Perhaps it is just the 26 seasons of playoffless baseball wrought with futility and chocked full of embarrassment, but somehow even with the Royals sporting a two-run lead with two outs, no runners on, and an 0-2 count on David Murphy, it still felt like the Royals were going to find a way to lose this game. A batter later with last year's stud Mike Napoli at the dish having worked a full count, a loss seemed inevitable.

Shockingly--at least as shocking as a single win in a 162-game season can be--the Royals held on to win in Arlington. Led by a strong start from everyone's favorite Sino-Panamanian southpawed jokester and run production provided by Chris Getz, Jeff Francoeur, and Alcides Escobar, the Rangers look inward, searching for explanations to bring their loss into a light informed by reason.

Good luck with that.