Great Happiness As The Royals Keep Coming Back, and Advance to a Division Series

 We just confirmed that Dayton Moore had worked eight years for this moment, eight years nurturing the proud but tattered franchise he had rooted for as a boy. Moore, the general manager of the Kansas City Royals, finally built a playoff team this season, and in the hours before its wild-card game against the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday, there was little to do but worry.

“I’m nervous,” Moore said. “There’s not a whole lot we can do at this point in time. Try to enjoy it, but I’ve got the butterflies going — have all day — and I want to see our guys do well. I want to see them win. That’s why we do this.”
They do it for nights like this, when all seems lost, the season five outs from expiring, down by four runs to a master of the baseball postseason. The Royals found themselves in that hole against Jon Lester, in danger of their first postseason experience in 29 years ending before the calendar even turned to October. But it lives, after a heart-pounding 9-8 victory in 12 breathless innings at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals overcame deficits of 2-0, 7-3 and 8-7, winning on a two-out line-drive hit down the left field line by Salvador Perez and advancing to meet the Los Angeles Angels in a division series starting Thursday.