The box score from last night’s Indians-Royals match-up tells as cruel a baseball tale as you are likely to read. Smashing ten runs in the first inning would make many supporters confident that a glorious victory was on the cards. The sad thing is, it wouldn’t be a surprise if many of the 12,671 attendees retained a dash of pessimism at the time. Royals fans have suffered for long enough to know that a small positive sign is less likely to herald a moment of joy than lead to another disaster.
Losing a game when you are 10-1 up after the first frame is bad enough, but the Royals right now are able to lose in a way that other teams just can not match. Cleveland began to chip away at the deficit and by the middle of the sixth inning had moved to within one run. Yet just when everyone thought the Royals were going to let it slip, back they came. Three Kansas City runs in the bottom of the sixth had seemingly stemmed the tide. “No embarrassing defeats at our expense todayâ€, they thought.
Rather than slamming the door on a charging Cleveland lineup, the Royals had merely set themselves up for a more painful fall. Fast forward to the top of the ninth where the Royals have a four run cushion and only need three outs to wrap up the game. Victory would be a mere formality for most home teams. The Royals are not “most†teams though. Cleveland put the four runs they need on the board to force the game into extra innings, and a depressing inevitability descended on Kauffman Stadium.
Top of the tenth: Cleveland score two runs.
Bottom of the tenth: no reply.
Final score: Indians 15, Royals 13.
MLB.com have enhanced their scoreboard recently by allowing the user to click on any inning of any game. Doing so allows MLB.TV subscribers to join the action at that exact point. Royals fans may want to take advantage of this function. Click on that first inning “10â€, or even that sixth inning “3â€, and enjoy the moment. Press stop and forget about the rest of the game. No Indians comeback. No embarrassment.
Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.