WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has saluted the 2013 Major League Soccer champions Sporting Kansas City. He credits the “dedicated fans” of Kansas City for helping the sport grow in the United States.
Obama paid tribute to the team Wednesday for winning the MLS trophy 10 months ago in a freezing penalty kick shootout.
Obama singled out Kansas City defender Matt Besler and midfielder Graham Zusi, who were on the U.S. Men’s National Team for this summer’s World Cup in Brazil.
The president also noted that Kansas City was enjoying a banner athletic week. The Kansas City Royals won the American League wild card game Tuesday and the NFL Kansas City Chiefs defeated the New England Patriots Monday.
Obama said: “Clearly something is going on in Kansas City.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals had waited 29 years to reach the postseason. They weren’t going down without a fight.
Salvador Perez singled down the left-field line with two outs in the 12th inning, allowing Christian Colon to score from second base and giving the long-suffering Royals a 9-8 victory over the Oakland Athletics in a wild AL wild-card game Tuesday night.
Quite a start to October baseball — even if this one appeared to be over in September with plenty of time to spare.
The A’s raced out to a 7-3 lead by the sixth inning, but the Royals countered with three runs in the eighth. Nori Aoki’s sacrifice fly off Sean Doolittle in the ninth forced extra innings.
The teams kept trading blows over the next couple innings, as midnight came and went on the East Coast and the tension continued to build. Brandon Finnegan finally cracked after tossing two scoreless innings, but the Royals were there to pick up their pitching one last time.
Eric Hosmer hit a rocket to the wall in left field off Dan Otero for a leadoff triple in the 12th, and Colon hit an infield chopper that he beat out for a tying single. That set the stage for Perez, who lined a pitch from Jason Hammel just inside the third-base line to send the Royals pouring out of their dugout in a mad celebration.
The long-suffering franchise hadn’t played in the postseason since beating St. Louis in the 1985 World Series, and the excitement the permeated the city might best be summed up by a statement posted by the Kansas City Police on Twitter in about the 10th inning: “We really need everyone to not commit crimes and drive safely right now. We’d like to hear the Royals clinch.”
They finally did it in a thrilling start to baseball’s playoffs.
For the Oakland, it was one final collapse in a season full of them. The club that once had the best record in baseball wilted over the second half of the season, and needed a victory on the final day of the regular season just to squeeze into the playoffs.
They had chances to put all that in the past. Instead, it will be dragged up for years.
Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images
A much-anticipated pitching showdown between Oakland ace Jon Lester and Kansas City counterpart James Shields instead turned into a high-scoring game and a battle of attrition between their bullpens.
Brandon Moss helped the A’s strike first, belting a two-run homer in the first inning and a three-run shot in the fifth. The Royals countered by playing small ball, stealing seven bases to tie a postseason record previously shared by the 1907 Chicago Cubs and 1975 Cincinnati Reds, according to STATS.
Kansas City clawed back from a four-run deficit over the final two innings.
The impassioned play by a scrappy bunch of Royals that have rarely tasted success energized a sellout crowd that had been pining for postseason baseball since the 1985 World Series.
Then again, maybe it was the crowd that energized the Royals.
Oakland had built a big lead after the fifth inning, and Lester — long a thorn in the side of Kansas City — had started to hit his stride. But A’s manager Bob Melvin opted to send him out for the eighth inning, and the Royals finally got Lester into a real jam.
Luke Gregerson entered in relief but failed to provide much. By the time he struck out Perez and Omar Infante to leave runners on second and third, the A’s four-run lead had become one.
Doolittle tried to finish the game off in the ninth, but he served up a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Josh Willingham. Pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson was sacrificed to second, and then brashly stole third base, allowing him to score on Aoki’s sacrifice fly to right field.
It was the third time in the last three seasons Doolittle has blown a postseason save.
By that point, a series of blunders by the Royals and manager Ned Yost had become moot.
Sean Doolittle tried to finish the game off in the ninth, but he gave up a bloop single to pinch-hitter Josh Willingham. Pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson was sacrificed to second and then brashly stole third, allowing him to score on Aoki’s sacrifice fly to deep right field.
It was the third time in the last three seasons that Doolittle has blown a postseason save.
By that point, a series of blunders by the Royals and manager Ned Yost had become moot.
The first occurred in the first inning, when slow-footed designated hitter Billy Butler was caught wandering off first base on an attempted steal with a runner on third. Eric Hosmer broke late for the plate and was thrown out easily to end the inning.
In the sixth, Yost yanked Shields — the ace of his staff — and called on Yordano Ventura. The rookie promptly served up Moss’ go-ahead, three-run homer.
All that was forgotten as midnight approached at Kauffman Stadium. And now, none of it will be remembered after one of the most dramatic games in franchise history.
UP NEXT
Yost has refused to discuss who he might pitch in the opener against the Angels. The two best bets are vastly different options: Danny Duffy is a young, hard-throwing left-hander who plays on passion, Jeremy Guthrie is a cerebral right-hander that relies on guile.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics catcher Geovany Soto left the game after hurting his left thumb tagging Hosmer at the plate to end the first inning. Soto started over Norris despite never having caught Lester because he’s better at handling the running game. The Royals led the majors with 153 stolen bases this season, and they had seven more Tuesday night — all but one after Soto left the game.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The NFL says Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah should not have been penalized for dropping to his knees in prayer in the end zone after an interception.
NFL spokesman Michael Signora writes in an email to The Associated Press on Tuesday that “the officiating mechanic in this situation is not to flag a player who goes to the ground as part of religious expression.
Signora says “there should have been no penalty on the play.”
The flag thrown in the fourth quarter of Kansas City’s 41-14 victory over New England on Monday night touched off a firestorm on social media, with many wondering how it was different from players dropping to one knee in Christian prayer.
via TwitterKansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium is once again the loudest outdoor venue in sports. Chiefs fans reclaimed the mark with a reading of 142.2 decibels in the first half of their game against New England Monday night.
That’s louder than a jet airplane flying 100 feet overhead.
The Chiefs and the Seattle Seahawks have competed back and forth for the record ever since the “Beast Quake” touchdown run at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field during the 2011 playoffs. A 67-yard touchdown run by Marshawn Lynch was loud enough to register as an earthquake at a nearby seismic center.
Seattle’s previous record was 137.6 decibels, but the Chiefs fans beat that Monday night with a reading of 142.2.
KANSAS CITY (AP) – Royals manager Ned Yost went with a nine-man pitching staff and Oakland counterpart Bob Melvin opted to keep eight pitchers for their AL wild-card game Tuesday night.
The winner advances to face the Los Angeles Angels in the division series Thursday.
The Royals are sending James Shields to the mound to start their first postseason game in 29 years. He’ll be backed by one of the strongest bullpens in baseball, which includes left-hander Brandon Finnegan, the club’s first-round pick out of TCU just this year.
Here is the starting line-up for the Royals:
1. SS – Alcides Escobar
2. RF – Nori Aoki
3. CF – Lorenzo Cain
4. 1B – Eric Hosmer
5. DH – Billy Butler
6. LF – Alex Gordon
7. C – Salvador Perez
8. 2B – Omar Infante
9. 3B – Mike Moustakas
The Athletics will start Jon Lester. He’ll be backed by an equally stout bullpen and an offense that includes slugger Adam Dunn, making his first postseason appearance after playing 2,001 regular-season games for five clubs over 14 seasons.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jamaal Charles proved he is back to full speed for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Tom Brady is still stuck in neutral for the New England Patriots.
Charles returned from an injury to score three touchdowns Monday night, Brady was picked off twice by the opportunistic Chiefs, and Kansas City routed New England 41-14 to hand Bill Belichick one of his worst losses as coach of the Patriots.
Charles, who missed last week’s win in Miami with a sprained ankle, ran for 92 yards and a score. The Pro Bowl running back also caught two short touchdown passes from Alex Smith, who had 248 yards passing and three touchdowns in a sharp performance before a raucous crowd.
The Chiefs (2-2) ended a four-game skid at Arrowhead Stadium dating to last season by handing the Patriots (2-2) their worst defeat since losing to San Diego 41-17 in 2005.
Along with throwing two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, Brady was strip-sacked by Tamba Hali to step up a field goal. Brady finished 14 of 23 for 159 yards.
The Chiefs forced the Patriots to air it out by stuffing Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley. And when Brady dropped back, their front seven ran roughshod over their suspect offensive line.
It hardly helped the Patriots’ offense that it was trying to operate on the same night Chiefs fans were trying to reclaim the record for loudest outdoor sports venue. The record was set in the first half, when Guinness World Records record a noise level of 142.2 decibels — breaking the mark of 137.6 that the Seattle Seahawks’ fans had set last season.
The crowd included several members of the Kansas City Royals, who made the walk across the parking lot from Kauffman Stadium to watch the start of the game on the sidelines. The Royals will play their first postseason game since 1985 against the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.
Knile Davis finished with 107 yards rushing for Kansas City. Tight end Travis Kelce had eight catches for 93 yards and a score.
Charles gave the Chiefs an early lead with his first-quarter touchdown plunge, and then he extended the lead with a 5-yard TD catch in the second quarter.
Cairo Santos added a 22-yard field goal just before halftime for a 17-0 lead.
The field goal came after the Chiefs were bailed out by a defensive penalty. They had been stopped short on a pass play with 8 seconds left, but the penalty gave them a second chance.
Kansas City had 303 yards of first-half offense, the most against any Belichick-coached team.
Charles added his third touchdown of the game early in the second half, taking a short pass in the flat and stumbling into the end zone. He appeared to grab his hamstring on the way down and was met by trainers as he exited the field. After a brief trip to the locker room, Charles logged a few more carries before his night was done.
By that point, the game was pretty much done, too.
Brady threw a 44-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to Brandon LaFell, who slipped the grasp of cornerback Marcus Cooper to reach the end zone. But he was picked off by Husain Abdullah later in the half, and Abdullah returned the interception 39 yards for a touchdown.
With the game out of hand, the Patriots gave rookie quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo a chance to play. He threw a late touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski to complete the scoring.
Missouri Western senior outside linebacker Kirk Resseguie has been named the MIAA Defensive Athlete of the Week.
Resseguie, a senior from Lawrence, Kansas, accounted for two of the Griffon defenses three scores against Lindenwood last Thursday in their 26-9 victory.
Resseguie recovered a fumble for a touchdown in the second quarter to put MWSU up 14-0 then added a sack for a safety in the fourth quarter.
He finished with seven tackles (5 solo), two tackles for loss, a sack and a fumble recovery as Missouri Western held an opponent under 10 points for the third time in four games.
Missouri Western, who is 3-1 on the season, returns to Spratt Stadium Saturday as they host No. 19 Pittsburg State at 6:00 p.m.
University of Missouri junior DE Shane Ray (Kansas City, Mo.) was named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Line Player of the Week for his big game this past Saturday as he helped lead Mizzou to a thrilling 21-20 road comeback win at 13th-ranked South Carolina. Ray won the award, as announced tonight by the league office, after recording a career-high eight tackles (all solo stops), including 2.0 quarterback sacks, which ties his personal best.
This is the second weekly honor that Ray has garnered in what is quickly becoming an award-worthy season. He was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week for his 7-tackle performance in a win over UCF on Sept. 13th, which included four tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble.
Through five games, Ray’s season totals of 8.0 sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss are both tops in the nation. He’s had at least one sack in all five games this season, including a trio of two-sack outings against South Carolina, UCF and Toledo.
This past Saturday, Ray and his defensive mates held a dangerous Gamecock offense to season low totals in several categories, including points (20), yards (338), passing yards (219) and 1st downs (18). The defense was especially stout during crunch time, as the Tiger offense rallied in the final seven minutes of the game. After Carolina took a 20-7 lead with 7:25 to play, the Tiger defense allowed zero yards on the Gamecock’s last two series, which ended in a three-and-out punt, followed by a four-and-out series to end the game.
This marks the third time in 2014 a Tiger has won a weekly conference award. Prior to Ray’s pair of awards, sophomore QB Maty Mauk won the SEC Offensive Player of the Week on September 8th for his play in MU’s win at Toledo.
Ray and the 24th-ranked Tigers are off this weekend as they set their sights on the #13 Georgia Bulldogs, who come to Columbia, Mo. on Oct. 11th for an SEC Eastern Division showdown. Kick time for that game will not be announced until this Sunday, as it is one of five SEC games put on standby for a six-day selection window.
The Missouri Western women’s golf returned to action Monday as they took part in the Fort Hays State University Invitational at the Smoky Hill Country Club.
The Griffons sit in fourth place after day one posting a team score of 331. Central Oklahoma leads the field with a score of 305.
Madison Romjue is the leader for Western after the first round. She managed to fire a 79 on the round and currently sits in tenth place. MWSU’s Amber Chivington had the second best score on the team with an 81 placing her thirteenth in the tournament.
The individual leader is Central Oklahoma’s Marla Souvannasing with a first round of 72.
The invitational continues on Tuesday starting at 9 a.m.
For the third time in five weeks, Nebraska I-back Ameer Abdullah earned a Big Ten weekly honor, as the senior was chosen as the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week on Monday.
Abdullah, who leads the nation in rushing yards and is second in yards per game, rushed for 208 yards and a career-high three touchdowns in Saturday’s 45-14 win over Illinois. He totaled 196 yards and all three scores in the first half, as the Huskers raced to a 31-14 lead.
The 208-yard performance marked Abdullah’s third 200-yard effort of the 2014 season and fourth of his collegiate career. His three 200-yard games in 2014 are one shy of the school mark set by Mike Rozier in 1983. Abdullah also climbed into second place on NU’s career lists for 100-yard games (21), career 200-yard games (four) and yards from scrimmage (4,339) while he also pulled within 70 yards of second place on the Huskers’ all-time rushing list. Abdullah had 212 all-purpose yards in the game, increasing his career total to 5,974 yards and moving him within 26 yards of becoming just the seventh player in Big Ten history with 6,000 career all-purpose yards.
The Big Ten honor was one of three awards Abdullah received Monday, as he was also named the Athlon Sports Big Ten Player of the Week and the College Football Performance Awards Running Back of the Week.
The Huskers, who are 5-0 and ranked 19th in the country, take on No. 10 Michigan State this Saturday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. (central) on ABC.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has saluted the 2013 Major League Soccer champions Sporting Kansas City. He credits the “dedicated fans” of Kansas City for helping the sport grow in the United States.
