5 Rapid Reactions to All the Early 2014 World Series Action

The World Series is two games in, and it feels like it's far from over after Wednesday night's Game 2 in Kansas City, in which the Royals took down the San Francisco Giants to knot things at a game apiece.

Even with only 18 innings to cover so far, there's still plenty to extract from the events as they have unfolded heading into Friday's Game 3 in San Francisco.

Let's run through some rapid reactions from the first two contests.

This Is a Series Again

The Giants brought an abrupt end to the Royals' record eight straight wins to start a postseason with a 7-1 drubbing in a Game 1. The game felt like it was over as soon as Hunter Pence homered in the top of the first inning, and it seemed everyone was worried that the World Series wouldn't be a series.

Maybe that had something to do with the fact that the Royals hadn't been to the playoffs since 1985, whereas San Francisco has all of that even-year mojo from winning it all in 2010 and 2012.

Well, Kansas City stormed back with some offense of its own, taking out the Giants 7-2 on the strength of a five-run sixth inning (highlights up top) to snap San Francisco's seven-game win streak in the Fall Classic, dating back to 2010.

It's now a best-of-five showdown, folks.

The Royals Proved Their Resolve...

Here's the scenario the Royals faced at the outset of Game 2. Making their first World Series appearance in 29 years, they had just lost badly at home the night before. Then Giants outfielder Gregor Blanco—the very first batter of the game—smacked a home run off right-hander Yordano Ventura, who was only the first-ever Royals rookie to start a Fall Classic game at any position.

Facing the possibility of heading to San Francisco with a potentially insurmountable 0-2 deficit, Kansas City answered with a run of its own right away on Billy Butler's RBI single in the bottom of the first and ultimately kept it close until breaking things open in the sixth.

"We stepped up big as a team," said Butler, who plated the go-ahead run with another single in that momentum-shifting sixth inning. "That gave us some confidence in the clubhouse. You never know how guys are going to respond to losing in the World Series, but we feel pretty confident going in there [to San Francisco] 1-1."

...Now It's the Giants' Turn

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

After their first World Series loss in a long time, the Giants are counting on Game 3 starter Tim Hudson to get them back in the win column.

For the Giants, Game 2 proved to be their first defeat in a Fall Classic since Game 3 of the 2010 World Series on Oct. 30, 2010, so it's their turn to try to bounce back.

In their favor? The series now shifts to San Francisco for three straight, and veteran Tim Hudson is on the mound. While this will be the first World Series start in the 39-year-old's 16-year career, Hudson isn't the type to succumb to the big stage.

The right-hander owns a solid 3.42 career postseason ERA in 68.1 innings and has pitched well this month, allowing five runs in 13.2 frames while recording an immaculate 13-to-0 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Madison Bumgarner Is Guaranteed to Go Again

The series will now be pushed to at least Game 5. That's good not only because there won't be a sweep, but also because we get to watch Madison Bumgarner pitch in the postseason, and especially in the World Series, again.

With a 3-1 record to go with a minuscule 1.40 ERA and 0.72 WHIP over 38.2 innings across five starts, the Giants ace unquestionably has been the best pitcher—nay, the best player—of these playoffs.

Sure, the left-hander saw two big streaks come to an end in his seven-inning, one-run effort in Game 1—he had 21.2 consecutive scoreless innings in the World Series and set an MLB record with 32.2 straight postseason innings without allowing a run on the road. But if anything, that only put into context how dominant Bumgarner has been.

What does he make of all his success when the lights are brightest? "It's tough to explain," Bumgarner said in his on-field interview after Game 1. "I just go out there and try to make pitches."

A Little Bad Blood Isn't Such a Bad Thing

Because the first two games haven't been especially close in the late innings, this World Series looked like it might be hurting for some drama. Thanks to Giants reliever Hunter Strickland, that's not the case anymore.

Strickland, who tied a dubious record for a reliever by surrendering his fifth homer of the postseason, started to get into it with Royals catcher Salvador Perez near home plate after giving up a two-run double to Perez and a two-run shot to Omar Infante. That blew open what had been a 2-2 tie at the start of the bottom of the sixth.

Here's Mike Oz of Yahoo Sports' Big League Stew:

"

The most talked-about play of Game 2 will certainly be Infante's two-run homer in the sixth inning that put the Royals ahead comfortably. It also led to a benches-clearing moment when Strickland lost his temper and started jawing at Perez, who scored on the homer. This wasn't so much a Giants vs. Royals thing as it was a frustrated Strickland letting his emotions show the worst of him.

"

That may be true, and cooler heads could prevail—"Hopefully it doesn't carry over to the next game," Lorenzo Cain said on the broadcast afterward—but this could easily have an effect on these two intense, competitive clubs going forward.

Statistics are accurate through Oct. 22 and courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted.

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