2014 World Series: game 1
vs 
Last night, the Kansas City Royals hosted the San Francisco Giants in game one of the Fall Classic. Many hoped that it would be an exciting game with two top pitchers on the mound but soon it turned out to be a one-sided show.
James Shields was hit hard in the first inning but settled down in the second. But after the Giants jumped on him again in the fourth, he was pulled when he couldn’t get an out. Madison Bumgarner on his turn was masterful and dominated the Royals’ lineup. The only run that he allowed was scored on a solo homerun by Salvador Perez in the seventh inning. Mad Bum allowed only three hits, walked one and fanned five in seven innnings of work.
As mentioned above, James Shields wasn’t able to contain the Giants. In the first inning Gregor Blanco led off with a single and advanced to second on a deep fly out to left center field by Joe Panik. Buster Posey’s single put runners on the corners before Pablo Sandoval hit a line drive double to right field. Blanco scored from third and Buster Posey tried to score all the way from first base but was thrown out at the plate. Hunter Pence then hit a homerun and took Kung Fu Panda with him across the plate.
In the top of the fourth inning, Hunter Pence led off with a double. If it wasn’t clear yet, a wild pitch on which Pence advanced to third, showed that James Shields wasn’t sharp. A single by Michael Morse to center field drove in Hunter Pence and put runners on first and second for the Giants. This was a sign for Ned Yost to pull Shields in favor of Danny Duffy.
Juan Perez laid down a sacrifice bunt (5-4) to put runners on second and third. Then Duffy gave up two consecutive walks that allowed the Giants to score the second run of the inning.
Eventually the Giants scored two more runs in the seventh when a lead off walk by Gregor Blanco was followed by a triple by Joe Panik and a single hit by Pablo Sandoval.
This game wasn’t much of a game as the Giants were very dominant. It looked to me as the Royals were overwhelmed by the big stage of the World Series. Even the much heralded bullpen of the Royals couldn’t keep the Giants from scoring. And at bat, the Royals couldn’t do much, but that was mainly because Madison Bumgarner had a hell of an outing.
It was good to see the sea of blue at Kauffman Stadium. But I only wonder where these fanse were over the last ten years. From 2004 the Royals’ average season attendance hovered between 17,000 and 22,000. Even this season the average per game was 24,154. I realize that losing teams do not draw many fans to a stadium and I don’t want to insult the die hard fans that showed up over the last ten years. But I think it is safe to say that about half of the fans that were at Kauffman Stadium last night were fair weather fans.