And So It Ends

In one of the most intense and dramatic ballgames I’ve ever witnessed the Tigers fell to the host Minnesota Twins in 12 innings last night, ending their run as leaders of the AL Central, ending their season, ending so much hope. Those people who say baseball is a boring game were treated to a brilliant argument to the latter last night in the Metrodome. Game 163 featured everything baseball fans hope for in such a contest. There was big time pitching in the clutch, timely hitting, heartbreaking miscues, brilliant defense, redemption and failure all rolled into one 12 inning classic.

The Metrodome was rocking all night, never more so than when Carlos Gomez slid home ahead of the throw from Clete Thomas to wrap up the AL Central crown and send the Twins to New York to battle the Yankees. The Tigers were inches away from taking their place in the ALDS on more than one occasion, but it simply was not to be.

As the Twins basked in the glory of their victory the Tigers were left to answer the tough questions, and to board a quiet flight home to empty their lockers. This baseball season is done for these Tigers.

Rick Porcello was tremendous in his most important start of the season, pitching 5.2 innings, allowing four hits and one walk while tying his season high with eight strikeouts. He surrendered one earned run and left the mound with the lead. Twins starter Scott Baker turned in a quality start in response, tossing six innings, allowing six hits, two walks and three earned runs while fanning a pair. In all the Tigers used five pitchers, the Twins eight, as the two squads combined to throw 391 pitches.

Each team had 12 hits and drew six walks, with each squad stranding a dozen runners. There were three doubles, a triple and four home runs combined. In a back and forth affair that will be remembered as an incredible contest overall, the Twins had just a little bit more.

Any effort to pinpoint one play from last night that decided the game will be difficult, as there probably were a dozen moments that could arguably be considered. The Tigers had runners at the corners with nobody out in the ninth, A man on second with two out in the 10th and the bases loaded with one out in the 12th – but could not produce a run. Twice in those three situations it was Gerald Laird who made the final out. Laird was 0-6 with two strikeouts and left 10 men on base combined in the game. Had Jim Leyland pinch hit for Laird in one of these situations might the game have ended differently? Perhaps, but we’ll never know.

I thought Jim might pinch hit for Brandon Inge in the eighth inning with runners at first and second and one out. He didn’t. Inge popped out and Laird struck out looking to end the threat. Brandon redeemed himself though, twice, with a game saving snare of an Orlando Cabrera chopper in the ninth and a run scoring double in the 10th. Again, second guessing is just that, and pointless to boot. The game played out the way it played out and both sides had multiple opportunities to force victory. In the end it was the Twins who found a way to get it done.

Ron Gardenhire managed his club brilliantly, and his players made big plays when it mattered most. The Tigers didn’t lose this game, despite what some might say, the Twins won it, and they deserve hearty congratulations for that.

of course this won’t stop folks from asking why Fernando Rodney came back out in the 12th inning. He threw 48 total pitches last night over three innings while Twins closer Joe Nathan threw 21 pitches over an inning and two thirds. Jim Leyland stuck with his closer, who wanted the ball, and the end result is the end result. I was surprised that the “all hands on deck” philosophy wasn’t more evidently used by Leyland, but in the end he stuck with the guys he had faith in, win or lose, right or wrong.

Some will say Zach Miner shouldn’t have been left out there, not with several left handed hitters due up and the Tigers left handed relievers available. But he was, and it was the right handed hitting Orlando Cabrera who banished Miner from the game with his two run shot in the seventh.

You could make the argument that the Tigers got hosed, as replays clearly indicated Brandon Inge was hit (in the jersey) by the pitch in the 12th inning with the bases loaded, which should have forced home the go-ahead run. But home plate umpire Randy Marsh didn’t see it, and that’s all that matters.

Marsh came under scrutiny from fans of both teams last night. He called out Tigers and Twins hitters on pitches that seemed out of the zone, and Twins fans beefed that Alexi Casilla was actually safe in the bottom of the 10th inning when he was called out on the throw home from Ryan Raburn. In the end the game was going to be decided not by an umpires call, but by timely hitting and strategy. The Twins pulled off a slight edge in both categories, just enough in fact to win.

Miguel Cabrera responded to the Metrodome chants of “Alcoholic” with a blistering double and a home run to deep right center. He finished 2-5 with two RBI’s. Magglio Ordonez went yard as well, tying the game with his eighth inning solo shot. Maggs was replaced for defensive purposes in the 10th by Clete Thomas after scoring two runs and going 2-5 at the dish. Curtis Granderson and Ryan Raburn had two hits a piece as well, but also combined to slaughter a 10th inning pop fly by Michael Cuddyer that turned into a triple, and the eventual tying run.

The Tigers had a chance to end the game right there in the 10th inning, when a chopper up the middle got by Placido Polanco and into center field, plating Cuddyer. From the crack of the bat many thought a game ending double play was in the works, but no such luck existed for the Tigers.

Placido didn’t look right to me last night. I’m not sure if he was playing through an injury we have yet to be informed of, but he looked a bit tight on more than one occasion. His strikeout looking with men at first and third and no outs in the ninth came on a pitch that should have been called a ball, but also a pitch Polly would normally foul off. But he took it, and Curtis Granderson strayed a bit too far from first on the rocket from Magglio that Orlando Cabrera turned into the inning ending double play. It’s safe to say the pick up of Cabrera by the Twins was a critical one in their path to the playoffs.

With all said and done the Tigers finished the 2009 season at 86-77, second place in the AL Central. Despite leading the division for 164 days the Motor City Kitties have nothing to show for it. They lead by seven games on September 6th and by three games with four to play, but we all know how that turned out. The Tigers went 17-16 from September 1st on, the Twins finished the season 21-11 over that same stretch. Remarkably the Twins posted a 17-4 mark without slugger Justin Morneau, who was lost late in the season with a back injury. They also did it without Kevin Slowey in the second half. Arguably the Twins best pitcher before the All-Star break, he finished 10-3 on the year, his last start coming July 3rd.

Congratulations to the Minnesota Twins. They fought hard, never surrendered and found a way to keep playing in October. As for the Tigers….well, the off-season awaits.

Some will lament the Tigers collapsed, choked, gagged on a chance at immortality. Others will point out this team was expected to finish in the middle of the pack at best, and overachieved. They faced strife and setbacks, with starting pitchers Dontrelle Willis, Jeremy Bonderman, Armando Galarraga and Nate Robertson and reliever Joel Zumaya rendered ineffective by injuries and other issues for a large chunk of the season. The Tigers leaned heavily on rookies and career minor leaguers, gambled at the trade deadline on pieces that did not meet expectations, and endured prolonged slumps from a number of veteran hitters – and still were a play or two away from the post-season.

For me it’s too soon to boil this 2009 Tigers campaign down to a couple of sentences. It hasn’t sunk in yet. I watched the game last night, I’ll watch the Twins play the Yankees later today, but it will take a couple of days for it all to truly materialize. I hope you’ll stay with me through the off-season. I’ll be breaking down this past season player by player, handing out final grades, and looking ahead to 2010. I’ll do my best to continue covering this team, even as they hibernate through another long, cold Michigan winter. I want to thank all of you loyal readers for your support this season, for your comments and thoughts, for allowing me to be a part of your baseball experience. It means the world to me.

Here’s to 2009, and to 2010. To what was, and to what may be. After all, Opening Day in Detroit is only 184 days away.

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Tags: Armando Galarraga, Brandon Inge, Clete Thomas, Curtis Granderson, Detroit Tigers, Dontrelle Willis, finish 2nd, game 163, Gerald Laird, Jeremy Bonderman, Jim Leyland, Joel Zumaya, Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera, Minnesota Twins, Nate Robertson, Placido Polanco, Rick Porcello, Ron Gardenhire, Ryan Raburn, Thank You, Tigers lose, Tigers v Twins recap, Twins win the AL Central