Hosmer’s daring dash helps a Royally good team end a 30-year championship drought

Consider me impressed that the Kansas City Royals will always be referred to as 2015 World Series champions.

There seemed to be this belief from the so-called experts that there was no chance the Royals would return to the World Series for a second straight season. Kind of like these know-it-alls thought it was a fluke the club reached the 2014 World Series.

But think about it – San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner had a World Series for the ages last year. If he didn’t exist, we would be referring to the Kansas City Royals as back-to-back champions tonight.

They definitely deserve the tag as 2015 champions after winning the World Series against the New York Mets in five games.

The Royals were the best team of this entire postseason. By far.

They get key hits, they make key pitches, they thrive in the clutch and everyone on the team contributes.

Oh yes, they certainly have unlikely heroes.

I mean, geez, somebody named Christian Colon hadn’t batted this entire postseason. Naturally, he comes up and delivers the tiebreaking single in the 12th inning of what turned into a 7-2 victory.

But Colon never gets the chance to engrave his name into Royals’ lore if not for Kansas City’s two-run ninth inning. That’s when first baseman Eric Hosmer made the daring dash to score the tying run – a sprint that instantly etches itself in baseball lore.

New York took a 2-0 lead into that ninth inning behind Matt Harvey’s stellar pitching. Mets manager Terry Collins and pitching coach Dan Warthen had decided to lift Harvey after the eighth inning before the right-hander talked his manager into letting him start the ninth.

The Royals moved within 2-1 and Hosmer was on third with one out. World Series MVP Salvador Perez hit a grounder to third and as soon as David Wright threw the ball to first, Hosmer dashed for home.

All New York first baseman Lucas Duda needed to do was make your typical on-the-mark throw home and Hosmer was a dead duck. But Duda’s toss home resembled the type of throw NFL quarterback Brandon Weeden would make – high and wide of the target – and Hosmer scored the tying run instead of making the final out.

From that point on, it seemed just a matter of time before the Royals would win that game and it finally happened in the 12th. That is when Colon singled home the first of five runs in the inning to leave the Mets feeling devastated.

Collins will certainly receive some heat in New York for letting Harvey talk him into pitching the ninth. But there was nothing wrong with that – Harvey sailed through the eighth inning and was dominating Kansas City hitters.

But once Harvey walked Lorenzo Cain to start the ninth, perhaps Collins should have made the change. Instead, Hosmer smacked a run-scoring double and soon came the famous dash home with closer Jeurys Familia on the mound.

Regardless, the Royals made things happen. Now they are viewed as big-time winners and the turnaround has been swift.

Kansas City endured a string of 17 losing campaigns in an 18-season span before finishing with an 86-76 record in 2013. Then came last season’s surprise World Series appearance and now Ned Yost will forever be referenced as a World Series-winning manager.

Who ever thought that was a possibility?

This is Kansas City’s second World Series title – the first one somehow being 30 years ago. Wow 1985, where did you go?

That was a fun band of Royals led by Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett.

That club also featured terrific players like left fielder Willie Wilson and second baseman Frank White. Bret Saberhagen was the ace of a pitching staff – he won 20 regular-season games at age 21 that season – that included starters Charlie Leibrandt, Danny Jackson and closer Dan Quisenberry.

At that time, it seemed like the Royals would be in line to win another title or two and it didn’t happen. Instead, the long drought of missing out on the playoffs began.

The funny thing is that this group of Royals looks like they should be back in the World Series sometime within the next few years too. Perhaps even win another title.

That would be equally as impressive.

Does Petco Park have a panic button?

It’s time to learn if they built a panic button when Petco Park was constructed.

If so, it is time for the San Diego Padres to push it.

The Good Ship Padre has sprung enough leaks now to wonder if September of 2010 will be forever recalled as a Titanic-like disaster.

The team that had been the class of the National League for most of the first five months of the season is now in complete freefall mode.

The Padres have lost nine consecutive games after falling to the Colorado Rockies on Saturday. Prior to the skid, San Diego hadn’t lost more than three straight games all season long.

But since the Padres last won on August 25, their starting pitching has been shaky, their vaunted bullpen has begun getting torched regularly and their questionable offense has dipped back to being mediocre.

And suddenly, the team that appeared the most likely of all NL teams to reach the postseason, is going to be battling just to make the playoffs.

The Padres have been able to remain in first place in the NL West because the San Francisco Giants have failed to take advantage of their struggles. San Diego still led by three games when Saturday began.

And Colorado moved to within 5 1/2 games of the Padres with Saturday’s victory and another Rockies’ win on Sunday would assure that the NL West has become a three-team race.

San Diego has been outscored 51-21 during the losing skid as the formula of defense, pitching and timely hitting has disappeared.

Saturday’s loss came with Jon Garland on the mound and he was one of the two starting pitchers who hadn’t been slumping. Garland had put together seven straight solid outings before lasting just 4 2/3 innings.

Set-up man Luke Gregerson gave up three runs in the eighth and his given up six earned runs in his last two appearances while retiring all of two hitters. He was unhittable the first three months of the season but appears be running out of steam.

Adrian Gonzalez doubled in a run Saturday for just his second RBI over the last eight games. Can’t blame Gonzalez for his RBI drought – he is the lone Padre hitting, having batted .423 (11-of-26) over the last seven games.

Even an MVP candidate can’t drive in runs if nobody is on base.

The Padres need to end this skid and return to their winning ways immediately. Or they are about to waste an epic performance over the first three quarters of the campaign.

San Diego also needs to quit babying ace pitcher Mat Latos and ride his arm as far as it can take him.

Latos leads the NL with a 2.25 earned-run average and is the only starting pitcher in the majors holding opponents below .200 (batters are hitting just .193 against him). Yet you hear no talk about him winning the Cy Young Award because his 13-5 win-loss record doesn’t match up with the 17 wins that Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez and St. Louis’ Adam Wainwright have.

Latos has allowed two earned runs or less in 14 consecutive starts – last done by Greg Maddux over the 1993-94 seasons – but has just two victories over his last seven starts because the Padres keep worrying about his innings and prematurely removing him from games.

He has 35 strikeouts in 26 innings over his last four starts while giving up just 19 hits and four walks – and has one victory to show for it.

Padres manager Bud Black needs to step in and tell upper management that it is time to take the handcuffs off Latos. All Black needs to do is look at that 1985 World Series ring on his finger to know why – the Kansas City Royals don’t win a ring that season if not for 21-year-old Bret Saberhagen carrying the rotation.

And if the Padres don’t want to ride Latos to a division title, then there’s one thing they can do – watch their good season continue to fall apart.

Yeah, time to search Petco Park for that panic button.