Comeback kids!Nothing like a ninth-inning comeback, huh? Wow. When it happens like that -- four runs off a tough closer, lightning fast in a game that seemed lost -- it's the kind of game you remember for a long time. The teams do too, win or lose. The Royals' four-run ninth against Cleveland will be a touchstone game if the team goes on to win the division this season. Royals. Division champs. Sounds outlandish, but after watching a something like Tuesday's rally, who can put a ceiling on on our hopes as a desperate fan base?Wow, I really feel the adrenalin pumping right now. Since I can't bring myself to be pragmatic or analytical at the moment, I'll just throw out some other comebacks I remember from games I've attended. (I wasn't at The K on Tuesday.)
May 14, 1990: Royals 9, Red Sox 5. I had driven up from Columbia with a buddy from Massachusetts to take in the Royals vs. Boston in a game started by Roger Clemens. Clemens was tough and Boston led 5-3 when he departed after the seventh. Then Bo Jackson hammered a home run to left off Rob Murphy in the eighth and Mike McFarlane singled home Willie Wilson in the ninth to send the game into extra innings. Then, in the 10th, the Royals loaded the bases off Jeff Reardon and little-remembered Rey Palacios snuck one over the right-field wall for a game-ending grand slam.
October 5, 1985: Royals 5, A's 4. The Royals fell behind 4-0 after six innings, but rallied to tie the game, sparked by a two-run homer by George Brett in the sixth. The game went to the 10th, when Willie Wilson singled home Pat Sheridan with the game winner. With the win, the Royals clinched the AL West in their only championship season.
July 25, 1994: Royals 6, White Sox 4. This game was awesome, especially for anyone who recalls just how big of a cult hero Bob Hamelin was in 1994. The game was tied 3-3 entering the 12th inning, when Chicago scored a run in the top of the inning to grab the lead. I remember that the Royals had squandered numerous scoring opportunties throughout the game, so when the Sox scored, it was really deflating. Chicago brought on Roberto Hernandez to finish. Hernandez had a bad season in '94, but he still carried himself with a certain air of invincibility. Brian McRae bunted into an out to start the inning then ... boom. Dave Henderson singled. Wally Joyner singled, bringing up The Hammer. First pitch --- gone. To dead center, to boot. The win was the third in KC's 13-game winning streak that ended just before the '94 strike.
April 5, 2004: Royals 9, White Sox 7. Everyone remembers this Opening Day miracle. What is gradually being forgotten is that coming into the season, many of us thought the Royals had a real chance to win the AL Central. (How wrong that turned out to be.) But it seemed like a good call when Mendy freaking Lopez hit a three-run homer off Damaso Marte to tie the game at seven in the ninth. Then, two batters later, Carlos Beltran went deep, finishing off a six-run ninth.
July 29, 1995: Cubs 8, Phillies 7. OK, this one isn't the Royals, but it was a rally I'll never forget. It was a lot like Tuesday's comeback in Kansas City in how fast it happened. This is back when I was living in Chicago. It was a Saturday game and perfect outside. My girlfriend and I were walked around outside of Wrigley, not planning to go to the game, when a nice woman with a bicycle approached us and asked if we wanted tickets. We hestitated, then she said they were great seats and at face value. Couldn't pass that up and they were great seats, right behind the third-base dugout. The Phillies led 7-5 going to the bottom of the ninth and trotted out their closer, Heathcliff Slocumb. He struck out Todd Haney and Joe Kmak in short order and we stood, ready to wind out way out to one of the Clark Street bars. Then Scott Bullett reached on an error by Charlie Hayes. Still breathing. Brian McRae, now a Cub, was hit by a pitch. Then free-swinging Shawon Dunston hit Slocumb's first pitch into the left-field bleachers for a game-winning three-run shot. Sweet.
Anyone out there have some favorite comeback games?
June 9, 1979. We lived out in Kansas, so I rarely got to see games live. Yankees v. Royals, when the rivalry was at its height. The roster reads like a Who's Who of baseball: Thurman Munson, Lou Piniella, Chris Chambliss, Willie Randolph, Bucky "F-ing" Dent for the Yanks, and the "classic" Royals--Brett, Otis, Cowens, Patek, Porter, et al. And the pitchers: Tommy John, Larry Gura, Marty Pattin, Jim Kaat, Al Hrbosky and others.
It was an afternoon game, I remember it being sunny when it started, and the Yankees jumped out to a big lead, 5-0 after two. The Royals came back, and went ahead 6-5 by the bottom of the 6th. Sometime during the game, there was a long rain delay, when one of those freak KC storms comes out of nowhere, and we wondered if they would be able to finish. But then the sun came back out, and the Yankees put up two more in the seventh to go ahead 7-6. The Royals came right back in the bottom to make it 7-7.
The Yankees scored in the top of the 9th, but the Royals came right back and tied it up, so into extra innings.
10th inning, no score. 11th inning, no score. 12th inning, no score. It was like one of those classic heavyweight fights where both guys are exhausted but have invested too much to give up.
Then, finally, in the bottom of the 13th, Willie Wilson hits a ball to the gap in left/center. We were sitting on the 3rd base side, about even with the bag, and I will never forget the look of sheer determination on Willie's face as he came from second to third. There was no thought of stopping, and he circled the bases for a walk-off inside the park homerun. It was the most exciting ending to the most dramatic game I ever saw. While I thank the internet for the exact date and inning by inning scores, I will never forget the game or the feelings I had as he rounded those bases.