By Morris Phillips

In June 2005, the only other time the Royals played the Giants in San Francisco, neither team was anywhere near a World Series appearance.

The Royals were 20 years into a playoff drought that would stretch to 28 before this miraculous run that has the confident bunch three wins away from a world championship heading into Friday night’s Game 3. The Giants were in the midst of a horrible season that would see Barry Bonds play just 14 games—all in September–and hit only five home runs following multiple knee surgeries.

The Giants entered that series in fourth place in the NL West, already nine games off the pace of the San Diego Padres.  But that seemed optimal when compared to the Royals, who were already 20 ½ games behind the White Sox in the AL Central.  The White Sox would go on to win the World Series that year while the Royals would win just 56 games, which still ranks as the poorest one-season win total in their history.

Prior to the series opener in San Francisco that year, the Royals were 21 games below .500 and already on their third manager after Tony Pena resigned on May 11, and was replaced by bench coach Bob Schaefer on an interim basis.  By the time the Royals got to San Francisco, Buddy Bell had been hired to lead the club and they were playing well, winning four of their first six games in late May.

But the 2005 Royals were a team of youngsters and castoffs, and things would turn sour again a month later when they would lose 19 straight starting on July 28.  After the first nine of those loses, the Royals made eight—count ‘em eight—rosters moves before their Saturday night game at home against the A’s.  Then the Royals went out and lost 16-1 to Oakland in a game in which four Kansas City pitchers issued a combined 10 walks.

Jose Lima was the starter that night, and the emotional pitcher’s 2005 season may have been his worst.  Just one season after he won 13 games for the Dodgers, Lima signed as a free agent with Kansas City and lost 16 games.  Against the A’s that night, Lima walked four, allowed a home run to Oakland’s Dan Johnson and didn’t survive the fifth inning.  The home run given up to Johnson was the major-league leading 24^th Lima had allowed to that point.  He would go on to serve up 31 gopher balls in 2005, which shockingly dwarfed the total of 48 home runs he allowed in 2000 when he was 7-16 for the Astros.

Lima’s battery mate that night, John Buck summed it up when he said, “Losing is never easy.  It ruins your day.”

Among the players on the Kansas City roster that season were the humorously named Jimmy Gobble, pinch-hitting great Matt Stairs, J.P Howell and Terrence Long, a pair of veterans who had been pretty good players previously for the Dodgers and A’s respectively.  Reliever Jeremy Affeldt was just starting to establish himself as lefty specialist, a role he continues to fill for the Giants.

Rookie Mark Teahan was a high draft choice of Oakland’s that was traded to Kansas City after just two years.  Teahan made his major league debut with the 2005 Royals and did some good things, but couldn’t establish himself defensively at third base.  After an impressive April, Teahan cooled, hitting .240 for the season while his fielding percentage (.947) was the lowest in the American League that year.

The Giants had their own issues with veterans and young players that year.  Kirk Reuter was smashed in the series opener against Kansas City, which the Giants went on to lose 8-1.  Reuter was removed in the fifth inning that night after allowing runs in each of the first three innings.  Reuter would finish that season 2-7, his second straight losing season in San Francisco.  In August that season, the Giants parted ways with Reuter after nine seasons.  After Reuter complained about his role in the bullpen after being demoted as a starter, the Giants felt they could no longer deal with the distraction as well as the declining performance, which explains how one of their all-time great San Francisco players was so ceremoniously released.

The 2005 season was Felipe Alou’s last as Giants’ manager and promising starter Matt Cain’s first with the club.  Alou managed three seasons in San Francisco and was on the cusp of being embroiled in the controversy that started with KNBR talk show host Larry Krueger saying the Giants employed “brain-dead Carribean hitters,” mostly in reference to then third baseman Pedro Feliz.  Krueger was initially suspended for the remarks, but then was fired when he and his producer took on Alou, who complained vociferously, with a series of veiled, on-air gags.

Among the other Giants on that 2005 club: the ill-fated Noah Lowry, classy veterans Ray Durham, Omar Vizquel and J.T. Snow.  Current St. Louis manager Mike Matheny was also on that club, as were pitchers Jerome Williams, LaTroy Hawkins and Kevin Correia, all three of which were still pitching at the big-league level in 2014.