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World Series

A look at the best-of-seven World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals:

Season Series: Royals won 3-0.

Projected Lineups

Giants: CF Gregor Blanco (.260, 5 HRs, 38 RBIs), 2B Joe Panik (.305, 1, 18), C Buster Posey (.311, 22, 89), 3B Pablo Sandoval (.279, 16, 73), RF Hunter Pence (.277, 20, 74), 1B Brandon Belt (.243, 12, 27), DH Michael Morse (.279, 16, 61), LF Travis Ishikawa (.252, 3, 18 with Pirates and Giants), SS Brandon Crawford (.246, 10, 69).

Royals: SS Alcides Escobar (.285, 3, 50, 31 SBs), RF Nori Aoki (.285, 1, 43, 17 SBs), CF Lorenzo Cain (.301, 5, 53, 28 SBs), 1B Eric Hosmer (.270, 9, 58), DH Billy Butler (.271, 9, 66), LF Alex Gordon (.266, 19, 74, 12 SBs), C Salvador Perez (.260, 19, 70), 2B Omar Infante (.252, 6, 66), 3B Mike Moustakas (.212, 15, 54).

Projected Rotations

Giants: LH Madison Bumgarner (18-10, 2.98 ERA, 219 Ks, 217 1-3 IP), RH Jake Peavy (7-13, 3.73 with Boston and San Francisco), RH Tim Hudson (9-13, 3.57), RH Ryan Vogelsong (8-13, 4.00).

Royals: RH James Shields (14-8, 3.21, 227 IP, 180 Ks), RH Yordano Ventura (14-10, 3.20, 159 Ks), LH Jason Vargas (11-10, 3.71, 128 Ks), RH Jeremy Guthrie (13-11, 4.13, 202 2-3 IP, 124 Ks).

Relievers

Giants: RH Santiago Casilla (3-3, 1.70, 19/23 saves), RH Sergio Romo (6-4, 3.72, 23/28 saves), LH Jeremy Affeldt (4-2, 2.28), LH Javier Lopez (1-1, 3.11), RH Jean Machi (7-1, 2.58, 2 saves), RH Hunter Strickland (1-0, 0.00 in 9 games), RH Yusmeiro Petit (5-5, 3.69 in 39 games, 12 starts), RH Tim Lincecum (12-9, 4.74, 1 save in 33 games, 26 starts).

Royals: RH Greg Holland (1-3, 1.44, 46/48 saves), RH Wade Davis (9-2, 1.00), RH Kelvin Herrera (4-3, 1.41), LH Brandon Finnegan (0-1, 1.29 in 7 games), RH Jason Frasor (3-0, 1.53), LH Danny Duffy (9-12, 2.53 ERA, 113 Ks in 31 games, 25 starts), LH Tim Collins (0-3, 3.86 in 22 games).

The Matchup

This marks the first World Series in a full season in which both teams won fewer than 90 games. One of them will become the sixth wild card to win a championship. The only other time both World Series participants were wild cards was 2002, when the Angels beat Barry Bonds and the Giants in seven games. ... These clubs have met only 12 times in interleague play. The only opponent the Giants have faced fewer times is Tampa Bay, with nine. Kansas City hasn’t played in San Francisco since 2005. ... The Royals have won nine of the 12 meetings, including a three-game sweep at home this summer when they beat Bumgarner, Hudson and Lincecum, stealing seven bases in the finale. Shields pitched a four-hit shutout to beat Hudson on Aug. 9. ... The Royals have home-field advantage thanks to the American League’s victory in the All-Star game. The team with home-field advantage has won the last five World Series. ... The Giants opened as a slim favorite.

Watch For

Lights Out Late: Both teams rely on stingy bullpens, so runs could be hard to come by in the late innings. Holland has six saves and a 1.13 ERA in eight postseason games. Davis is 2-0 with a 0.96 ERA, and Herrera has a 1.08 mark in seven appearances. All three have struck out 10. Bochy’s expert use of the bullpen has been the biggest reason for San Francisco’s remarkable October success. Affeldt has made 18 consecutive scoreless appearances in the postseason, Casilla 17 and Lopez 15. Affeldt and Lopez have been particularly tough on left-handed hitters, and Bochy will have to decide how to deploy them against Gordon and Hosmer, who have the dangerous Butler batting right-handed between them.

Big Game Bum: The 25-year-old Bumgarner has stepped forward as the staff ace. The NLCS MVP is 5-3 with a 2.67 ERA in 11 postseason games, matching Bob Gibson and Mike Mussina as the only pitchers with five consecutive postseason starts of at least seven innings with seven or fewer baserunners allowed. Bumgarner has thrown 15 scoreless innings in World Series play, winning both his starts while striking out 14 and yielding five total hits. He went eight innings in the NLCS clincher and figures to get the ball in Game 1 on regular rest.

Big Game James: Shields is the rare Royals player with World Series experience. He pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings for Tampa Bay in a 2008 win over Philadelphia. Kansas City traded a bevy of top prospects, including outfielder Wil Myers, to the Rays to acquire Shields before the 2013 season. He went 1-0 with a 5.63 ERA in three playoff starts this month and is 3-4 with a 5.19 mark in nine career postseason outings.

Potent Panda: Sandoval has keyed San Francisco’s postseason offense since 2010, reaching base safely in a team-record 23 consecutive games. Kung Fu Panda is batting .375 with six homers and 14 RBIs during that span. That includes his three-homer performance in the 2012 World Series opener against Detroit on the way to MVP honors.

Managing Expectations: Looking for his third championship in five years, the understated Bochy is building a Hall of Fame resume. Over in the other dugout, Yost was once fired by Milwaukee in the middle of a September playoff race, and some of his curious decisions have exasperated Royals fans. Yost made all the right moves against Baltimore, though, and now he’s the toast of the town. With both bullpens stacked and the benches often in play, this could become an interesting chess match.

Karma, Baby: The Royals believe this is finally their time. They were counted out for much of the season, languishing below .500 on July 22. They were counted out again in the wild-card game before two late comebacks. Perhaps the same karma that won them Game 6 of the 1985 World Series – the infamous Don Denkinger call – has reared its head for a franchise that was downtrodden for decades. But nobody during this decade has owned October like the Giants – every other year, at least.

Associated Press

Oct 20, 2014
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