little thing, too, it all mattered and was personal to him, and thats

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The World Series champions have failed to make the postseason for the fourth year in a row.Kendrys Morales and Alex Gordon keyed an eighth-inning rally and Kansas City beat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 on Wednesday night, but the Royals were still knocked out of playoff contention.The defending World Series champs were eliminated when Baltimore beat Toronto 3-2 earlier Wednesday.Obviously wed like to be playing a lot more baseball, but the reality of it is were not, said Eric Hosmer, who hit a two-run homer in the third.Morales ground-rule double to right scored Jarrod Dyson, who had doubled and stole third. Gordons single scored Whit Merrifield and pinch-runner Billy Burns.Dyson said he would not be watching postseason games.Its kind of sad and tough to watch postseason when youre not in it, Dyson said.The Twins, who have lost 10 of 11, have dropped 102 games, tying the 1982 team for its highest total since moving to Minnesota for the 1961 season. The Washington Senators lost a franchise-worst 113 games in 1904.Were trying to win games, but its becoming difficult, Twins right-hander Ervin Santana said. But, I think we just try to do too much and we forgot about the little things. Its a game. You just have to prepare to be better for the next year.Taylor Rogers (3-1), the fourth of five Twins pitchers, took the loss after allowing three runs, three hits and two walks while retiring only one of the six batters he faced.Joakim Soria (5-8) worked a scoreless eighth to pick up the victory. Wade Davis got his 27th save in 30 chances.Royals left-hander Jason Vargas tossed five shutout innings, allowing four hits, striking out six and walking one. He threw 53 strikes in 87 pitches, leaving with a 2-0 lead in his third start since having Tommy John surgery in 2015. Vargas finishes with a 2.25 ERA, allowing three runs and eight hits while striking out 11 and walking three in 12 innings.It was nice to have a reward as far as having some success once I was able to step underneath the lights and really get out there for real, Vargas said. Going into the offseason, I was just hoping for health as far as being able to have the normal offseason. So to have a nice outing like this before is a nice comfortable feeling.Rookie Kevin McCarthy, however, did not hold the lead for long. McCarthy yielded a two-run two-out home run to Kennys Vargas in the sixth. After McCarthy walked the next two batters, Peter Moylan was summoned to face John Ryan Murphy, retiring him on a comebacker.The Vargas homer snapped a Twins streak of 106 innings without more than one run. According to Elias, it is the longest such streak in the majors since the Philadelphia Phillies went 109 innings in 1942 without scoring multiple runs.We just kind of stagnated from there, Twins manager Paul Molitor said.Hosmer hit a two-run homer, his 25th, off Santana in the third. The Royals did not get another hit until Dysons one-out double in the eighth.NO REPEATThe Royals follow the San Francisco Giants (in 2013 and 15) and Boston Red Sox (in 2014) in failing to reach the playoffs after winning the World Series.ATTENDANCE DECLINEThe Wednesday attendance of 23,437 pushed the Royals season total to 2,445,361 after 77 home dates. After 77 Kauffman Stadium dates last year, the Royals had pulled 2,564,750 through the turnstiles, a decline of 119,389.ZERO AT KCThe Twins dropped to 0-9 at Kauffman Stadium. They have never finished a season winless at Kansas City.TRAINERS ROOMTwins: 1B Joe Mauer (hamstring injury) was not in the lineup, but Molitor said he was available to pinch hit.Royals: OF Lorenzo Cain, who has played only one game in September because of left wrist inflammation, will not play again this season. There is no need to push him, Royals manager Ned Yost said.UP NEXTTwins: RHP Kyle Gibson, who went to the University of Missouri, will make his 11th career start against the Royals.Royals: LHP Danny Duffy is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in three outings against the Twins this season. Air Max 90 Sale Cheap . -- Derrick Rose shook off poor shooting early to hit clutch shots late and Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 104-95 preseason victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. Wholesale Air Max 90 Kpu . Westbrook has missed 27 games since having a procedure on Dec. 27 to deal with swelling in his injured right knee — the third operation on the knee in nine months. http://www.wholesale90airmax.com/ .ca. Kerry, Just watched the shootout in the Coyotes/Leafs game and I have to ask, why was the James van Riemsdyk goal allowed to count? All of the video replays we were shown on TV were inconclusive about whether the puck had entirely crossed the line or not. Air Max 90 Off White Cheap .com) - Richie Incognito has reportedly been admitted to a psychiatric care unit in Arizona. Wholesale Air Max 90 Essential Womens .com) - Following a late-game loss to the reigning NBA champs, the Toronto Raptors will look to sustain their recent high-level play as they travel to Indiana to take on the Pacers. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- When Indiana coaches started looking for weaknesses in Ohio States game, someone noticed the Buckeyes punter Cameron Johnston wasnt listed among the NCAA leaders at his position. So he must not be very good, right?Turned out that Johnston hadnt punted enough this year to even be listed in the NCAA stats. Johnston has punted just 11 times in four games, but his average -- 50.6 -- is among the best in the nation.So much for that.I dont know if youre a great punter if youd want to go to Ohio State, to tell you the truth, because they dont use him, Indiana coach Kevin Wilson quipped this week.In other words, the weaknesses are really hard to find.Fresh from an overtime upset of Michigan State last week, Indiana (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) visits Columbus on Saturday to play No. 2 Ohio State (4-0, 1-0) whose weapons are so numerous, Wilson said, that preparation is difficult.They play a lot of guys and they play hard, Wilson said. Theres a lot of talent and a great competitive spirit on that team.Other things to watch for when Indiana visits Ohio State:CONFIDENCE BOOST: Indiana receiver Mitchell Paige said the teams confidence level was high even before the Hoosiers knocked off Michigan State in OT. If the Hoosiers can beat Michigan State, why not the Buckeyes?Were starting to see we can do some things when we listen to coaching, understand more game plan -- there was a lot of really good film study last week -- knowing exactly what we were trying to do, said Paige, who is tied for the team lead with 18 receptions for 217 yards and got his first TD of the season last week.We can build on that this week and get even a little bit better. Well only be more confident and give ourselves a real chance on Saturday, Paige said.Wideouts Nick Westbrook (18 receptions, 370 yards, four TDs) and Ricky Jones (16 receptions, 350 yards, one TD) also will be competing for quarterback Richard Lagows attention Saturday.IT STARTS WITH JT: Ohio State cooach Urban Meyer has often said that Tim Tebow, his Heisman trophy-winning quarterback at Florida, is the gold standard for team leaders.ddddddddddddMeyer said this week that quarterback J.T. Barrett is very close to Tebow status in terms of leadership qualities.Yeah, J.T., in his own way, is exactly on the same level as Tim, and those are two elite leaders, Meyer said. There are some other guys, but, yeah, J.T. is certainly at that level.Barrett said hes honored that Meyer would talk about him and Tebow in the same conversation.I think theres something with great players, you can tell that everything is so personal, Barrett said. And I think when you watched (Tebow) play he was passionate and everything was personal to him. Everything mattered, every little thing, too, it all mattered and was personal to him, and thats why he was so fun to watch.Same with Barrett?Im getting there, he said.LANDERS RISING: Among the many pleasant surprises for Ohio State this season is an undersized redshirt freshman defensive tackle named Robert Landers.Generously listed as 6-foot-1 and 285 pounds, Landers -- from perennial state powerhouse Huber Heights Wayne -- leads the team with five tackles for a loss and is tied for seventh in the Big Ten with 1.25 tackles for a loss per game.Typically giving up several inches and 20 pounds or more to offensive linemen, Landers is quick and able to use his low center of gravity as leverage against larger men.Im a little short for my size, but it plays to my advantage, he said, noting that defensive line coach Larry Johnson likes to refer to him as gravity challenged.Said Meyer: You cant have a whole defensive line like that, but he creates havoc in there.---Follow Mitch Stacy at http://twitter.com/mitchstacyFor some of his other recent stories: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/mitch-stacy ' ' '