KANSAS CITY, Mo. Cheap Vapormax Flyknit . - They endured it together, Billy Butler and Alex Gordon. All those years with 90 losses, the managerial changes and youth movements and empty seats come late September.Empty seats in July and August, too.They were supposed to be the two players who led the Kansas City Royals back to the playoffs. Butler was the standout high school prospect who couldnt run well and struggled with his glove, but my, how he could hit. And Gordon was the best player in college baseball when the Royals plucked him out of Nebraska, a sure-fire All-Star one day.Well, that day has finally arrived. After seven years of building and rebuilding, Butler and Gordon are reveling in the Royals first post-season appearance since 1985.For the fans, 30 years without feels like a lifetime. Its an eternity to me, Butler said. Kansas City deserves everything theyre getting and we want to give it to them.The Royals open the best-of-seven AL Championship Series on Friday night in Baltimore having already given thousands of fans plenty of post-season thrills.There was the 12-inning walk-off win over Oakland in the wild-card game at Kauffman Stadium. There was the pair of 11-inning wins against the Angels in Los Angeles. And there was the clinching game back in Kansas City, an 8-3 romp that kicked off a citywide party.Butler and Gordon have been gleefully in the midst of it all.This is personal for us, Butler said. It started all the way back when we got drafted. Thats what they envisioned when they drafted us. Going through some bad times, Ive been with this team for 10 years, building toward this.Its been a challenging road filled with pitfalls and potholes, and more than once it looked as though neither Butler nor Gordon would see the fruits of their labour.Butler established himself as a solid hitter early in his career, but his limited ability on the base paths and in the field hampered his value. Butler finally made an All-Star game in 2012, when it was played in Kansas City, but the past couple of seasons have been a struggle.He was hitting just .235 in late-May, a disaster by his lofty standards. And late in the season, Butler found himself sitting on the bench for critical games in a pennant chase.Of course, he would rise to the occasion when the post-season rolled around.Butler had a pair of hits in the victory over the As. And while he went 0 for 9 against the Angels, he managed three walks and even stole a base, his first in two years.Weve believed in Billy all along, Royals manager Ned Yost said.The same could be said of Gordon, the second overall pick in the 2005 draft a€” one year after Butler went in the first round. He was rushed to the majors two years later as the heir to George Brett at third base and soon fizzled out, spending the next couple years vacillating between the majors and minors while trying out a variety of positions.He finally stuck when he landed in left field, and in 2011 hit .303 and earned the first of three consecutive gold gloves. He made his first All-Star game last year, and his second this season, when he hit .266 with 19 homers and again played a masterful left field.Gordon atoned for a 0-for-5 performance against Oakland by beating up the Angels, going 3 for 10 with a pair of doubles and scoring twice. It was his bases-loaded double in the first inning of Game 3 on Sunday night that spurred the Royals to the series clincher.Gordo, hands-down leader of this ballclub, third baseman Mike Moustakas said. For him to go out there in a huge situation like that, after were down one, drive in three runs, it just gave us so much confidence going into the rest of that game.Gordon has slowly evolved into the face of the franchise, yet hes a reluctant star who speaks quietly but carries a big stick. He rarely gets too excitable, nor does he ever get too down. And when he is asked about his personal performance this post-season, he quickly defers the credit to general manager Dayton Moore for sticking with him all these years.Dayton has done a great job moulding this team to where it is now, Gordon said. He really got the right pieces in through the draft and through the trade with James Shields and Wade Davis. Things are really starting to come together. Give a lot of credit to Dayton.Give a lot of credit to Butler and Gordon, too.Were about now, Gordon said. Its been a struggle, but were here now. It doesnt matter who does it as long as someone does it and we get the win. Nike Air Vapormax Plus Black+White . JOHNS, N. Vapormax 2 Flyknit Clearance . She still remembers the massive roar of the home crowd when the Canadians walked out on the pitch before 47,784 fans at Commonwealth Stadium in 2002. Lang expects a similar reception for the Canadian team as the host nation at this years tournament, which begins Tuesday. http://www.clearancevapormax.com/cheap-vapormax-97-clearance.html . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Marc-Andre Fleury, Penguins (3) - Surrendered a tough first goal against on a deflection through the body short side.Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - Terry Roziers 16 points led a balanced Louisville attack as the sixth-ranked Cardinals cruised to a 78-63 victory over Virginia Tech in an ACC clash. Rozier went 4-of-6 from 3-point range, while Wayne Blackshear hit three shots from beyond the arc in a 15-point effort in the Cardinals final tune-up before Saturdays home showdown with No. 4 Duke. Montrezl Harrell and Mangok Mathiang each finished with 11 points and eight rebounds for Louisville (15-2, 3-1 ACC). Harrell added three blocks to anchor a Cardinal defense that held the Hokies to a 34.1 shooting percentage inside the arc. Louisville also received a career-best 11 assists from point guard Chris Jones. Were getting better, and I think it all stems from Chris Jones willingness to be a leader and to be a point guard, Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino remarked. I still want to see him take open shots because we need that at times, but he was totally into getting people good shots and running the team and doing great things defensively. Adam Smith ended 5-of-7 on 3-point attempts and scored 19 points for Virginia Tech (8-8, 0-3). Justin Bibbs and Ahmed Hill had 15 and 14, respectively, in the Hokies fourth consecutive defeat. Weve got to get a lot better, a lot tougher, play a lot harder, said Hokies head coach Buzz Williams. In all the ways (Louisville is) good, those are all the ways that we need to improve. The Cardinals experienced no hangover from Saturdays tough one-point loss at North Carolina, nor were they caught looking ahead to this weekends matchup with Duke. Louisville opened up a 17-2 lead through seven minutes of play and stayedd comfortably ahead the rest of the way while dominating on both ends of the floor. Cheap Vapormax 2 China. Rozier put up eight points during Louisvilles early tear, during which the Cardinals made six straight baskets at one stretch and held the Hokies scoreless for six minutes. Virginia Tech cut its deficit to nine points on several occasions in the first half, but Louisville ended the period on a 10-0 spurt and owned a 43-24 advantage at the break after Blackshear beat the buzzer on a 3-point try. The Cardinals pulled away further in the second half. Blackshear and Rozier started the stanza with back-to-back treys to begin an 8-0 stretch, and the lead later reached 29 points when consecutive buckets from Harrell made the score 63-34 with 12:24 to play. Virginia Tech was able to close the gap somewhat during the latter stages, pulling within 76-60 with two minutes left behind a 12-2 run against mainly Louisville reserves. Their team was totally overmatched, and I think they worked really, really hard, and I just wanted to make sure that they werent embarrassed in any way possible because they worked so hard, said Pitino of the Hokies. It was good that we gave some guys an opportunity, with a big game coming up, to play. Game Notes The schools were facing one another for the first time since Jan. 26, 1995, when both were members of the now-defunct Metro Conference ... Louisville has now won 10 straight meetings in the series ... The Hokies dropped their 10th straight ACC road game and 19th of 20th overall in league play ... Louisville outscored Virginia Tech by a 34-18 margin in the paint. ' ' '