While he didn't manage a hit and struck out looking twice, The Future of The Kansas City Royals and Therefore Our Hopes and Dreams looked very good tonight.
Hosmer's first two plate appearances were walks. During his first PA he found himself in a 1 - 2 hole only to coax a walk out of the A's lefty, Gio Gonzalez. In his second trip to first base, Hosmer got a great jump from first and stole his first base only to be left at second by Wilson Betemit, who made sure Hosmer didn't cross the plate both times the rookie reached.
Hosmer also turned the fabled 3 - 6 - 3 double play that kept Billy Butler from being a true first baseman in the eyes of the club. Not only did he turn that double play beautifully, but it was on the first hit ball he fielded. Clearly, the stars aligned for Hosmer there.
Sure, he went down with the bat on his shoulder twice, but to be fair, the called third strike on the second backwards-K was both low and outside. If he had swung at that pitch, everyone would have been up in arms. If the Savior of The Royals Franchise were Canadian, he'd have said he'd been hosed.
The rest of the Royals also played in a baseball game tonight, but who really cares? It was Hosmas (Hosmermas?).
OK, I'll give them their due. Sean O'Sullivan looked surprisingly efficient. His one bad inning was one in which the A's strung a bunch of singles together, and a double play or two weren't completed as they likely should have been. Other than that, he cruised through his eight innings.Alex Gordon had a nice wind-aided home run in the bottom of the first.
The Foremost Freedom Fighter in This Great Land stretched a single into a double and struck fear into the hearts of baserunners at third by simply flexing his throwing arm cannon.
Jarrod Dyson stole another base in a pinch-running appearance in the bottom of the ninth. That was good for his 75th pinch-running base theft this year. Or maybe I'm wrong on that.
Sure, the offensive output was meager, but everyone got to see the Next Big Thing, which is all that really matters. While he may not have impressed the Facebook fans, the nerds loved it.