Hi. Nice post, I'm ruminating on it.
I share your feelings and satisfaction when "it" happens at my table as well. I doubt that no strings were pulled, however delicate the pinch might have been.
I get the sim approach, the rejection of narrative rules, metacurrencies and the like, but content has to come from somewhere/someone: a well constructed scenario, engaged players putting forward decise action declarations*, compelling responses and adjudications by the Gm... I see a continuous pushing and pulling of strings (however frantic or diluted during the game) to get there, to the "unexpected" (to use the words of Baker), or the "genuine emotional reaction" as you say.
Going back to the OP, Baker (in 2008, so a couple of years before AW was published) identifies the scope of Rules to "get there", to the "unwelcomed and unexpected", otherwise they're pretty much interchangeable.
(FKR, anyone? ; )
Not even formalized distribution of authority he sees as an important facet of rules systems, evaluating "Live negotiation and honest collaboration as almost certainly better". (Again, I sense a smell of FKR in the air).
I lean on an FKR approach lately, but definitely seek those unexpected, genuine, honest surprises. I roll less dice than usual, but extreme results must have extreme consequences, good or bad.
Don't pull punches, pull strings!!
Joking aside, I mean, even when designing a cursed magic artifact, I'm pulling a string, albeit a long term one, sometimes.
*as per: pemertonian action declarations