And So It Begins

New York isn’t the only city that never sleeps at night. Put Kansas City on that list. And baseball-loving places everywhere as well.

The New York Mets and Kansas City Royals played the longest-ever Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night and Wednesday on a cold and rainy evening (and morning) in Kansas City. Royals left fielder Alex Gordon set the stage for the ongoing drama with a one-out solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to forge a 4-4 tie, and then the teams played on. And on. And on. For five hours and nine minutes, with 13 pitchers taking part and the Mets striking out 15 times.

The Royals prevailed, 5-4, in 14 innings, when Eric Hosmer’s sacrifice fly to right field with nobody out and the bases loaded scored Alcides Escobar. Bartolo Colon became the oldest pitcher (42) ever to lose a World Series game. And the two teams will do this all over again on Wednesday night.

“Any time you get a victory, it doesn’t matter how long it takes,” Hosmer told Fox Sports.

Every game in the World Series carries an 8:07 p.m. ET start, with Fox, the televising network, seeking to maximize revenues. Those who remember baseball as a summer sport played in afternoon sunshine also remember sock hops, malt shops and the first manned flight into outer space. Those days are gone, folks. If you want to watch a World Series game to its conclusion, put on a strong pot of coffee and forget about a good night’s sleep.

Make sure you tell your children about the World Series, as they cannot stay up to watch it. It may make a good bedtime story. Or, in this case, a great wakeup story when the kids ask, “Who won?” And, “Daddy, why do you look so tired?”

We all live in the city that never sleeps. Baseball City.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .