone home run Markakis has against Vargas

came more than two years ago on Aug. 6, 2012, which also happens to be the only at bat where

Vargas has allowed RBIs to Markakis. Former Orioles first baseman Mark Reynolds was on base

when he hit the ball onto Eutaw Street.

Among the Orioles who have faced Vargas at least five times, Game 2 ALDS hero Delmon

Young has the highest batting average against him at .389 in 18 at bats. None of his seven hits

against Vargas went for extra bases, and Young has struck out five times against Vargas.

http://www.pressboxonline.com/2014/10/15/a-royals-sweep-against-the-orioles-in-the-alcs-feels-

inevitable

A ROYALS SWEEP AGAINST THE ORIOLES IN THE

ALCS FEELS INEVITABLE

By PressBoxOnline.com

October 15, 2014

The Baltimore Orioles are down 0-3 to the Kansas City Royals in the American League

Championship Series and it feels like it may as well be 0-100.

Sure, if Miguel Gonzalez pitches extremely well Oct. 15 and the Orioles can jump on Royals

starter Jason Vargas for some early runs, the Birds can stave off elimination and live to play

another day.

I know the story of the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who got off the deck after losing the first three

games of their best-of-seven series against the Yankees. The Yankees won the first two games at

their home, the old Yankee Stadium, and then went to Fenway and won Game 3. Game 1 was a

wild affair won by Yankee starter Mike Mussina, 10-7. Game 2 was won by the home team, 3-1,

with Jon Lieber getting the win against the Red Sox's Pedro Martinez. Game 3 at Fenway was

won by the Yankees, 19-8.

There may not be a game in baseball history more different from the Yankees Game 3 win in

2004, than the Royals' 2-1 win against the Orioles at Kauffman Stadium Oct. 14.

It's really hard to imagine being any lower than the Orioles are at this point. But the Sox losing

Game 3, 19-8, before their home fans at Fenway to drop to 0-3 had to be worse.

The details are not all that important, but suffice it say Red Sox fans must have had the same

feeling of inevitability that their chance at their first World Series in 85 years had come to an

end.

But, as if they were suddenly comic strip super heroes that go "boom," "sham," "whoosh,"

"slam," "bang," the Red Sox had pulled off two consecutive victories, 6-4, and, 5-4, to set up a

return to the Bronx and the infamous Curt Schilling bloody sock, in which he out dueled Jon

Lieber, 4-2, with home run support by Boston infielder Mark Bellhorn.

Miraculously, the Red Sox had pulled even at three games apiece. Prior to the Game 7 in 2004,

no team in baseball playoff history had come back to win a series after trailing three games to

none.

The Red Sox would send Derek Lowe to the mound against the Yankees' Kevin Brown, who

probably won fewer big games than any other big-name pitcher. You want to talk anti-climactic.

The Red Sox pounded him early and often, leading, 6-0, after two innings and, 8-1, after four

innings. Ultimately, the game was never a game as the Red Sox won the ALCS with their 10-3

margin, and then finished off the deal by sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in four straight to win

the organization's first World Series since all the way back in 1918.

This current O's-Royals ALCS has pitted two teams who have been away from World Series

action for a long time -- the Royals in 1985 and the Orioles in 1983. Both teams won their last

appearance in a World Series.

The swagger fans had heading into the series seems like it existed in some parallel universe that

bears no resemblance to the other universe -- the reality in which the Royals have beaten the

Orioles in three straight games.

As fans get ready to watch Game 4, they would be foolish not to feel that sense of impending

doom. This series has not even felt close enough to pick on any players to blame. The scores

haven't been blowouts, but it sure hasn't seemed close.

Short of the divine intervention that occurred back in 2004, the Royals will most likely have

vanquished the home town four games to none by about 7:30-8 p.m. Oct. 15.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2014/story/_/id/11703604/monumental-task-front-baltimore-

orioles?ex_cid=espnapi_public

Monumental task in front of Orioles

Baltimore has to now win four straight against a K.C. team that looks unbeatable

By Jim Caple / ESPN.com

October 15, 2014, 2:36 AM ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Is there anything the Baltimore Orioles can do to come back from this

monumental 3-0 deficit in the ALCS?

Well, they can't send Curt Schilling out to the mound with a bloody sock. That might have

worked for the Boston Red Sox in 2004 when they became the only team in baseball history to

ever rally from an 3-0 hole to win a postseason series. But not only is Schilling retired, the

Orioles traded him away, along with Steve Finley and Pete Harnisch in 1991 for Glenn Davis.

(And people wonder why the Orioles haven't reached the World Series in 31 years -- and soon to

be 32 years.)

Instead, Baltimore will start Miguel Gonzalez with socks that haven't been dirtied on a game

mound in 16 days. The last time Gonzalez pitched in a real game was the last day of the regular

season. As manager Buck Showalter said when asked about the long layoff for Gonzalez: "The

real challenge of the postseason is it's such a completely different routine than you have during

the season."

Exactly. And the most obvious difference is the regular season is 162 games, so a three-game

losing streak is both inevitable and easily overcome. Not so in the postseason, in which losing

three games in a best-of-seven series is deadly.

It's not that the Orioles have been vastly outplayed by the Kansas City Royals in this series. They

lost Game 1 in extra innings. They lost Game 2 when the Royals broke open a tie game in the

ninth inning. They lost Game 3 by one run, which scored on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.

Nonetheless, they are simply in too deep a hole against a team playing as well as Kansas City.

For crying out loud, the Orioles can't even hit a ball several feet into the dugout suite without the

Royals catching it.

"I didn't even see him catch it," Orioles center fielder Adam Jones said of Mike Moustakas'

plunging grab in the sixth. "I just saw him falling over. And [I'm like], 'He caught that?'"

So perhaps the Orioles need to track down Steve Bartman, get him good seats near the left-field

line and hope he brings his glove. But because Bartman has basically been in a witness

protection program since that infamous play for which he was unfairly blamed 11 years ago, that

probably won't happen, either.

So that leaves what? Getting Jeffrey Maier to sit in the right-field bleachers probably won't help.

It's too late to trade for Big Papi. And getting Don Denkinger assigned to umpire first base is

definitely not the answer.

Asked whether there is any superstitious routine the Orioles could try before Game 4, Jones

paused and gave it some thought. "I'm generally even-keeled with things," he said. "But I might

call Jason Giambi for that thong of his."

The thong Jones referred to is a golden "slump-buster" thong that Giambi slips into teammates'

lockers whenever they are in a deep slump. But the Orioles will need more than a golden thong.

For one thing, they will need to get a strong start from Gonzalez -- Game 3 starter Wei-Yin Chen

was the first Orioles pitcher to get through five innings this series.

Gonzalez has delivered for them before -- he held the Yankees to just one run in seven innings in

Game 3 of the 2012 division series, and he also had a 2.19 ERA in the second half of this season.

"I feel good about myself right now," he said.

They also could use some offense from the heart of the order (Jones and Nelson Cruz went a

combined 0-for-8 on Tuesday). "The pitching was great today, but the offense wasn't there,"

Cruz said.

The Orioles actually did manage to get a lead in Tuesday's game -- their first this series -- when

Steve Pearce and J.J. Hardy somehow hit back-to-back fly balls that center fielder Lorenzo Cain

was not able to catch in the second inning. That resulted in two doubles and a 1-0 lead that

actually quieted down the Kansas City fans ever so briefly. But the Orioles managed just one

more hit after that -- and it was a bloop single.

The Orioles will also need to score early against Kansas City starter Jason Vargas because they

haven't been able to do much against Kansas City's vaunted bullpen, nor has anyone else. As it

is, the Orioles have one run, eight hits and 13 strikeouts in 12⅓ innings against Kansas City's

relievers in this series.

"That bullpen is as good as advertised with [Kelvin] Herrera, [Wade] Davis and [Greg] Holland,"

Jones said. "But we still have opportunities. It's not like they're going to go out and shut

everybody down."

Well, they pretty much have so far, so it'll be best to avoid any deficits after the fifth inning.

So with Baltimore trailing three games to none, thongs, bloody socks and bad-luck-charm fans

will not help Baltimore. The Orioles will have to simply come out with their heads held high,

their bats swinging smoothly, their pitching arms strong and their fingers crossed that closer

Zach Britton can close out a win. And then try to win again the next game. And the game after

that. And the game after that.

Hmmm. Perhaps they could try to convince Kansas City manager Ned Yost to insert Bill

Buckner as a late-inning defensive replacement for first baseman Eric Hosmer.

Hey, it wouldn't hurt.

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2014/10/15/rob-long-now-wait-a-minute-orioles-fans/

Rob Long: Now Wait A Minute Orioles Fans

By Rob Long / CBS Baltimore

October 15, 2014 10:56 AM

Yes, the Baltimore Orioles are on the brink of elimination but I don’t like what I’m hearing from

fans right now. From “This team is choking” to “Buck Showalter can get them close but not over

the hump. He has a track record for that.”

What?

Are we really going there right now?

This organization has shown over the past three years that they are committed to becoming a

perennial championship contender. They’ve done most if not all of what needs to be done to

build that. Now is not the time to go doom and gloom. They’re losing to a team that’s playing

better baseball right now. It’s not because they’re choking. It’s because they are being outplayed.

I don’t like what’s happening as much as any fan in the Charm City and I get sick on my

stomach watching this unfold but I’m not going to start throwing people under the bus right now.

This team won 96 games over a 162 game season. I don’t know if anyone can beat the Kansas

City Royals right now. Does that make me feel better? No, but it looks that way.

http://www.wbaltv.com/sports/royals-jeremy-guthrie-stirs-up-anger-with-osbashing-

shirt/29139884

Royals' Jeremy Guthrie stirs up anger with O's-bashing

shirt

Former Oriole wears shirt that says "These O's ain't Royal"

By Megan Pringle / WBALTV

10:29 AM EDT Oct 15, 2014

The Baltimore Orioles dropped their third straight game to the Kansas City Royals in

heartbreaking fashion Tuesday night, and one of the Royals players who used to pitch in

Baltimore has stirred up some controversy.

The Baltimore Orioles face off against the Kansas City Royals in the American League

Championship Series.

While the Orioles held a lead Tuesday for the first time all series, the Royals ended up tying it in

the fourth inning and hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth. When Adam Jones hit a foul ball into the

seats on the third baseline in the sixth inning, Royals' Mike Moustakous made an incredible

catch -- one that former Oriole and current Royals starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie appreciated.

"To start an inning off like that, people don't quite understand how important that is for a pitcher,

to get that first out and to have web-gem-type plays like that. It's huge. That turns around the

entire inning. That's a player-of-the-game type performance," Guthrie said.

At the podium, Guthrie was wearing a T-shirt that said "These O's Ain't Royal."

While the shirt is likely a play off a line from a popular Chris Brown song that says "These girls

ain't loyal," it stirred up lots of outrage on Twitter overnight.

Baltimore native and actor Josh Charles tweeted, "Congrats Jeremy Guthrie for showing a true

lack of class wearing that shirt post game. You're like Ron Burgundy, but not funny."

Early Wednesday morning, Guthrie tweeted out an apology to O's fans, saying, "My intention

was not to anger O's fans w/ my shirt 2night. I apologize to those offended. Did not consider this

reaction." He then capped it with, "Go Royals."

The Orioles aren't down and out just yet. A comeback is possible. The Boston Red Sox became

the first team in baseball history to win a best-of-seven league championship series after losing

the first three games in 2004.

Former Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez was part of that 2004 magic. He Tweeted about it after

Tuesday's game, saying, "The Orioles are equally as talented and equally as capable to do what

we did in 2004."

http://www.csnbaltimore.com/blog/orioles-talk/davis-suspension-could-last-2015-season

Davis' suspension could last into 2015 season

By Rich Dubroff / CSN Baltimore

October 15, 2014, 10:30 am

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Chris Davis sat silently in the Orioles’ clubhouse after Tuesday night’s

game. Fully dressed, Davis was on a couch as his teammates tried to rationalize their shocking

three games to none deficit in the American League Championship Series.

Davis is completing his 25-game suspension for amphetamine use, and unless the Orioles beat

the Kansas City Royals in Game 4, he’s going to have more attention on him in 2015.

Game 4 is the 24th game of Davis’ suspension, and if the Orioles lose, he must sit out Opening

Day 2015.

Davis would be able to participate in spring training games, but not be eligible until the season’s

second game.

If the Orioles win Game 4 and lose Game 5, Davis’ suspension ends, and the team would have to

immediately return him to the 40-man roster, and drop a player.

The only positive about a possible four-game sweep is the Orioles gain an extra spot on the 40-

man roster until the second game of next season.

If the Orioles win both Games 4 and 5, Davis could sit on the bench during Game 6. During this

series, he’s been able to take batting practice before gates open and forced to watch games from

the clubhouse.

http://www.csnbaltimore.com/blog/orioles-talk/royals-could-make-baseball-history-beating-os

Royals could make baseball history by beating O's

By Ray Frager / CSN Baltimore

October 15, 2014, 9:15 am

Should the Kansas City Royals complete a sweep of the Orioles Wednesday in Game 4 of the

American League Championship Series, it won’t be hyperbole to say that baseball has never seen

anything like it.

Tuesday night’s 2-1 win by the Royals was their seventh in a row in this postseason, following

their victory in the one-game Wild Card matchup with the Oakland A’s and a three-game

elimination of the Los Angeles Angels. Only two other teams have ever won seven straight

games in MLB’s postseason — the 1976 Cincinnati Reds and the 2007 Colorado Rockies.

The Reds put together their streak with sweeps of the Philadelphia Phillies in the National

League Championship Series and the New York Yankees in the World Series. The Rockies

ended up getting swept themselves in the World Series by the Boston Red Sox, but not before

pulling off 3-0 and 4-0 series wins over the Phillies in the NLDS and the Arizona Diamondbacks

in the NLCS.

No one has ever won eight consecutive postseason games.

And the Royals are doing all this with a team lacking in playoff experience. However, manager

Ned Yost said they loaded up on experience in just one day.

"After the Wild Card game, that was all the experience we needed," Yost said. "You could tell,

somewhere in the course of that game, that something clicked for them, and they were playoff

veterans. They've played like it."

http://www.csnbaltimore.com/blog/orioles-talk/frustrated-orioles-impressed-scrappy-royals

Frustrated Orioles impressed with 'scrappy' Royals

By Rich Dubroff / CSN Baltimore

October 15, 2014, 12:30 am

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Orioles couldn’t have imagined being in this position, down three

games to none to the Kansas City Royals. One more loss, and 2014 is over.

“They’re not giving us many chances to do things,” J.J. Hardy said. “They’re playing really well.

I don’t know if you can say we’re playing well or not. We have to win some games.”

The Orioles led the majors in home runs with 211, but they have just one by Adam Jones in

Game 2.

““We don’t win all the games with power. We find a way to get it done with singles, RBIs,

doubles. That’s the way we’ve done it all year long,” Nelson Cruz said. “The pitching was great

today. The offense wasn’t there. The offense was there the first two games.”

The Royals have now won seven straight postseason games this season.

“They’re a good team, a good scrappy team. They don’t strike out, they manage to put the ball in

play and get hits. That’s the way the series has gone so far,” Steve Pearce said. “It’s definitely

been a frustrating series so far.”

Manager Buck Showalter insists his team can come back, but he sees what his team isn’t doing

and Kansas City is.

“They made a lot of good defensive plays, probably the difference in the series so far. But they

turned a lot of hits into outs, Showalter said. “They’re earning everything.”

http://www.csnbaltimore.com/blog/orioles-talk/showalter-concerned-orioles-might-want-series-

too-much

Showalter concerned Orioles might want series too much

By Rich Dubroff / CSN Baltimore

October 14, 2014, 7:30 pm

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It’s been a long two days for Buck Showalter. There was an off day on

Sunday and rain fell on Monday, preventing Game 3 of the American League Championship

Series from being played.

During the regular season, when there’s an off day and a rain out on consecutive days, there’s

not the same amount of media attention. This is different. It seems like a long time since the

teams played.

“It does, but I don't think anxiety comes in. It's like I told the guys, they earned this. They

worked real hard to get this opportunity. I love I like Kansas City a lot. I think it's one of the

best towns in baseball, I really do. It has a lot of similarities to Baltimore. But it seems like

we've been here a while,” Showalter said.

“But we're hoping to stay here tonight and two more days. I'm sure they'll have something to say

about that.”

Showalter says he thinks the Orioles sometimes want these games too much.

“You can't take that away. You can't make somebody want something less. But just try to stay

focused on the things that really are separators. There's such a fine line in all these teams this

time of year,” Showalter said.

“So you try to stay in the moment and not want something too much. Sometimes you can want

something too much and get in your own way. I know that nobody is going to outwant us.”

http://www.csnbaltimore.com/blog/orioles-talk/gonzalez-preparing-royals-aggressive-

baserunning

Gonzalez preparing for Royals' aggressive baserunning

By Rich Dubroff / CSN Baltimore

October 14, 2014, 7:15 pm

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Miguel Gonzalez gets to pitch on Wednesday in Game 4 of the

American League Championship Series. It will be his first start since Sept. 28, the final day of

the regular season.

Gonzalez was going to pitch in Game 3 of the Orioles’ Divisional Series win against Detroit, but

the day before the game, Showalter switched and had Bud Norris start what was ended up being

the clincher. Gonzalez would have started Game 4.

Showalter could have opted for Chris Tillman for Game 4 on normal rest because of Tuesday’s

rainout.

“I’ve prepared myself to stay focused and had a couple of bullpens and light batting practice. I’m

excited to go out there and have a chance to win a ballgame,” Gonzalez said.

The Orioles will either be down 2-1 or 3-0 when Gonzalez pitches.

“We’ve still got to play our game, no matter what. We’ve been playing good. At times, we had

some rough base hits off us. Those tough games were tough to swallow,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez says he won’t do anything special to combat the Royals’ baserunners.

“I’ve got to keep doing what I’m doing. I got to keep changing speeds and my timing when

there’s runners on. I think that’s really important, Gonzalez said. “But I’m not going to try to do

anything different than what I’ve been doing the whole year.”

During the season, Gonzalez was 10-9 with a 3.23 ERA. He started a game against the Yankees

in the 2012 Divisional Series.

“I felt good coming out of that game,” Gonzalez said.

http://www.csnbaltimore.com/blog/orioles-talk/showalter-tabs-gonzalez-start-game-4

Showalter tabs Gonzalez to start Game 4

By Rich Dubroff / CSN Baltimore

October 14, 2014, 5:45 pm

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Miguel Gonzalez will start Game 4 of the American League

Championship Series. Manager Buck Showalter said that he’s not worried about Gonzalez’s

inactivity; he hasn’t pitched since Sept. 28, the season’s last day.

“Gonzo’s handled it pretty well,” Showalter said.

Chris Tillman could have started Game 4 on regular rest due to Monday’s rainout, but he’ll

likely start Game 5 on Thursday if the series continues.

Showalter said that Gonzalez would be in the bullpen for Game 3, and that he could be used if

necessary there.

Kansas City will start Jason Vargas in Game 4. James Shields, who opposed Tillman in Game 1,

could be available for a fifth game.

Showalter bemoaned postseason scheduling, and said that he thinks a fairer test would be playing

seven games on consecutive. It’s possible that the teams could play five games in as many days

if a seventh game is needed.

Todd Hundley will catch Wei-Yin Chen in Game 3. Caleb Joseph will work with Gonzalez on

Wednesday.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sinclair-

baltimore&page=/mlb/news/AAN4731020.htm#.VD6dGPldV1Y

Royals try to punch World Series ticket and sweep O's

By Sportsnetwork / FOX 45

10/15 10:30:51 ET

(SportsNetwork.com) - The Kansas City Royals try to punch their ticket to the

World Series for the first time since 1985 on Wednesday, as they attempt to

complete a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles in the American League

Championship Series.

Kansas City has won all seven of its playoff games this October and is now one

victory away from appearing in the Fall Classic for the first time since

beating the St. Louis Cardinals 29 years ago.

Should it close out the series on Wednesday, KC will become the first team to

open a single postseason with eight straight wins. Dating back to that

wonderful 1985 season, the Royals have now won 10 straight playoff games.

Those 10 straight wins are tied for third all-time with the San Francisco

Giants (2012, '14), Oakland Athletics (1989-90) and the New York Yankees

(1937-39, '41). The Yankees own the top postseason win streak with 12, having

accomplished it twice (1927-28, '32 and 1998-99).

Kansas City has gotten as far as it has thanks to some timely hitting and

outstanding relief pitching. It was more of the same on Tuesday, as Billy

Butler's sixth inning sacrifice fly scored Jarrod Dyson and the Royals held on

for a 2-1 win.

Four Kansas City relievers combined for four perfect innings in the win, as

Jason Frasor (2-0) worked a perfect top of the sixth in relief of Jeremy

Guthrie before the three-headed monster of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg

Holland protected the one-run lead and gave the Royals a 3-0 advantage in this

best-of-seven set.

"To be in this position right here, it's tremendous, because there's times you

feel like you don't know if (success) going to happen," Butler said. "(General

manager) Dayton (Moore) has done a great job of drafting tremendous players,

and the city's been reaping the benefits of that and so are we."

Lorenzo Cain followed up a four-hit performance in Saturday's Game 2 by going

2-for-4 with a run scored, while Eric Hosmer also had two hits for the Royals.

Cain is 8-for-12 (.667) with five runs scored, two doubles, an RBI and two

walks in the ALCS. Cain sits one hit shy of Willie Wilson's 1985 franchise

record for hits in a single ALCS.

"I told the guys to get ready to go, make sure your head is on right, get

locked in and try to win another ballgame," Cain said.

The Orioles managed just three hits as a team, with J.J. Hardy knocking in

their lone run with a second-inning double.

"(The Royals) have been getting that big hit, that big timely hit that we

haven't been able to get," said Orioles first baseman Steve Pearce.

Of course, there has only been one team to rally from three games down to win

a best-of-seven series and that was the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who stunned the

Yankees.

"You never know what can happen when you're playing with house money,"

Baltimore's Adam Jones said. "We're both franchises who weren't supposed to be

here, but we're here and we're grinding it out."

Hoping to close it out for the Royals this afternoon will be lefty Jason

Vargas, who hasn't pitched since starting Game 1 of the ALDS against the Los

Angeles Angels back on Oct. 2. Vargas overcame a rough September and pitched

well in that one, allowing just two runs in six innings.

"I've never had this much rest, so I couldn't give you a good guideline on

what I'll be looking for," Vargas said. "But I'll be ready to go and be ready

to try to execute my game plan and execute pitches."

Baltimore, meanwhile, will have an equally rested hurler in right-hander

Miguel Gonzalez, who will get the call for the first time since Sept. 28.

Gonzalez was 10-9 this year with a 3.23 ERA this season for the Orioles.

"I'm excited. I'm excited to go out there and give my team a chance to win a

ballgame," Gonzalez said.

The Royals won four of seven from the Orioles during the regular season,

outscoring Baltimore 26-18.

If necessary, Game 5 will be played on Thursday in Kansas City.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2014/10/15/alcs-royals-orioles-game-4-must-

win/17288525/

Orioles, Adam Jones in dire straits: 'We gotta win'

By John Perrotto / USA Today

12:23 a.m. EDT October 15, 2014

KANSAS CITY --- Adam Jones is one of the chattiest players in baseball but his analysis of the

Baltimore Orioles' situation is quite brief.

"We gotta win," the All-Star center fielder said Tuesday night. "You can talk about this or that

but we gotta win."

The Orioles fell behind three-games-to-none in the best-of-seven American League

Championship Series with a 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals in Game 3 at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals will look to sweep the series Wednesday in Game 4, which is scheduled to start at

4:07 p.m. ET.

The only way the Orioles are going to get to the World Series for the first time in more than three

decades is to channel the 2004 Boston Red Sox. That was the only team in major league history

to rally from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven postseason season, stunning the New York

Yankees in the ALCS.

Royals one win from World Series, lead ALCS 3-0

The toughest part of this series for the Orioles is they could be up 3-0 and one win away from

their first World Series trip since 1983 when they beat the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.

The Orioles lost 8-6 in 10 innings in Game 1 last Friday then 6-4 in Game 2 a day later when the

Royals rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth. Game 3 was decided by one run, Billy Butler

breaking a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly.

Orioles first baseman Steve Pearce admits he finds it hard not to wonder if Baltimore has come

against a team of destiny. The Royals are 7-0 in their first postseason appearance since 1983, the

29-year wait representing what had been the longest current drought in major North American

professional team sports.

"It just seems like they're riding that wave right now," Pearce said. "It just seems like everything

is going their way. We're playing well and we're in every game but it hasn't been enough. When

a team is riding that way, they're tough to beat."

The Orioles refuse to say they are frustrated, though. In fact, manager Buck Showalter holds firm

to the belief his team will somehow find a way to match those Red Sox of a decade ago.

"Always feel like the momentum can change," Showalter said. "If we can get one (win) under

our belt and get a few things to work out our way, we can get it spinning the other way.

Otherwise, we shouldn't show up.

"I know what our guys in our locker room feel like. They know they're up against some good

competition. But always one more opportunity away. We'll sleep fast, and our guys will be

ready."

Showalter is confident enough is his Orioles that he decided not to use his top starter, right-

hander Chris Tillman, to pitch Game 4 on regular four days of rest. Instead, right-hander Miguel

Gonzalez will start in what will be his first game action since working five innings Sept. 28 in

the regular-season finale against the Toronto Blue Jays.

"Gonzalez has pitched some big games for us and especially on the road and tough spots,"

Showalter said.

Gonzalez is 6-4 with a 3.27 ERA in 14 road starts this year. None, though, has been as important

as the one he will make in Game 4.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24752657/orioles-at-royals-alcs-game-4-

preview-gonzalez-vs-vargas

Orioles at Royals ALCS Game 4 preview: Gonzalez vs.

Vargas

By Dayn Perry / CBSsports.com

October 15, 2014 2:04 am ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo -- Heading into Game 4 of the ALCS, here are the the prevailing facts: the

visiting Orioles are one loss from seeing their 2014 season end, and the home Royals are one win

from advancing to the World Series for the first time since 1985. That is, the Royals lead the

best-of-7 series by a count of 3-0. One game, two teams on the brink -- albeit very different

brinks ...

Pitching matchup: RHP Miguel Gonzalez (3.23 ERA, 159 IP) vs. LHP Jason Vargas (3.71 ERA,

187 IP)

Gonzalez vs. Royals: Current Royals have logged just 70 combined career plate appearances

against Gonzalez, and over that span they've batted .238/.275/.349. Among those current Royals,

only Salvador Perez has homered off Gonzalez. This season, Gonzalez faced the Royals only

once. On April 27, he worked six innings, allowed four runs on six hits and struck out four

against one walk.

In terms of handedness tendencies, the Royals this season ranked 11th in the AL with a

Weighted Runs Created+ (wRC+) of 92 against right-handers. By comparison, the Royals ranked

11th in overall wRC+ with a figure of 94.

As Gonzalez recently indicated, a shift to the middle of the rubber may have played a role in his

pitching to an ERA of 2.19 in the second half. He hasn't allowed more than three runs in a start

since Aug. 2.

Vargas vs. Orioles: Baltimore hitters have teamed up to bat a respectable .253/.321/.397 against

Vargas in a combined 162 plate appearances. Nelson Cruz has enjoyed quite a bit of success

against Vargas. In 39 PAs, Cruz has batted .333/.462/.800 with four home runs against the

veteran left-hander. Sample-size caveats apply, of course.

Vargas did not face the Orioles during the 2014 regular season.

Against lefties like Vargas, the Orioles this season ranked fifth in the AL with a wRC+ of 106.

Overall -- i.e., against both sides -- the O's ranked fourth in the AL with a wRC+ of 104.

What to watch

•Gonzalez has spent his entire three-year MLB career with the Orioles. Over that span, he's been

slightly better on the road: a 3.49 ERA and 2.09 K/BB at home and a 3.42 ERA and 2.32 K/BB

away from Camden Yards.

•Speaking of home and road, the Orioles' strong offense was pretty much the same in home/road

splits as measured by wRC+. The Royals, though, put up a wRC+ of 99 on the road this season --

good for fifth in the AL -- but a mark of just 88 at home -- 14th in the AL.

•The only other team to sweep both the LDS and LCS round? The 2007 Rockies. They, in turn,

were swept by the Red Sox in the World Series.

•Looking for a favorite for ALCS MVP? If the Royals close it out on Wednesday, then you've

got to like Lorenzo Cain's chances. Cain enters Game 4 with an ALCS slash line of

.667/.714/.883 with two doubles, two walks, five runs scored, a stolen base and, of course, strong

defense in center field.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/writer/jon-heyman/24753113/orioles-plan-to-extend-qualifying-

offer-to-cruz-decline-markakis-option

Orioles plan to extend qualifying offer to Cruz, decline

Markakis option

By Jon Heyman / CBSsports.com

October 15, 2014 9:47 am ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Orioles are interested in re-signing outfielder/DH Nelson Cruz and

outfielder Nick Markakis, but with the Orioles still ensconced in the playoffs, it seems the team

will likely have to make one-year calls on both players, and word is the team plans to extend a

$15.3 million qualifying offer to Cruz, but decline Markakis' $17.5 million option.

Neither decison comes as a surprise, as Cruz was among the most valuable players in the

American League this year after signing what turned out to be a bargain $8 million, one-year

deal, and Markakis' option is just too steep. The Orioles would have to pay a $2 million buyout

on Markakis assuming they don't come to a long-term agreement in the interim.

Both decisions have been seen as probabilities for quite awhile.

The Cruz signing was one of the best signings in baseball last winter, if not the best. His free

agency was hampered by the double whammy of having been suspended 50 games for his

connection to biogenesis last year and also having the $14.1 million qualifying offer attached to

him by virtue of the Rangers extending it to him despite the drug ban.

He looked like a prime free agent going into last winter, but teams were reluctant to give up a

draft choice and/or take a chance on a player with a PED link.

The Orioles have loved having Cruz on the team, and Cruz has said the feeling is mutual. But a

year removed from the ban, and after hitting a league-leading 40 home runs with 108 RBI, he

will surely receive a big multi-year deal, whether it's in Baltimore or elsewhere.

Markakis is beloved by the Orioles but it was presumed from the start of the year his high option

was out of whack for him. He hit .276 with 14 home runs. He's been a favorite of owner Peter

Angelos (and others in the organization) so a return, at a lower rate, wouldn't be a surprise.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24752473/royals-edge-orioles-in-alcs-game-3-

quick-hits

Dyson says Oriole dropped knee on him following his bold

remark

By Jon Heyman / CBSsports.com

October 15, 2014 12:22 am ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Just before Jarrod Dyson, the ultra-fast Royals pinch runner believed by

the Orioles to be blessed with a motormouth as well, scored the winning run in Game 3, Dyson

said Orioles third baseman Ryan Flaherty "put the knee down" on him on a pickoff try of Dyson

at third base.

Other Royals suggested it was likely in retaliation for Dyson's semi-explosive remark about him

expecting not to have to return to Baltimore, and also suspecting the Orioles felt the same way as

him.

"He put the knee down. But I ain't worried about it," Dyson told CBSSports.com long after the

Royals' 2-1 victory gave them a 3-0 lead over the Orioles in the ALCS and made it a likelihood

that Dyson's controversial statement will be proven correct.

Flaherty couldn't be reached afterward, as the Orioles clubhouse was closed by the time Dyson

was done addressing the alleged knee drop. But Dyson took no real issue with it.

"If I'm not hurt, I'm good," said Dyson, who said he was indeed fine. "It's baseball, it's all good.

I'm not upset. We're just trying to see them come back tomorrow to get rid of 'em."

Dyson wasn't making a prediction for Game 4 when he said the objective is to "get rid of 'em."

To be clear, he explained, he was just stating the goal a few hours after he scored the winning

run from third on Billy Butler's sacrifice fly. The winning score came shortly after the supposed

knee drop on Dyson in the winning sixth inning.

Dyson's response to a question from the Kansas City Star after Game 2 about whether he

expected to have to go back to Baltimore to win the series sparked the controversy. His response

was: “No sir, I don't. And I don't think they think that, either.”

The Orioles publicly suggested the remark was no big deal, but some Royals people suggested

the Orioles seemed pretty upset about it.

Dyson made clear Flaherty's maneuver didn't hurt him, and he also made clear he was going to

try to stay away from saying anything else controversial.

"I'm a tiger," Dyson said. "I'm good. It's the postseason ... It is what it is. It's baseball.

"I'm not going to say anything wrong," he added.

Earlier, he expressed his belief that he didn't mean any harm by his remark about not going back

to Baltimore, and was just showing his confidence.

"Y'all blew it up bigger than what it was. But it's all right, it's cool," Dyson said. "We're still

going to play Royals baseball. I feel like we're playing great baseball, and nobdy could stop us.

I'm pretty sure everyone feels that way."

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city-royals/article2777706.html

Orioles face huge odds in overcoming 3-0 deficit in ALCS

By Randy Covitz / The Kansas City Star

10/14/2014 11:08 PM

The Baltimore Orioles found themselves butting heads with history after Tuesday night’s 2-1

loss to the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

The Orioles trail the Royals three games to none in the American League Championship Series,

and only once in baseball history has a team come back from a 3-0 deficit and won a best-of-

seven series — the Boston Red Sox against New York in the 2004 ALCS.

The Orioles put up a brave front afterward, but it was hard convincing themselves it was possible

to win four straight against a Royals team has won all seven of its postseason games this year.

“We’ve got one loss left,” said first baseman Steve Pearce, who doubled, hit a wicked line drive

to diving Mike Moustakas at third and flied out. “We’ve got to find some way to start pulling

these games out.

“Offensively, they’re getting it done, finding some way to get that run across. All three games,

they’ve gotten that big timely hit, and we’ve been unable to do that.”

Center fielder Adam Jones put it more succinctly: “We’ve got to win. There’s no ifs, ands or

buts. It’s do at this point.”

Even before the game, Baltimore manager Buck Showalter sounded like a man headed to the

gallows when asked if the Royals were built to win in the postseason while his AL East

champions went into the postseason without three All-Stars — catcher Matt Wieters (Tommy

John surgery), third baseman Manny Machado (knee) and first baseman Chris Davis

(suspension).

“They’re built to win, period,” Showalter said of the Royals. “There’s a part of it that really pulls

for people like them, and their front office people and their coaches and Ned (Yost), for that

matter.

“Somebody has to go home unhappy and feel unfulfilled, and that’s sad. You try not to dwell on

it. But it’s the reality of the world we’re in right now. They’re built … they qualified for the

playoffs. What did they do? They earned it. And you can’t say somebody is getting hot at the

right time. We play too many games. You are who you are. And because we play so many

games, there are no Cinderellas in baseball.”

Showalter understood the 29-year hill the Royals climbed from his experience sharing the spring

training complex when he managed the Texas Rangers from 2003 to 2006.

“I got to be real close with the organization,” Showalter said. “I know how much it means to

them and how hard they worked.”

The Orioles broke on top 1-0 in the second on back-to-back doubles by Pearce and J.J. Hardy,

giving Baltimore its first lead in the series.

But the Orioles would manage just one more hit, a leadoff single by Nick Markakis in the third,

against the Royals’ relay team of starter Jeremy Guthrie, Jason Frasor, Kelvin Herrera, Wade

Davis and Greg Holland.

Royals pitchers retired 16 straight and 21 of the last 22 batters in no small part because of some

defensive gems by Moustakas, first baseman Eric Hosmer and outfielder Lorenzo Cain.

“Their defensive plays have probably been the difference in the series so far,” said Showalter.

“They’ve turned a lot of hits into outs and foul balls that would have continued an at-bat.”

Baltimore lefthander Wei-Yin Chen, making the first start by a Taiwanese-born pitcher, was 2-0

against the Royals this season. But he took the loss after the Royals pierced him for single runs

in the fourth and sixth. In the fourth, Chen surrendered a pair of one-out bloop hits to Cain and

Hosmer, and after Billy Butler walked, Alex Gordon drove in the tying run with a ground out.

And in the sixth, Nori Aoki singled to center, pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson went to third on

Hosmer’s laser of a single to right, and scored the game-winner on Butler’s sacrifice fly, putting

the Orioles on the brink of elimination.

“Our guys always feel like we’re one win away from getting the thing going the other way,” said

Showalter. “We always feel the momentum can change. If we can get one under our belt, get a

few things to work our way and get things to spin the other way.

“Otherwise we shouldn’t show up (Wednesday).

“I know what our guys in our locker room feel like. They know they’re up against some good

competition. But always one more opportunity away. … We’ll sleep fast, and our guys will be

ready.”

http://nypost.com/2014/10/15/though-theyre-denying-it-the-end-is-near-for-bucks-orioles/

Sign it’s over for Orioles: Calls for Jason Giambi’s

‘golden thong’

By Ken Davioff / New York Post

October 15, 2014 | 2:56am

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As of late Tuesday night, the Orioles found themselves still immersed

in Stage One of the grief model: Denial.

Which is probably what you want, if you’re hoping against hope for this Baltimore ball club to

pull off an American League Championship Series miracle. It’s just a little painful to witness.

“It’s been done before,” Adam Jones said, after his Orioles dropped a 2-1 decision to the

ridiculous Royals in ALCS Game 3 at Kauffman Stadium, falling into a near-insurmountable, 3-

0 hole in games. “I’ve seen it.”

That’s naturally a callback to the 2004 Yankees’ blown 3-0 lead to the Red Sox, the only time in

baseball history a team gave up such an advantageous position. For good measure to placate his

New York audience — he’ll be a free agent in 2018 at 33, the perfect age to join the Yankees —

Jones said, “I might call Jason Giambi for that gold thong,” the one Giambi touts as the ultimate

slump-buster.

Giambi had better hurry. Not once have the Orioles been blown away by these Royals, although

they are regressing. Kansas City won Game 1 in the 10th inning, Game 2 in the ninth inning and

Game 3 in the sixth inning, when Billy Butler’s sacrifice fly to left field off Baltimore reliever

Kevin Gausman scored pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson to break a 1-1 tie. From there, the Royals’

nasty bullpen trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland retired nine straight

Baltimore batters for a tidy finish.

The Royals are now 7-0 to start this 2014 postseason, joining the 2007 Rockies and 1976 Reds as

teams to pull off that feat, and an ALCS sweep in Wednesday’s Game 4 would make Kansas

City the first club to open the playoffs 8-0. To be fair, that wasn’t even possible until baseball

added the wild card in 1995.

Furthermore, Kansas City will try to become just the second team in history to win the World

Series without employing a single player who put up as many as 20 home runs or as many as 75

RBI during a fully-played regular season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 1965

Dodgers are the only other such club. The 1981 Dodgers belong to this group with an obvious

asterisk; the work stoppage that summer limited Fernando Valenzuela’s rookie voyage to just

110 regular-season games.

The Royals’ consistent postseason excellence was best exemplified this night by third baseman

Mike Moustakas, who dove into a dugout suite to snare Jones’ foul pop for the first out of the

sixth inning.

“They made a lot of good defensive plays. Probably the difference in the series so far,” Orioles

manager Buck Showalter said. “We’ve played good defensively, too. But they’ve turned a lot of

hits into outs and foul balls that would have been an at-bat.”

Showalter also praised the Royals’ bullpen.

“I’ve got a real good feel for that, because we have one very similar,” he said. He added, in one

of many attempts at light-heartedness: “I wish I didn’t have so much at stake in it. I’d probably

enjoy watching both teams play more than I do.”

And he emphasized, “Our guys, I always feel like they’re one [hit] away from getting the thing

going the other way.”

The Royals have outscored the Orioles by a 16-11 margin in this series, yet Ned Yost’s group

seems indestructible. It was two weeks ago Tuesday that Kansas City recorded its remarkable,

12-inning, come-from-behind victory over the Athletics in the AL wild-card game.

“You could tell, somewhere in the course of that game, something clicked for them, and they

were playoff veterans,” Yost said of his young team. “And they’ve played like it.”

The Orioles, who overcame a flurry of injuries and Chris Davis’ suspension to win 96 games and

sweep past the Tigers in their AL Division Series, looked out of gas on this night. Out of

answers. Yet not out of clichés, to ward off the inevitability of elimination.

“We’re grinding it out,” Jones said.

As Showalter wrapped up his postgame news conference, Major League Baseball senior vice

president of club relations Phyllis Merhige thanked Showalter for his appearance. “Do I have a

choice?” Showalter cracked.

Not really. But barring a stunning déjà vu of 10 years ago, he’ll have six more stages of grief to

grind out, soon enough.

http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2014-10-15/alcs-2014-mlb-playoffs-orioles-royals-

pearce-jones-showalter-sweep

ALCS: Orioles down to 'one more opportunity' after Game

3 loss

By Ryan Fagan / Sporting News

October 15, 2014 2:10am EDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Orioles first baseman Steve Pearce summed up the frustration of

playing against the Royals in this ALCS with one succinct sentence: “It’s hard to take advantage

of mistakes when they’re not making any.”

Kansas City hasn’t been flawless, of course — they’ve actually make a couple outs in key

situations — but Ned Yost’s group has been pretty darn close, which is why the Royals are one

win away from the World Series after a 2-1 victory in Game 3 on Tuesday night.

And it’s not just that the Royals aren’t making mistakes. They’ve turned in a highlight reel full of

jaw-dropping plays throughout the series. Pearce was victimized by an amazing catch by third

baseman Mike Moustakas on a line drive in the fourth inning.

That could have been an inning-opening double in a game that wound up being decided by one

run. Instead, it was the first out of another scoreless inning.

“We’ve got to find a way to start pulling these games out,” Pearce said. “We’ve got one loss left,

so we've got to find some way to get it done.”

After the game, the feeling in the Orioles' clubhouse wasn’t so much desperation as it was

frustration. They know they’ve played pretty good baseball, that they’ve been right there in all

three contests. The first two games were tied entering the ninth inning, and on Tuesday they lost

a one-run game.

And for a team that led the majors with 211 home runs, one measly run just isn’t very much.

Problem is, they haven’t been able to get that one measly run when they need it.

So they’re down 3-0. One more loss and they’re done.

“It’s been done before, so you’ve got a chance,” All-Star outfielder Adam Jones said. “And

we’re won four games in a row before. Obviously not in this situation, but we’ve won four

games in a row.”

The “done before” Jones reference was the 2004 ALCS, one of the most memorable postseason

series of all time. In that one, the Yankees took a 3-0 lead against Boston before the Red Sox

won Games 4 and 5 in extra innings, then took the final two games, too, to complete the stunning

comeback.

The other eight times a series moved to 3-0, though, it never even reached a seventh game. Six of

those series ended in sweeps.

“If we can get one under our belt and get a few things we feel like we can get it spinning the

other way,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “Otherwise we shouldn’t show up tomorrow.

I know what our guys in our locker room feel like. They know they’re up against some good

competition, but always one more opportunity away, which is tomorrow.”