SAN FRANCISCO -- The Bay Area will always be special to Jeremy Guthrie.
He caught baseball's attention at Stanford, when he returned to the game after taking two years off from the sport for missionary work.
Just before he was drafted in 2002, he threw a 147-pitch, 13-inning, nine-hitter to beat Cal State Fullerton in an NCAA regional.
And on Friday night at age 35, he pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning of World Series and got the win in Kansas City's 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants, which gave the Royals a 2-1 lead.
A veteran of four teams with an 83-100 record in 11 big league seasons, Guthrie never was an All-Star, and he had a losing record in five of his first six full seasons in the majors.
He saved the best for his baseball twilight years.