Over the last two post-seasons, the ALCS has been the only series to produce any real drama...

Does anyone else think If Necessary would be a great name for a book or movie or album?

Well, I didn't want to watch ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN News for the next two days anyway...

Helluva comeback for the Sawks, but the Rays didn't do themselves any favors either.

• The top of the 9th was completely botched. Masterton threw, by my count, no good pitches, save for, perhaps, the final pitch to Pena. The 2-1 cookie to Aki, a batting practice fastball, was ruined with a weak protection swing, because the blessed hit & run was on. Discussion of this by the TBS crew: nonexistent.
• Between fielding the ball and throwing to first on Youk's grounder in the ninth inning, Evan Longoria called Alex Gordon for advice on looking cocky, blew three bubbles with his gum while smirking and texted Joe Maddon's girlfriend. Then he released a lazy throw.

My internet went out about five minutes after the game ended, so my longer post on the game was lost. Apologies.

So who had "Rays in Five"?

There's still baseball to be played however, and anything and everything remains possible. For their part, the Rays are helping matters with a strange bit of rotation jumbling:

But Maddon isn't fazed. To him, this is quite logical, for many reasons. Start with the idea that Shields has pitched significantly better in Tropicana Field than he has on the road in general (5-6, 4.82 ERA), and Fenway in particular (0-2, 21.21 ERA). Then consider that Kazmir is 4-4 in Fenway during his career with a 3.02 ERA.

Kazmir could suck tonight or he could throw a no-hitter, it's baseball. He's a talented guy with a good defense behind him facing off against a good lineup: just about anything might happen. In any case, it isn't a disastrously weird move along the lines of playing Ross Gload everyday or anything. Nevertheless, the thought-process behind it: namely, treating park-splits as gospel is weak. Then again, this is the same world in which "using stats" for most managers sees its highest form in the deployment of pitcher-hitter matchup stats, which are only slightly more informative than, say, batting average by day of week.

However, there could be one karmic benefit to this move. I'm a firm believer that the universe is designed to annoy and frustrate me, a theory especially strengthened when the world of sport, so clearly meant to be a harmless diversion from life's pain, becomes particularly maddening. According to this line of thinking, the most likely result tonight, and over the next three games, would be Red Sox victories, leading to 2,328 segments/columns/blog posts about  a gutty, veteran, resilient Red Sox team that  had been there before and just knew how to win, culminating in a 4,000 word post by Simmons in which he performs a sexual act on David Ortiz. Awful awful awful. Yet likely. Buuuuut... with Maddon's gambit, there's now a chance that the Rays could win tonight, most obviously because "Maddon pushed all the right buttons" or "Kazmir responded to Maddon's change" or "Maddon's move took the pressure off the Rays" and on and on.

So we'll see.

#1 Mike Moustakas, 3B
#2 Eric Hosmer, 1B
#3 ???

Voting kinda stalled, so Hosmer is the winner for the #2 poll

Vote for who you believe is the Royals #3 prospect.

Short scouting reports:

Daniel Cortes | RHP | 21-years-old | 6-foot-6, 225 pounds
-Big workhorse body, fastball sits 93-96 and can peak higher. Already has plus curve. Changeup still lags a bit, as does command of fastball.

Daniel Duffy | LHP | 19-years-old | 6-foot-3, 185 pounds
-Four pitch lefty. Fastball 88-93, has been clocked higher in the past. Good curve, good change, both potential to be plus. Still needs to improve fastball command, but made huge strides this year thanks to improved mechanics.

Kila Ka'aihue | 1B | 24-years-old | 6-foot-3, 230 pounds
-Tremendous plate discipline with very good power. Defense at 1B isn't particularly great, but it plays. Charts all of his AB's and strives to get better. Not a great minor league track record. Nearly big league ready if not already there.

Tim Melville | RHP | 18-years-old | 6-foot-5, 205 pounds
-Extremely projectable with present stuff. Already 91-94 with chance for plus curve and change. Scouts love his long term fastball projection, think he could throw very hard.

Carlos Rosa | RHP | 24-years-old | 6-foot-1, 185 pounds
-Smallish righty with great fastball. Ranges 92-95 with a little sink. Plus hard slider, his best pitch. Good change but inconsistent. Might be a bullpen guy long term. Nearly big league ready.

wOBA and tRA are from StatCorner.  OPS+ from Baseball-Reference.  Lineups from ESPN.

I know Shealy's numbers are inflated.  I did not include G-Load b/c we all know how his numbers compare to everyone else's.  I know that the starters are not exactly who started during the year for each of the teams.  Defensive ability is not taken into account for the position players, and neither are platoon splits.  I didn't include Boston b/c they are their own beast that doesn't compare to any team very well (except the Yankees, of course).

That said, my overall take is that the infield is pretty solid, except for C, but we knew that already.  The outfield didn't stack up to any of the other teams, though DeJesus compared relatively favorably.  Even the pitching, which I thought would be close to even, was worse than each of these three teams (esp. the White Sox, who knew?).

My expectations going into this was that the Royals wouldn't look all that different from these teams on a position-by-position basis.  Unfortunately for all Royals fans, that is not the case.  I expected more variety as to where the Royals would be worse/better than the corresponding team.  Outside of Aviles, DeJesus, Gordon (and maybe Shealy), the position players compare consistently unfavorably to these lineups.  But on the bright side, Billy Butler had better batting numbers than Juan Rivera.

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Moving on with our countdown, #42 is the surly, defensively challenged Jose Offerman.

Over the last fifteen years or so of Royals ineptitude, the team has been plagued with awful defense. Miscommunication on pop-ups, routine groundballs skipping by shortstops, and wild throws have been a staple at Kauffman Stadium.

Every summer, when the team inevitably has a particularly awful defensive game, many sports radio callers or in these modern days, bloggers, will call for the team to "stress fundamentals" or "work on defense more." They will blame the coaching staff for not stressing defense enough or for not making the team field grounders all night.

I think what these calls miss is that defense is a skill, just like any other skill in baseball. Asking a bad defensive player to get much better is about as futile as asking a .250 hitter to become a .300 hitter. Could some extra work make a difference? Sure. But we're talking about a marginal difference. Bad defensive players are bad defensive players. You either put that player on the bench or at the designated hitter position, or you look to minimize his defensive exposure by moving him to a different position or replacing him in late innings. The Royals, for all their faults in the 1990s, were able to do this when they took an awful defensive player with a good bat, and turned him into a valuable part of the lineup by moving him to a different position. That player was Jose Offerman.

Highest Lifetime Batting Average, Royals History (min. 1000 PAs)
Jose Offerman 1996-1998 .306
George Brett 1973-1993 .305
Mark Grudzielanek 2006-2008 .300
Mike Sweeney 1995-2007 .299
Kevin Seitzer 1986-1991 .294

Jose Offerman was born in San Pedro de Macorís in the Dominican Republic, where he attended Colegio Biblico Cristiano High School. In 1986, at the age of eighteen, he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1988, his first season full professional season, he hit .331 and was named "Best Prospect" of the Pioneer League. By 1990 he got a cup of coffee with the Dodgers and homered in his very first at-bat. He was named the tenth best prospect in baseball by "Baseball America."

In 1991 he got a prolonged look by the Dodgers, but hit just .195 in fifty-two games. Still considered one of the best prospects in the game, the Dodgers made him their full time shortstop in 1992. He responded by hitting .260 with a respectable fifty-seven walks, but he also committed a stunning forty-two errors - nearly twenty more than anyone else in baseball.

"When I make a bad play and make an error, nobody feels as bad as me. I really feel bad. I don't mean to make a mistake and those fans don't want to see it. I feel bad, that's the only thing I can say. "

Following his disappointing rookie campaign, Offerman received a two year contract from the Dodgers. The Dodgers did all they could to protect his young psyche, but he continued to put up disappointing numbers in 1993. He could hit for some average and drew a good number of walks, but his complete lack of power, his poor stolen base rates and his astounding number of errors brought many critics. Additionally, Offerman had a quiet attitude that many took as either a lack of aggressiveness, or outright surliness towards teammates.

"We try to talk to him and he listens, but he doesn't say a word. He never says something back to you. It makes you think, 'Did he understand what I say to him? Does he care?"
-Dodgers outfielder Henry Rodriguez

Dodgers officials thought Offerman was a changed man when he showed up in camp in 1994. Not just in demeanor, but physically as he had added twenty-five pounds to his frame, and not all of it muscle. Some also noticed a change in attitude from the youngster.

"He's not mean like he used to be."
-Henry Rodriguez

But there was no change in all, and to compound things even further, Offerman stopped hitting and was seen feuding with manager Tommy LaSorda after being asked to bunt. With his average barely above the Mendoza Line, Offerman refused to take extra batting practice to improve himself. After a brief suspension, the Dodgers demoted the surly shortstop to the minors to "regain his confidence."

Offerman returned in 1995 to get off to the best start of his career. By July he was hitting .320 and was named to his first ever All-Star Game. Nonetheless, the success didn't curb his surliness, nor the jeers he received from Dodger faithful.

"The fans can keep booing me. People can write what they want. People can say what they want. But you know, this is something they can never take away from me. I'm an all-star. I'll always be an all-star."

Offerman got involved in a dugout scuffle with teammate Eric Karros and later that summer lashed out at Los Angeles media and fans for being racist, claiming, "whenever those white guys do something, it's all right. But any time when it's another black guy, it's not all right."

Offerman ended the year hitting .287 with sixty-nine walks, easily his best offensive season ever. But his defense was still atrocious and the Dodgers were fed up with his attitude. That December, they dealt him to Kansas City for left-handed reliever Billy Brewer.*

* Yea, I'm having a Pozterisk, deal with it! I don't know if this is true or not, but it seems like the Royals have milked the Rule 5 draft better than any other team in terms of quantity of useful players (of course the Twins with Johan Santana and the Marlins with Dan Uggla have gotten more overall value). Consider they have gotten a useful situational lefty reliever (Brewer), a power hitting fourth outfielder (Jon Nunnally), a left handed reliever who was good for a year (Andrew Sisco), a pitcher who was dealt for a useful utility infielder (Esteban German) and of course one of the best closers in the game (Joakim Soria). There have been some draft picks that didn't work out (Rich Thompson, Miguel Asencio, Endy Chavez), but overall the Royals have seemingly gotten more decent players than anyone else.

This is probably a result of the Royals having such a pitiful roster that they could afford to carry more Rule 5 guys, but still, you have to give them credit for utilizing a process that gives them free talent, and for finding guys that could actually benefit the team.

Offerman replaced the sure glove of Greg Gagne at shortstop and Bip Roberts was acquired to replace Chico Lind at second base, causing a huge drop off on defense for the Royals. However, with the team finishing dead last in runs scored, they were desperate for some offense.

"If the trade-off is a little hitting I feel pretty darn good about our lineup. We don't have many out guys."
-Royals General Manager Herk Robinson

Jose started slowly, but finished the season on a tear hitting .346 over the last two months of the season. He finished the year leading the team in average (.303), on-base percentage (.384), tied for doubles (33), triples (8), runs scored (85) and walks (74). The Royals were also able to neutralize his defensive deficiencies by having him split time between shortstop, second base and first base. Offerman finished with just sixteen errors, the fewest he had committed in a full season in his career. To reward him, the Royals gave him a two year contract.

In 1997, the Royals had Offerman play second base full-time and flanked him with with veterans Jay Bell at shortstop and Jeff King at first base. Offerman was on fire in June, hitting .342. He ended the season hitting .297 and committed just nine errors in 101 games at second base.

"It's a lot more fun here than it was before, and it's one of the reasons why I'm doing well - it is the way I get treated here. ''

1998 was a contract year for Offerman and he played like it. He led the team in hitting at .315, on-base percentage at .403 and led the league in triples with thirteen. His team leading 191 hits were the most by a Royals player since Kevin Seitzer in 1987. He led the team in walks with 89 and steals with 45, and scored 102 runs. He hit safely in twenty-seven consecutive games, the second longest hitting streak in Royals history.

Most Walks in a Season by a Royals Player, 1986-2008
Kevin Seitzer 102, 1989
Jose Offerman 89, 1998
Jeff King 89, 1997
Chili Davis 85, 1997
George Brett 82, 1988

That winter, Offerman signed a huge four year $26 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.

Offerman spent three and a half largely disappointing seasons with the Red Sox before bouncing around the league from Seattle to Montreal to Minnesota to Philadelphia to the New York Mets. He was finally let go by the Mets in 2005 and unable to find work in Major League Baseball.

Unwilling to let the dream die, he signed on with the independent Atlantic League in 2007. On August 14, Offerman was hit with a pitch, to which he responded by charging the mound with his bat. He managed to break the finger of pitcher Matt Beech and caused a concussion to catcher John Nathans. Offerman was banned from the league and was arrested for assault. He was sentenced to two years of probation for second degree assault.

Sometimes bad defensive players are just bad defensive players. And sometimes jerks are just jerks.

David Ortiz's last five postseason games: .059/.333/.059.

But he's clutch? He's the clutchest son of a bitch of all-time, the greatest clutch hitter in Red Sox history, the most feared post-season batsman of the decade, the post-War era, the century...

Matt Stairs, always unappreciated and the 65th Greatest Royal of All-Time, blasted a mammoth home run off of mythical Dodger closer Jonathan Broxton in the top of the eighth inning tonight, giving the Phillies a 7-5 lead.

The English language is not sufficiently descriptive enough to accurately capture the majesty of Matt's homer. No, it is not still traveling, but it did knock a hole in the Dodger Stadium bleachers.

via d.yimg.com Yahoo Sports

Pardon us if we rank this home run ahead of Alexis Gomez, who powered the Tigers to a 2-0 series lead back in the 2006 ALCS. Since the '06 postseason, Gomez has yet to appear in a Major League game,  and has bounced from the Tiger, to the Rocky, to the Marlins' organization. Sure, Gomez reminded us all he was still alive in 2006, but the events since then have further reinforced his obscurity. The performance of the Tigers hasn't helped either.

No, this was a moment, a swing, a shot, to rival Johnny Damon's Grand Slam in Game Seven of the 2004 ALCS. Stairs's homer swung the series to a decisive 3-1 Phillies advantage and even managed a bit of sentimental flair, thanks to its pinch-hit angle and Stairs's age. According to the WPA data, before Stairs's homer, the Phillies had only a 45% chance of winning the game. When the ball left his bat, that figure went to 83%.

As "RoyalsRetro" has pointed out, the Royals could never quite decide if they wanted Stairs to be a bench-player or a full-time guy during his three seasons in Kansas City. Nevertheless, he was plainly one of the team's best hitters during that period:

Royals Leaders in Walks 2004-2006
Matt Stairs 140
David DeJesus 118
Emil Brown 107
Mike Sweeney 94
Mark Teahen 80

Royals Leaders in Home Runs 2004-2006
Mike Sweeney 51
Matt Stairs 39
John Buck 35
Emil Brown 32
Angel Berroa 28

Stairs is 35th in team history in home runs with those 39, despite just 1223 plate appearances in blue & white. But it wasn't just Kansas City that never really knew what it had in Stairs (who admittedly has his limitations afoot and with the glove). The man didn't see regular playing time until he was 29 years old. In spite of it all, Stairs has hit, to date, 254 career homers, good for 180th all-time. His next regular season bomb will tie him with an odd trio with a Royals-twist: John Olerud, John Mayberry and Kirk Gibson.

Tonight, we lift our glasses to you Matt Stairs. You made up for the struggles of fellow former Royal Chad Durbin. Then, and now.