Death By Paper Cut

The Royals are annoying.

And I mean that in the nicest way possible. It’s a compliment, really. That fifth inning against Jacob deGrom was a clinic that the Kansas City lineup put on. It started when Alcides Escobar bunted two strikes foul when trying to bunt, and you think that deGrom has the upper hand in that spot. But Escobar then swings away, which Ned Yost probably should have had the ALCS MVP do in the beginning, and he drives in the first Royals run with a single.

Lorenzo Cain fouled a couple of out pitches away before lining out to center field with the second out with runners on second and third. Now in the previous inning, deGrom unintentionally intentionally walked Mike Moustakas in the same situation. But deGrom pitched to Eric Hosmer, and put one in the middle of the plate for Hosmer to destroy for a single up the middle to drive in two runs to give the Royals the lead for good. And that’s what the Royals do. They don’t so much dink and dunk for singles but they hit their singles hard.

Moustakas then came up in the fifth and had the most frustrating at-bat of the night. deGrom was pumping 97 mph fastballs at him and he just keeps fouling them away like he’s swatting flies. It then forced deGrom into a mistake which Moustakas crushed for another heat seeking single to make it 4-1 Kansas City. And with the Mets’ inability to get anything going off of Johnny Cueto, that was pretty much it. Cueto walked a couple in the fourth inning but the Mets could only get one run out of it because Moustakas pulled Hosmer off the bag with his throw, setting up a bloop single by Lucas Duda. But other than that, the Mets lineup brought back memories of the John Mayberry Jr. era with its complete impotence.

They say the series isn’t over until the home team loses a game. But we have to be fair here. When the Mets beat Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta at home in the NLCS, they were in the drivers seat. After the Mets lost Game 2 to K.C. 7-1, this is the same situation, except the Mets are the Cubs now. The Royals beat Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom (or at least won games that they started … don’t get technical on me) and now go into Citi Field with Yordano Ventura still in the chamber. They’re feeling great about their situation and they should. Could the Mets win the next two with Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz? Sure. And if they do, the tide turns with Harvey and deGrom getting another crack at the Royals on more normal rest. But the Royals have too good a lineup to let both games 3 and 4 slip by. And remember, the Mets couldn’t hit Chris Young at all in Game 1. So to just assume that the Mets are going to throw their bats on the field and beat Young is misguided. Hell, the way the bats looked in Game 2, they might not be able to hit Chris Young of the Yankees.

The one more hill to climb just became a mountain … baby.

Today’s Hate List

1. Johnny Cueto

2. Eric Hosmer

3. Pete Rose

4. Yordano Ventura

5. Mike Moustakas