The pinch runner just might be right; Royals look like better team
Jarrod Dyson made a brash remark. But that doesn't make it wrong.
By
Jon Heyman
•
6 min read
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Normally, pinch runners are supposed to be seen, and not heard. That's why it seemed so unusual for Jarrod Dyson, the anchor man of the Relay Royals, to make what passes for the boldest statement of this postseason.
No one could imagine Herb Washington, the most famous pinch runner of them, speaking for Reggie Jackson back in the A's heyday. No matter, Dyson's remark seemed right for these Royals, a democratic bunch if there ever was one.
Hey, let the kid with the wheels mouth off. It's all good.
Anyway, for all his old-school bravado, Dyson may well turn out to be right.
Whatever you think of his memorable remark, it was delivered magnificently. It was bold, to be sure, but the use of the word "sir" by Dyson added a nice element of politeness, sincere or not. Though of course, the main point was that this ALCS would be ending here, in the land of the glorious fountains, tasty barbecue and hungry ball fans.
To rerun Dyson's remark, after Kansas City went up 2-and-0 in games by winning both games in Baltimore's Camden Yards, Dyson was asked whether he expected to be back in Baltimore for Games 6 and 7, and he responded, "No, sir, I don't, and I don't think (the Orioles) think that, either."
Dyson, technically, went a step further than suggesting the Royals expect to end things here by surmising that the Orioles do, too. How he would know that, I'm not so sure. Maybe he figures, if you're going to make waves in those fountains, might as well make them big ones.
What's especially gutsy here is that not only Dyson mainly a pinch runner (though he does usually stay in the game after entering to run), in this series he is currently zero for two in stolen base attempts.
Maybe the Orioles gun him down on his comment, too.
But, at this point, it's hard to think he'll wind up being wrong. (At least not about the part regarding the Royals winning this series.)
The Orioles did their best to suggest they are unaffected by such a bold statement, and in this case, I have to think they are not. Dyson is known for his speed and his defense, not his powers of mind reading.
When Orioles star Nelson Cruz said, "It doesn't impact me," you believe him. The statement, while memorable, isn't going to move the O's, who have survived far worse than pointed words, from an early season-ending injury to Matt Wieters to a later season-ending injury to Manny Machado, and they've actually gotten better as they have gone.
For the record, no one in orange and black agrees with Dyson, at least not for the record.
"Oh yeah," Cruz answered when asked if the series was going back to Baltimore. "And they're coming back, too."
The Orioles handled the remark the way they should, seeming to ignore it except when asked about it, then refuting it when they were.
Where they may come up short is on the field.
Give the Orioles immense credit for not only hanging in there, but running up the win total with a vastly diminished team. But it definitely feels like time is running short for them.
The Orioles won 96 games (Showalter corrected "99," at one point; he meant counting the postseason). And that's darned impressive. Guess what, the AL East isn't the weak division it was painted as early, either. It isn't what it was, but believe it or not, it still had the best winning percentage of all the divisions.
To win 96 games at full strength isn't easy. But to do it with two of your best players going down for most of the season is truly amazing.
"I've 96 reasons to be confident in our guys ... just like they do," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said.
You may notice he isn't quite as bold as Dyson with the Quotes, and Showalter semi-apologized for it, explaining that he doesn't want to say anything that affects things.
No worries, Buck, words won't carry the day. However, the Orioles' current issues go deeper than that.
The thing is, while the Orioles were fantastic throughout the year, the Royals are the better team right now. Sure, it's something of a fluke that the Royals, after not reaching the postseason for 28 straight years, haven't lost even one of their first six playoff games, especially since all of those six games could have gone either way.
The reality is, the part that isn't a fluke is the Royals winning close games. They are built to win close games. They have the best trio of relievers in baseball in Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland. Teams don't use the underside of their pen if they can avoid it in the postseason, so the Royals have an advantage over every team in the final three innings of every game.
That the Royals only had the 10th best bullpen ERA in baseball doesn't matter a bit now. All that matters is Herrera, Davis and Holland, a triumvirate that seems close to impenetrable.
The Royals have a lot of other advantages, too. They have a game-changing type defense, as we've seen through six games. It seems almost impossible at times to find grass with a hit in that outfield of theirs -- whether it's the starting group of Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain and Norichika Aoki, or later in the game when Dyson comes in to play center and pushes Cain to right. It doesn't matter. Cain is one of the best in center or right, and the others are among the best, too.
The Royals don't have the power of the Orioles (though you wouldn't know it from this postseason so far), but those who said they would have hit a lot more home runs if they played in Camden Yards, or just about anywhere besides Kauffman Stadium, seem prophetic now. They are also young and growing, and some of their players seem to be finding themselves at just the right time, most notably Mike Moustakas, the kid who was demoted in May but now is the most dangerous No. 9 hitter around.
The Orioles defense is fine, but it's much better at full strength. Machado is the best third baseman in the game, so no matter how well Flaherty plays there (and he's a good defender despite losing a grounder in the lights), he's no Machado. Same goes for Steve Pearce at first base. He's no Chris Davis. Wieters is one of the best, too, but Caleb Joseph has been very impressive behind the plate. Wieters' loss is felt more at bat, as Joseph recently broke an 0-for-33 spell.
They also have the momentum, if you care about such things. "What we're doing is a blast," Royals star in the making Eric Hosmer said. "We're living in the moment."
Such great feelings certainly can't hurt. If this young team thinks about his six-game streak, starting with the magical wild-card victory against the A's, when they appeared dead before reviving themselves late with hit after steal after hit after steal, maybe it hurts them. But they're too young ,and they're having too much fun, to take a pause now.
As for momentum, it's meaningless. That's why the rainout of the scheduled Game 3 here Monday doesn't hurt them at all. In fact, it probably helps them.
As Showalter pointed out, the extra day now gives them a chance to rest Herrera, Davis and Holland, who might need a rest more than the Orioles bullpen guys do. And it gives them a chance to use ace James Shields in Game 4 if they like. Shields hasn't necessarily pitched like an ace this October, but he has the best chance of any of the starters in this series to come up with a big performance.
The Orioles don't seem unconfident. They are still taking confidently, though maybe not as confidently as Dyson.
The reality is that they are all confident, and talk is cheap. But Dyson is right insofar as the Royals are just the better team right now.
