Giants, Royals have mojo and plenty in common

Published 5:58 pm, Sunday, October 19, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Royals' remarkable postseason run, the team's first in 29 years, began with an insane 12-inning wild-card win over the A's two weeks ago.

That victory, coming back from four runs down against playoff legend Jon Lester and from a run down in the ninth against All-Star closer Sean Doolittle, set everything else in motion. Kansas City swept the next two series against the Angels and the Orioles.

'That right there - whoever won that game, who knows what they were going to do after that?' said former A's catcher Jason Kendall, who is now a special assignment coach with the Royals and works with the big-league club regularly. 'That was a huge thing. You want to know how good you are? That right there, every single one of them dug deep and came back against one of the best pitchers in the world, with a four-run lead.

'Your chances against Lester down 7-3 aren't very good, so the kind of confidence you get from that, the sky's the limit. You get past that game, either of those teams, and I wouldn't want to play you.'

A major-league scout whose coverage includes the Royals, A's and Giants agreed with that, saying, 'K.C. has a young team that hasn't come from behind a lot this year - and they did it in that game. The confidence boost from that is unbelievable. That wild-card game was the biggest thing for them.'

So how does that make the A's feel? They spurred Kansas City forward, great. They know it could be them in the same position after that back-and-forth nuttiness at Kauffman Stadium this month.

'I look at that team and what they're doing and I think, 'We easily could have got that hot, and that game could have gone either way.' They haven't taken their foot off the pedal,' A's catcher-first baseman Stephen Vogt said.

'If we'd beat K.C., it doesn't necessarily mean that we'd follow the same route, but when you win a game like that that you have as good a chance as anyone,' said Oakland outfielder Sam Fuld. 'No one expected them to play as well as they have; it certainly seemed like they gained some momentum and benefited from no layoff going straight from the wild-card game.'

That is a key as far as A's manager Bob Melvin is concerned, noting that the Giants are in the same category.

'I said a long time ago that the wild-card teams are dangerous, they're playing right up until the end of the year,' Melvin said. 'There aren't four or five days where there isn't a sense of urgency. The Royals and Giants are both playing great and for me, that's not a surprise.'

Opponents see some similarities between Kansas City and San Francisco, especially when it comes to pitching and defense; they both play in big ballparks and, Fuld said, 'They're well balanced lineups that aren't going to kill you with homers - and they're both carrying pretty good mojo into the World Series.'

One area the teams are different is the one that killed the A's: K.C.'s speed. The Royals stole seven bases against Oakland in the wild-card game, and a key steal set up their tying run in the ninth off Doolittle.

'As long as their pitchers are cognizant and quick to the plate they've got a chance, but it behooves you to keep them off base,' Melvin said. 'Really, what you have to do is to stop them from running out of control - that's all you can do.'

Giants pitchers vary in their ability to hold runners and in their times to the plate, and Giants catcher Buster Posey is in the middle of the pack when it comes to handling base stealers. Even so, 'Buster finds a way to step up. He's got that knack in the postseason,' the scout said.

The Royals also have one of the most dominant bullpens in the game, with numerous relievers who hit triple digits on the radar gun.

'It's tough to beat them if you get into the seventh and they have the lead,' Melvin said. 'That plays with teams psychologically - not only does it impact the result, but it's in your head the entire game.'

'The Giants have the edge in bullpen experience,' the scout said, 'but the Royals' bullpen is better.'

The Giants specialize in inducing other clubs to flub routine plays or stumble in key moments, and if that continues, they'll be in good shape.

'Whoever makes the least mistakes will win - but neither team makes many mistakes,' the scout said. 'It might come down to which team throws a few bad pitches here and there.

'The Royals are lucky they don't have to play four games at San Francisco, because there is magic dust sprinkled there right now.'

Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser

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