October 27, 2014 [LINK / comment]

Giants retake World Series lead

The San Francisco Giants were perhaps taken aback when the Kansas City Royals won Game 3 in AT&T Park on Friday Night. (So much for the mojo of ex-Journey lead singer Joe Perry!) Somehow the visiting team had taken a 2-1 series lead, against all odds. For the home team, Game 4 was almost a must-win situation, and eventually they came through and won handily. The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, and the Royals managed to limit the damage. In the third inning, the Royals staged a four-run rally, chasing the Giants' starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong. But they failed to get more runs after that and their own starting pitcher Jason Vargas couldn't make it through the fifth inning. That's when the Giants began a big comeback, with two, three, and four runs respectively in the fifth, sixth, and seventh inning. That was more like what the fans in San Francisco were expecting. It was Pablo Sandoval who hit the clutch go-ahead RBI single in the sixth inning, and Hunter Pence contributed 3 RBIs of his own. Final score: Giants 11, Royals 4.

In Game 5 on Sunday night, Madison Bumgarner once again dominated. No surprise there. The Royals bullpen was completely worn out from Game 4, and James Shields at least managed to give the relievers a rest, going six innings while only giving up two runs. But with Bumgarner on the mound, that was too much of a hurdle for the Royals to overcome. Final score: Giants 5, Royals 0.

For the past three World Series games, nobody has hit a home run. That's a record going back many years, I forget exactly when it was.

Country singer Aaron Lewis (whom I had never heard of) messed up the National Anthem on Sunday night, joining such elite company as Cristina Aguilera. "Is this going to be on the final exam?" At least he didn't rip the song to shreds, like Roseanne Barr did.

Tomorrow night, the World Series returns to Kansas City, and it's now a must-win game for the Royals. If it goes to Game 7, Madison Bumgarner may be available to pitch for the Giants. So far, he has won every postseason game he's pitched -- except Game 3 of the NLDS, which the Nationals won!

Kauffman Stadium update

Thanks in part to some timely tips from Bruce Orser and Chris Knight (see comment on the October 24 blog post), the diagrams on the Kauffman Stadium page have been updated for the second time this year. Bruce let me know about a plan to expand what was once called Royals Stadium, with bleachers across the outfield, so I came up with a new diagram showing that. The original plan called for two sets of entry portals in the taller portion of the upper deck, so that new diagram has a "transparent" roof to show the additional detail. That information helped me to get the precise arrangement of the center field light towers and the grandstand near the corners more accurate. In addition, Chris pointed out some discrepancies in the outfield seating, waterfall area, etc., and I believe I've taken care of all that.

Perhaps the most notable change is that the waterfalls are about eight feet closer to the outfield fence than I had previously indicated. That makes a significant difference when estimating home run distances. Also, I determined that the waterfall extension to left field, and the Jumbotron display on that side were not completed until 1991. I previously had a 1980 version diagram, but that has been replaced by a 1991 version diagram.

Wrigley Field renovation

For more details on the massive renovation of Wrigley Field, which is already well underway, see bleedcubbieblue.com. Link courtesy of Mike Zurawski. I can't believe they are completely gutting the bleachers so soon after they expanded them in 2006.