The New York Mets go down in a 14 inning epic game one of the World Series

The New York Mets were defeated by the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.  The game took place at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri and the final score was 5-4 Royals in 14 innings.  Matt Harvey started and he pitched ok but he did blow a 3-1 lead.  David Wright, Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda and Juan Lagares each had two hits. 

Harvey pitched six innings giving up five hits and three runs with two walks and two strikeouts.  Addison Reed pitched a perfect inning, Tyler Clippard pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a walk with two strikeouts, Jeurys Familia blew a save but pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a run and Jon Niese pitched two innings giving up a hit and he struck out three.  Bartolo Colon took the loss pitching 2 1/3 innings giving up three hits and an unearned run with three walks. 

Edinson Volquez pitched six innings giving up six hits and three runs with a walk and three strikeouts.  Danny Duffy pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out one, Kelvin Herrera pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up three hits and an unearned run with two strikeouts and Luke Hochevar pitched an inning giving up a hit.  Wade Davis pitched a perfect inning striking out the side, Ryan Madson pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk with two strikeouts and Chris Young earned the win pitching three scoreless and hitless innings giving up a walk and striking out four batters. 

Curtis Granderson had a hit and an RBI and drew two walks, Wright had two hits and Murphy had two hits.  Yoenis Cespedes had a hit, Duda had two hits and Travis d'Arnaud had a hit and an RBI.  Michael Conforto had an RBI, Lagares had two hits and Wilmer Flores drew a walk.  Granderson hit a homerun and the Mets were 1-10 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.  Lagares had a stolen base and Wright was caught stealing and Wright committed an error. 

Alcides Escobar had a hit and an RBI, Ben Zobrist had three hits and drew a walk and Lorenzo Cain had a hit and drew a walk.  Eric Hosmer had two RBI and drew two walks, Kendrys Morales drew a walk and Mike Moustakas had two hits and an RBI.  Salvador Perez had two hits, Alex Gordon had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk.  Paulo Orlando had a hit, Zobrist hit two doubles and Escobar hit an inside-the-park homerun and Gordon hit a homerun.  The Royals were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base.  Cain had a stolen base and Hosmer committed an error. 

In the first Escobar hit an inside-the-park homerun to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.  In the fourth d'Arnaud hit an RBI single to tie the game at one.  In the fifth Granderson hit a solo homerun to give the Mets a 2-1 lead and in the sixth Conforto hit a sac fly to make it 3-1 Mets.  In the bottom of the sixth Hosmer hit a sac fly to cut the lead to 3-2.  Moustakas hit an RBI single to tie the game at three and in the eighth Flores reached on an error and a run scored giving them the 4-3 lead.  In the ninth Gordon hit a solo homerun to tie the game at four.  In the 14th inning Hosmer hit a walk-off sac fly to give the Royals the 5-4 victory and 1-0 series lead.  The two teams will play game two on Wednesday night in Kansas City before heading to New York for the next three games. 

The World Series-New York Mets vs. Kansas City Royals

The New York Mets are rolling into this 111th World Series after not being in it for 15 years.  They haven't won the World Series since 1986 which was 29 years ago.  The Mets and their fans have been through a lot since those appearances and winning it all.  The Kansas City Royals are also playing well and appearing in the World Series for the second consecutive year.  They have a young team as well as the Mets and haven't won it all since 1985.  It should be a great matchup, let's take a look and then I will come up with a prediction as well. 

The Mets and their dominant young pitching.  They have the advantage in this area as they would against just about any team in baseball.  They have good, young, power arms and that goes a long way.  The top three of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard are all very impressive.  I don't know if you can even pick any one of them as the best, right now deGrom would be but they are all very very good.  The Royals starting pitching isn't as good but they have the better bullpen.  The Mets offense is powered by the long ball and the Royals are a contact team that loves to use their speed.  They will bunt, hit and run, steal bases and take the extra bases.  They are very aggressive and will try and put a lot of pressure on the Mets fielders.  The Mets haven't been tested in this way at all this postseason.  I also don't think they have faced this good of a team so far.  The Chicago Cubs were very good but they played very poorly. 

The Mets will be facing the easiest test though in terms of starting pitching so far but I believe the Mets are facing the toughest test in terms of the offense they are facing.  The Royals are a contact team that won't strike out a lot.  They will try and get the pitch count up and will drive you nuts on the basepath.  I think this is the key to the series.  The Mets starting pitching is going to be good but how long will they be able to last in the game?  If the Royals can get them out by the sixth inning even the seventh they may be in good shape.  The Royals have a deeper bullpen I believe and better pitchers there.  The Mets can hit their pitching but the Royals also make a lot of plays on defense as they are very good and athletic.  It will be a very interesting matchup to watch and I think pretty even.  I have been wavering on this but I am going to go with the Royals in seven because they have the home field advantage.  I wouldn't be suprised to see either team win though and I expect at least six or seven games, I don't think it will be any shorter than that which will be good for baseball.  Enjoy the World Series and let it be a good one.