World Series Game 1

Tonight we will see the first game of the 2014 World Series, a series that features two teams who did NOT win their divisions, but were propelled forward after winning their respective Wild Card games.  I have missed watching two games of the entire playoffs, so you can bet that I will be watching the game tonight.

With that in mind, I decided to take the 2014 MLB Showdown cards (still being developed, but we made sure to have the charts for the Royals and Giants) and play out the World Series.  I enrolled the help of my brother (@BubblesMcFly) and knocked out the first two games.  A few things to note: there is no Travis Ishikawa card in the 2014 set, so I used the injured Angel Pagan in his place.  We also did our best to keep the lineups the same as they have been for the teams in the playoffs.  So, without further ado, here is what happened in Game 1.

Madison Bumgarner vs. James Shields

A match-up between the two aces, this game did come down to pitching.  Bumgarner and Shields both have very similar cards, with the difference being one strikeout vs one groundball out.  In the top of the first, Bungarner gave the advantage to Gregor Blanco, only to have Blanco strikeout.

In the bottom of the first, Bumgarner gave Norichika Aoki the advantage, and he promptly singled for the first baserunner of the game.  After Cain struck out, Aoki stole second base, but was stranded there, leaving both teams scoreless after one.

The top of the second saw the first run of the game.  Hunter Pence would get the advantage, but grounded out.  That was followed by a Brandon Belt double without the advantage, with DH Michael Morse getting the advantage and doubling in Belt.  The bottom of the inning brought a single by Alex Gordon without the advantage, and the Giants were up 1-0 after two innings.

The top of the third saw Brandon Crawford single without the advantage, but stay stranded at first.  A two-out single with the advantage by Aoki in the bottom of the inning (with another SB) failed to result in a score, and the third ended at 1-0 again.  The fourth didn't see much action either, and they entered the 5th with the same score.

Batting in the number 9 spot in the order, Brandon Crawford got the advantage with one out, and took the James Shields pitch over the wall for a solo homer and a 2-0 lead.

Starting in the bottom of the fifth, none of the next 15 total batters reached base, and the 8th inning started with the score still 2-0.  The Giants got two on with one out in the eighth, but Wade Davis got the next two batters out to keep the score the same.  Sergio Romo retired the Royals in order in the bottom of the inning.

Wade Davis got the Giants out in order in the top of the 9th, giving his team a chance in the bottom.  The Giants brought in Santiago Casilla to close things out, but he promptly walked Aoki.  After Cain struck out and Billy Butler came up, Aoki stole second to stay out of the double-play.  Casilla struck out Butler, but Eric Hosmer followed with an RBI single, bringing the winning run to the plate.  But Alex Gordon grounded out, and the Giants took Game One on the road,

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
SF	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		2	6	0
KC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		1	4	0

San Francisco Batting:

Brandon Crawford: 2-3, HR, R, RBI
Brandon Belt: 2-4, 2B, R

Michael Morse: 1-4, 2B, RBI

Gregor Blanco, 1-3, 2B

Kansas City Batting:

Norichika Aoki: 2-3, R, 3 SB

Eric Hosmer: 1-3, RBI

Alex Gordon: 1-4

San Francisco Pitching (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO)

Madison Bumgarner (W): 7-3-0-0-1-7

Sergio Romo (H): 1-0-0-0-0-1

Santiago Casilla (S): 1-1-1-1-1-2

Kansas City Pitching (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO)

James Shields (L) 7-6-2-2-0-12

Wade Davis 2-0-0-0-2-2