11.22.2015

Adele saves Thanksgiving - and SNL

Here's everything you need to know about last night's Saturday Night Live ... 

Adele was there and she's once again taking the world by storm (I downloaded the new album, which was released Friday, last night). She performed, and her new song, "Hello" was the basis of what was easily the skit of the night.


The other skit worth seeing is the spoof on "Star Wars" screen tests. My favorite piece: Bobby Moynihan as George Lucas.


Here's EW's full recap.

And while we're talking Adele, this was popping up throughout the interwebs yesterday. ...

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11.19.2015

Another night with Ben Folds, who is capable of anything

So I had tickets to a Ben Folds show last night. My 12th in the 19 years I have been a fan.

As I rolled through my work day yesterday, still tired and a little overwhelmed by the recent weeks’ events, I had thoughts of whether I might finally be getting too old for this concert stuff.

By the end of the night. … Nah.

Ben Folds. That guy does not disappoint. As I headed toward Kansas City last night I couldn’t help but reflect on the previous 11 occasions I've seen him perform and marvel that no Ben Folds show – or Ben Folds Five show – I’ve attended has resembled the same feel or presentation as another. In fact, I’ve seen him play nine different venues in six cities. And even then, an argument could be made that I’ve seen him play 11 different venues – because I’ve seen him play three different stages in four trips to Summerfest.

From feeling the balcony tremble during a euphoric “Battle of Who Care Less” in Omaha’s Sokol Auditorium, to singing “There's Always Someone Cooler Than You” with an amazingly energetic Summerfest crowd, to the jaw-dropping night with the Kansas City Symphony, I have very distinct memories of each show.

Last night, I saw Ben play at Kansas City’s Uptown Theater. It was my second trip to that venue, having seeing the amazing Nickel Creek there last year.

My marveling transitioned from Ben Folds memories to the memories of just a couple weeks ago as I rolled into downtown Kansas City and drove past Union Station and the Liberty Memorial. I thought about all the people crammed on the lawn for the Royals World Championship celebration and got a kick as I drove down Broadway toward the theater and thought about the hundreds of thousands of people lining the street for the parade.

I pulled into the McDonald’s down the street from the theater to grab a bite to eat and take advantage of the wi-fi to do some work. ‘80s pop music blasted on the restaurant speakers, but I found some rare clarity and I was productive.

I headed to the theater around 6:45 p.m. and waited in line only a few minutes for the doors to open.



Quickly, I headed into auditorium to find my seat and then had some disappointment when I realized it was near the back, a few rows behind the sound booth. Unlike the general admission and open standing-room concept for Nickel Creek’s show, last night’s Ben Folds show was strictly a reserved seating affair. My ticket landed me in the permanent flip-down theater seats, and rows of folding chairs covered the floor on the orchestra level. I accepted it, taking solace in the array of environments I’ve seen Ben and feeling lucky just to be there. … The young couple who sat down behind me moments later didn’t share the sentiment. They proceeded to curse up a storm, and I gathered through their conversation that this was their second Ben Folds show, they thought they had second row seats on the floor until an usher moved them and the guy's mom bought the tickets for them. They even went so far as to contemplate whether they should ask for a refund. Youths.

This was my vantage point ...



The opening act was interesting. It was the Dutch singer/songwriter Dotan. He and his accomplice sat together at center stage, performed a handful of tunes and showed off some fine guitar strumming. The tenor of Dotan’s vocals reminded me a bit of The Shins, but more worldly -- and his stage presence reminded me of Yanni. On a couple songs he put down his guitar to beat a bass drum. … By the end of their set, all of it was sounding the same to me.

Ben Folds took the stage at 9, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. His new album is more adult contemporary than anything he’s done and a far cry from the power pop of his earlier days. I mean the guy broke on to the radio some 20 years ago with Ben Folds Five, playing so-called “punk rock for sissies.” And now he’s composing sweeping piano concertos and rebooting his hits with orchestra arrangements and fresh instrumental flourishes. He's a kind of Brian Wilson for my generation.

I downloaded his new album, “So There,” from iTunes the week it was released in September, but only had logged a few listens prior to last night. Let’s just say I’m far more appreciative of it now.

Ben collaborated and recorded the album with a six-person orchestra called yMusic. They were all there on stage with Ben last night. He played on an upright piano with the orchestra flanking him in a semicircle. A viola, violin and a cello to his right. Bass clarinet, flute/piccolo and trumpet/French horn to his left. A drummer took care of the percussion duties, sitting behind the trio on the left side. Together, they were eight enormously talented musicians doing their thing as if they were just practicing and experimenting in a studio – but with a few hundred people watching.


The six instrumentalists who form yMusic came out first and launched into a frenzied orchestra piece that immediately had me sitting on the edge of my seat. I kept waiting for it to turn into an exciting intro to a Ben Folds song, but that didn’t happen. For the time being, it was yMusic’s turn to shine and own the stage. The song was “Beautiful Mechanical.”

Ben appeared as the applause from the prelude died down and they started with “So There,” the title track from Ben’s new album. Next, during “Long Way To Go,” they performed a wave – the kind you see fans do at stadiums during baseball games. 

As usual, Ben was snarky, profane and dropped bits of humor throughout the night. Before “I’m Not the Man,” he deadpanned in a single breath: “This song I wrote for a movie. It was rejected.”

And, as is the custom at his shows, he indulged the crowd with an improvised, on-the-spot rendition of what’s become known as “Rock This Bitch,” and he carried the symphony with him – just like he did that night at the Kauffman Center (Watch this to hear Ben tell the history of the song, and see his genius do its thing with yet another orchestra).




As if the crowd wasn’t satisfied with the first take, Ben took another stab, calling for “Rock This Bitch, Part 2,” a country blues ode to Kansas City.




For the most part, the first half of Ben’s set was a mild affair – for a Ben Folds concert at least – and largely met the mood I anticipated, given the vibe of the “So There” album. There was a flash of excitement when they broke out “Effington,” but pulled back again with “I’m Not the Man.”

We got a couple Ben Folds Five classics with “Mess” and “Evaporated,” which enveloped another yMusic showcase on “Music in Circles.”

The excitement shot up, though, when the musicians dove into “Song for the Dumped,” and the vibe of the show only surged from there. A seven-minute “Steven’s Last Night in Town” featured outstanding drum and bass clarinet solos. Turns out there's a studio recording of the version on YouTube. Watch ...




Here’s excerpts from a review in The Kansas City Star to say what I haven’t already …
Ben Folds has a fetish for orchestrating and conducting, and it was on full display Wednesday before a sold-out crowd at the Uptown Theater.
For nearly two hours, Folds led a dynamic six-piece chamber orchestra from New York called yMusic through his deep catalog and various rearrangements of some of his most beloved songs.
As with his most-recent performance in Kansas City at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, where the Kansas City Symphony supported him, Wednesday’s show revealed the dexterity, diversity and adaptability of Folds’ songwriting. But above and beyond all, the show introduced to Kansas City the high-octane precision and power of yMusic. …
(H)e began introducing his band members. The first of them was violinist Rob Moose, whose introduction instantly turned the Uptown into Kauffman Stadium, as if third baseman Mike Moustakas had just stepped up to the plate. Folds went with the display of affection, and for the rest of his introductions, he gave each band member a nickname and had the crowd cheer it back in unison.
Before “Phone in a Pool,” Folds told the story behind it: In New Orleans, in a fit of frustration, he tossed his BlackBerry into the deep end of a hotel pool. It was immediately retrieved by another of the hotel’s guests, the fully clothed pop singer Ke$ha,who advised him to pack it in rice. At the end of the song, he halted the orchestra not with a wave of his arm but by bellowing “Shut the (bleep) up!”
Throughout the show, yMusic was demonstrative and dynamic, sometimes too much so. During several songs, Folds’ voice ended up immersed in the tide of music swirling around him. He got some spot-on harmonies from Moose and Smith but most noticeably from Alex Sopp, who excelled on the flute and piccolo. 

Which brings me to, for me, the highlight of the night. Almost from the beginning of the show, I found myself enthralled with the backing vocals provided by the yMusic members – especially Sopp, whose harmonies blended oh-so-beautifully with Ben on a majority of the songs. And all the while I kept thinking, They have GOT to do “You Don’t Know Me.”

Just when I had started to doubt whether it would happen, they performed it, with Ben and Alex doing the back-and-forth of an arguing couple – and the crowd shouting “Say it!” It was glorious.

The encore ensued, and I had become so swallowed in the show that it never occurred to me the group would play the crowd participation standards “Army” and “The Ascent of Stan.” They did, and those were glorious, too. The crowd, which never stood during the first set, was on its feet throughout the encore.

Here's “Army”...




I found it somewhat fitting that “Pomp and Circumstance” played on the auditorium speakers as the crowd exited.

As I drove through downtown and onto the highway, I found myself marveling again – this time at the skyline that had been illuminated with Royals blue and gold a few weeks ago and was now showing in red, white and blue in acknowledgement of the attacks in Paris.

I listened to the “So There” album on repeat all the way home.

Here’s the setlist …

1. Beautiful Mechanical
2. So There
3. Long Way To Go
4. Not a Fan
5. Effington
6. I'm Not the Man
7. Phone in a Pool
8. Rock This Bitch
9. Rock This Bitch, Part 2
10. Mess
11. Music in Circles
12. Evaporated
13. Yes Man
14. Erase Me
15. Song for the Dumped
16. Capable of Anything
17. Steven's Last Night In Town
18. You Don't Know Me

Encore
19. Army
20. The Ascent of Stan
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11.18.2015

Math from the past

So Phoebe is developing an interest in reading and doing it at a level that's outpacing her peers. It's great and a little astonishing for Kates and I to watch. We're proud parents.

Of course, we want to foster that interest. After a conversation about it with Kates and Phoebe the other night, I decided last night it was finally appropriate to unpack a box I had stored away of my childhood books and some toys. Classics like "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" and "Superfudge." Beverly Cleary books and The Boxcar Children. Some history books, too, about some of my favorite subjects - Abraham Lincoln, Titanic and Jackie Robinson.

Phoebe proudly collected a stack that interested her. And I made sure she included the classics. 

There were other highlights within the time capsule. I gave an ALF puppet to Faye and told the girls they needed to share my stuffed Popple. Phoebe also got a kick out of putting together a 3D puzzle I had in the shape of a clear plastic cube.

I showed them my collection of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars and California Raisins figurines. Despite their pleas, I'm not giving up those yet.

But here's the best part. Tucked in the shoebox with the California Raisins and the 3D puzzle was my Texas Instruments "Little Professor" calculator. 

A Christmas present when I was maybe 6, I spent a lot of time solving math problems on that calculator, reveling when it lit up because I'd answered the problem correctly and taking pride in progressing through the levels. Like the books, I had been looking forward in recent months to passing it down to Phoebe. 

At first it didn't appear meant to be. When I placed new batteries in the calculator and pressed the on button, I got a scrambled screen and no response from pushing the buttons.

After a few minutes of recalling my memories of the toy to Kates and still not getting it to work, I was resigned to tossing it in the trash.

Then Phoebe took it from my hands, started pressing the buttons and it began to work.

"Needed a kid's touch," Kates said.

Phoebe proceeded to play with it until I had to yank it from her hand because it was her bedtime. But I was filled with pride that she had taken such an interest in it. She tucked it away in the drawer of her nightstand to be played again later.

I posted the photo below on Facebook, and friends of my age shared similar sentiments and memories.
I wanted one of those so badly!

Whoa, flashback! I had forgotten my love for that thing! 

I remember those! It's been a long time!

Wow, blast from the past! I loved this game!!  

I had no clue it had been such a popular toy in its day.


Posted by Horns! at 6:21 PM 0 comments
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11.14.2015

Rough week

I was dressing Faye after her bath last night when she whined, "Daddy, I'm tired. It's been a rough week."

You said it kid.

It's been a rough two weeks really. I'm still dealing with the campus crisis that nearly ruined my enjoyment of Game 5.

A couple Thursdays ago Faye was playing on the school playground. One of her classmates was swinging on the swingset. Faye walked in front of the swingset and got clobbered by her swinging classmate. Faye was smacked in the mouth and the impact pushed up her top two front teeth so the bottom tips were barely visible underneath her gums, temporarily changing the landscape of her beautiful toddler smile.

We kept ice packs and ice on it through the evening. The next morning, we awoke to find Faye's mouth bloodied and badly swollen. Without skipping a beat, Kates decided she was staying home with Faye for the day and took her to be checked out by the dentist. Thankfully, the dentist saw no permanent damage, but he also indicated it might get worse before it gets better. 

Which it did. Faye's mouth continued swelling through the weekend that by Sunday evening she resembled a duck-billed platypus. Kates ultimately took Faye to the clinic that night. The doctor declared Faye had acquired an infection, which apparently is common with mouth injuries, and prescribed an antibiotic for her. ... The antibiotic had an immediate impact. Faye's teeth have almost returned to their normal position and her swelling is nearly gone.

Nonetheless, we enjoyed the weekend and nursed Faye as best we could. The highlight was Friday night when Kates headed out to help a friend who was in need of some childcare assistance while her husband was away. In the meantime, I stayed home with Phoebe and Faye and built the coolest fort they'd ever seen with our couch, a couple desk hi-chairs and some blankets. We got cozy inside the fort and watched a DVD collection of short films based on children's books. It was great.

Bring on Monday. I was home with the girls again because the elementary school had a staff development day. We played and colored, but I couldn't keep myself from getting sucked into the drama playing out on social media as leaders of the University of Missouri system resigned amid protests and accusations that they hadn't done enough to promote racial equity and inclusion on the campus. I had a feeling then that we were going to feel it on our campus, too.

Wednesday morning I got out of the shower to find a text from our university president informing me that threats were popping up on social media and we needed to notify our students and employees. We did that, and by the noon hour I was taking a phone call from our university police chief to inform me an arrest was made and peppering him with questions to gather the information I needed for a news release.

Within hours our campus was making national headlines. And for about two hours that evening my phone did not stop ringing. The phone rang. I picked it up. Answered the reporter's questions. Hung up. My phone rang again. ... Eventually, reporters starting emailing me, saying my phone was busy so they were trying to reach me via email instead.

Around 7 Wednesday night, I broke away from my office to pick up the girls from their church activities. After I got them home, more phone calls and emails from New York media. Google alerts were coming in and I found myself quoted in a USA Today story. ... Kates arrived home shortly after 8 and I told her I was surprised I hadn't heard from The New York Times. Yep, a Times reporter called while I was putting Phoebe to bed.

Things began quieting a bit on the media front yesterday afternoon. But the impact of the ordeal on our campus is far from over ...

Last night, Paris was attacked. I had been in meetings nearly all day Friday and was exhausted from the week's events. As it turned out, though, I couldn't find a time to sneak out of my office and followed the reports of the unfolding attacks in real time on social media. Around 6 I headed home and the girls wouldn't arrive for another half hour or so, which gave me time to turn on the TV and digest the updates. ... It was horrific and continues to distract my thoughts this weekend. The attacks occurred at places any couple in any city like Kates and I might frequent. On the streets, at restaurants, at a concert hall. How do we end all this terror? How far will it go?

Yes, it's been a rough week, Faye. And I hope the world is a better place when you're my age. Life does get tiring, but rest up -- tomorrow's a new day.
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11.03.2015

World Series Parade Day!

How else could I describe today – other than to use the word that’s been used again and again to describe the Royals resurgence and World Series championship?

Unbelievable.

Kansas City has been lit  up in blue since Sunday night. Today it was colored in blue for parade day, and it was a spectacle from no matter where you watched. We will not soon forget this day.

For the record, I had barely a tiny bit of interest in going – if only a small consolation prize in missing the Game 6 matchup that I would have been attending tonight. But I didn’t have it in me to try navigating all of the traffic, parking and crowds. Beyond that, I have too much going on at work this week and couldn’t afford to be out of the office.

It’s not like the last couple days have been productive ones anyway. Our workplaces are in a haze of championship giddiness, pent up from 30 years of misery. … Today, we hosted a state agriculture director on the university campus for a discussion about our programs and initiatives. After our 12:30 p.m. news conference, it took me another four hours to write the news release when it should have taken me half that time. Before and after the news conference I kept getting sidetracked by all of the social media posts popping up on my phone and laptop.

So instead of joining the crowd, I set our DVR to record the parade and rally. We had our own family watch party tonight, eating our supper around the coffee table in our living room, taking in the sights and sounds recorded earlier in the day. That was the memory I wanted to have from today.

As we got started, Phoebe admitted – as if she was admitting she had taken candy from Faye’s Halloween bucket – that her teacher let her class watch some of the parade after their lunch hour today; Phoebe, she told us, was the one naming the players – and their uniform numbers – for the teacher and her classmates. … I admitted to Phoebe I had watched some of the parade and rally at work, too.

It turned out to be a gorgeous day in Kansas City today – sunny skies with temperatures were in the low 70s. The parade was scheduled to begin at noon at Sprint Center and then make its way down Grand Boulevard on its way to Union Station, where a championship rally was set to take the stage at 2 p.m.
Streets, businesses and schools were shut down. Those that did venture out – the majority of them going to the parade – found gridlock on all roads pointing to downtown. It was basically a snow day – without the snow.

Here are just a few of my favorite tweets and photos from the day …




















Here’s a stunning aerial video looking toward Union Station from above the Liberty Memorial.


ROYALS RALLY - UNION STATION AERIALS from Vision Digital Cinema on Vimeo.


Updated Nov. 6, 2015




There are some more great gifs, tweets, photos and videos here on MLB’s Cut4 site

But this one has been called the best Royals parade video you’ll see. I’ll back that up. This is the only one to give me chills as I watched it.



Good reads …

Here's more from Sam Mellinger ...

The best part of watching the rise of the Royals has been the correlating rise of their fans. Rooting for the Royals used to mean accepting that nothing good would come of it, and of being able to laugh at yourself when Mark Redman is your All-Star, or when Tony Peña showers with his clothes on in some vague attempt to stop a losing streak. Now, it means knowing that being down two runs in the eighth inning is exactly where you want to be. ...

 They bought more tickets and spent more time at home watching more games than ever before. Next year, those numbers figure to go up again. Royals fans essentially highjacked All-Star voting, at one point putting Omar Infante in position to start at second base, even though most of them did not want Infante starting at second base for their own team.

 More than 60 percent of TV-owning households in Kansas City watched Game 5 of the World Series, and you have to assume most of the other 40 percent were at someone else’s house, or a bar.

 So the celebration on Tuesday was entirely fitting. When those images and stories make their way around the internet and the world, the only reaction is, basically, hole-ee crap.
Meanwhile …

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11.02.2015

The Royals took the crown!

Tonight started out like almost every other night for the last seven months.

The Kansas City Royals were on the TV, and our family was gathered around to watch them play.

Like so many nights this past summer, I hustled Phoebe to get ready for bed during commercial breaks while Faye danced around the living room and sang loud enough that I had to strain to hear the commentators. It was my night to put Phoebe to bed and I got the privilege of lying in bed with her, like so many nights this season, listening to the game while she tried to fight off sleep.

But there was a glitch tonight, because I got called away from watching the game to deal with an issue on campus around 9 p.m. while the game was in the sixth inning, with the Mets leading 2-0. … I was already on edge, anxiously waiting to know whether I would be heading to Game 6 in Kansas City Tuesday night. Then to be called into a late night meeting during Game 5 of the World Series, on a night when the Royals were on the verge of clinching. Oh, I was a bit frustrated.

I kept the Fox video feed going on my phone during the meeting, with the volume turned down. I kept glancing at the TweetDeck on my laptop, too. That meet was the last place I wanted to be. … But I kept my mouth shut and engaged as best I could to help address the issue.

In the meantime, Matt Harvey, the Mets ace who had shut the Royals down all night long, was coming back out for the ninth inning to try for the complete game shutout.

Then, things started happening. Again.



















Seeing my hopes of seeing a World Series game in person this year slip away, and losing focus in my meeting quickly, the Royals held the Mets in the bottom of the ninth. I was back in my car in time to listen to the top of the 10th on my drive home. The score remained tied.

The feelings I was having tonight about my Game 6 ticket and the Royals trying to come back are exactly why I don’t play fantasy sports – because I would end up rooting against my favorite players and teams for selfish reasons. There is no fun in that.

In the 11th inning, with two outs, Eric Hosmer singled and then stole second. Moustakas then lifted a pitch to left field that looked like it might die – and it did just that in Conforto’s glove.

Oh, by the way, there was a Packers game on tonight. The Packers lost to the Broncos in a battle of undefeated teams. For six innings of tonight’s Royals game, I had forgotten the Packers were on. I didn’t watch a down of that game and couldn’t have cared less.

The top of the 12th arrived. Salvador Perez led off by dropping a single down the first base line. Jarrod Dyson came into pinch run. I knew then that the Royals were winning the World Series tonight.

Dyson took off on the 2-1 throw and stole second by a mile. Then, he moved to third on a Hosmer groundout to first.


Next up, Christian Colon scored Dyson with a clean line drive single to left.


Then …





At this point I asked Kates whether I could wake up Phoebe. She said no.


The Royals kept piling on. It would be a 7-2 lead when the inning ended. The crown would be their’s.


The bottom of the 12th inning belonged to Wade Davis. He struck out Wilmer Flores to win the World Series for the Kansas City Royals.

Fireworks could be heard across The 'Ville.

Kates and I watched the celebration, laughing and smiling with every shot that depicted the players we’ve grown to love hugging each other and bouncing around the field like boys. It was so fitting that Salvy dumped his final Gatorade bucket of the season on Ned Yost.

I'm already looking forward to next season, and getting pictures with two World Series trophies during our trips to Kauffman Stadium next summer. 

I couldn’t keep up with the tweets, they were coming in so fast. But here are some of my favorites …



















There are no words I can write now that haven’t been written already. There will be plenty more to write about in coming days.

Good night.
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11.01.2015

World Series: Royals strike again in Game 4

It is a gorgeous, sunny Sunday morning to start the month of November. And the Royals could win the World Series tonight – thanks to another thrilling victory last night.

All of this, of course, is not a surprise to those of us who have been watching this team all year long. It was just another night of Royals baseball. Never giving up. Capitalizing on the opponent’s mistakes. And keeping the line moving.

Take it away Sam Mellinger …
When they fall behind, they do their best work. It would be repetitive if it wasn’t so enthralling. It would be unrealistic if we weren’t all watching in real time.

Their greatest moments have all come after mistakes by the other side. The Astros’ Carlos Correa missing that grounder that bounced off the mound in Houston. The Toronto Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista throwing to the wrong base in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series. Now this.

That’s part of the story, of course. Baseball is a game of failure, it is often said, and the winners and losers are separated by how they manage. The Royals make these things count.
Finally. Finally – after the Royals struck in that eighth inning last night – the narrative – not the momentum, which I’ll defend the Royals have had since Game One – seems to be changing.
Remember, while the Mets were going through all the pain of the last 29 years, the troubled careers of Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, the 2000 Series, the Adam Wainwright pitch, the collapses of 2007 and 2008, the Royals were losing too. The Royals were losing worse, and for longer. The Mets have been a wild epic soap opera tragedy with constant twists and turns that we can't stop watching, but the Royals have been far more depressing: They've just been quiet, modest, sullen failures, the sort of barren, depressing novel that never makes the bestseller list and ends up going out of print. They've been going through the same pain Mets fans have, maybe even worse pain. This is their story too. And this is looking like their breakthrough.
Funny how people were drawing connections to Bill Buckner after Eric Hosmer’s Game One error, and now the attention has turned to Daniel Murphy after his costly error last night.

For the first seven innings of last night’s game it was a mostly unexciting, tedious affair. Steven Matz went about his business on the mound for the Mets and Michael Conforto homered twice to provide New York with a lead.

It also didn’t help the Royals when Ben Zobrist was called out in the first for interfering with the catcher while Alcides Escobar stealing second – resulting in Escobar being called out, too. And Alex Rios forgot there were only two outs in the bottom of the third and missed a chance to throw out Wilmer Flores as he was tagging up.

But the Royals had hung around all night. In the fifth, Salvador Perez doubled and Alex Gordon batted him in with a single to put Kansas City on the board and make it 2-1. After Conforto’s second home run, Ben Zobrist doubled and Lorenzo Cain scored to make it 3-2.

I had seen a tweet early in the game that noted the team to score first in this series had not won either of the first three games. I figured all along the Royals were going to win Game Four. It was just a matter of when they were going to make their move.

Then the eighth inning happened.

After Alcides Escobar led off the inning with a ground out, Zobrist walked. Cain walked.
Hosmer hit a soft ground ball toward Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy, and the ball bounced under his glove. Zobrist scored and suddenly we had a tie game.

Mike Moustakas followed with a RBI single. And Salvador Perez matched it in the next at-bat. Royals led, 5-3.

They did it off Jeurys Familia, the Mets’ closer whom the Fox analysts had been praising for most of the night and calling for New York manager Terry Collins to put in the game. Again, their memories seemed to be so short that they didn’t recall Alex Gordon beat Familia in Game One. Every time they mentioned that Familia needed to enter the game, I thought, Yeah, go ahead, stick him in there.

Some of my favorite tweets from the inning …






The bottom of the eighth and ninth innings belonged to Wade Davis. Sure, the Mets offense made some noise in their half of the ninth, but I never doubted the Royals would hold.

Good reads … 
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