Royals complete ALDS sweep of Angels

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Almost an hour had passed, and the postgame party had moved from the field to the Kansas City clubhouse, where victory champagne was flowing. Yet as sheets of rain fell at Kauffman Stadium, thousands of celebrating Royals fans refused to leave.

They had waited 29 years to soak in moments like these.

Alex Gordon hit a three-run double in the first inning and Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas homered last night as the wild-card Royals finished off a three-game American League Division Series sweep of the Los Angeles Angels, 8-3.

"This is a special time in the city right now and they're enjoying this as much as we are," winning pitcher James Shields said of the fans. "This is the best atmosphere I've ever been a part of."

The Royals extended their postseason winning streak to seven games -- but that dates to Game 5 of the 1985 World Series, the last year they were in the playoffs.

"Everyone knows how long it's been since we've been in the postseason, and you can tell because of all these people out here," Hosmer said. "They've got our backs on every pitch, and we're feeding off the energy. To do this in front of our home crowd, it couldn't be any better than coming and celebrating with all these people out here."

The scrappy team with the quirky manager, popgun offense, dynamic defense and lights-out bullpen will open the American League Championship Series against the Orioles on Friday night in Baltimore.

"I've never seen this group of kids so confident on the big stage," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "It's really fun to see their development and watch them come into the postseason and just really take their game to the next level."

The Angels led the majors with a 98-64 record and 773 runs scored during the season, 122 more than the Royals. The Angels became the second team in the divisional era (beginning in 1969) to have the best record in the majors and get swept out of the playoffs, STATS said.

"Anything happens in the playoffs," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia, who used eight pitchers in Game 3. "You don't go in with any badge saying you won the most games, and you're certainly not going to get any points for that going into the playoffs." As for the Royals, he said, "They're going to be a team tough to beat in this tournament."

Shields lived up to his "Big Game James" billing, giving up homers to Mike Trout and Albert Pujols but otherwise holding the Angels in check. Trout, Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Howie Kendrick combined to go 5-for-50 in the series as the Royals held the Angels to six runs and a .170 team batting average.

After Trout homered in the top of the first, Gordon's two-out double in the bottom of the inning gave Kansas City a 3-1 lead and knocked out starter C.J. Wilson. Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the third and Moustakas added a solo shot in the fourth.

"They were just up there trying to put the ball in play," Wilson said. "Then they went into damage mode and started swinging for homers. They're hot right now. That's what happens."