140 thoughts on “Game 2009.163: Tigers at Twins continued”

  2. This is amazing. I’m a wreck. Is anyone else still in the office because they don’t want to leave in case they miss something? (slingbox-ing TBS here)

  4. I don’t know how much more of this I can stand.

    That said, I’m thrilled that this is the way it has gone. Did anyone outside Detroit (and even a few in Detroit) think we had the slightest chance of keeping it close through 9, let alone 12?

  6. Shouldn’t Thames be pinch-hitting for Kelly?
    Since Leyland doesn’t pinch hit for Inge or Laird, when is he saving him for?

    1. So he can hit a double, I guess.

      But I guess Leyland was playing the lefty-righty thing again.

      Go Raburn!

  14. They want to face Inge! C’mon Brandon, one more time…one more time…one more time…

  16. Wow………. Hi everyone………………… Great game, just got home from a long day so I am pumped to see a little although It would have been nice to close them out in the ninth but hey…………..

    Steve

  19. Ok…I have two Exchange Students in my house from Norway and Germany who are now Tiger fans! Letaks go Boys!

    1. I actually lost a tourney that way one time… it’s a brutal way to lose. It woulda been great to win that way, though! 🙂

  27. I have no faith in Gerald Laird…and I’m hoping that saying so will cause him to get a hit here

  34. I can’t believe Rodney is still pitching. Isn’t there anybody in the pen?

  41. The was a great, great game. Mostly played very well. Whatever happened in the last few weeks, I’m proud of the team tonight.

  43. cant blame the pitching, had two chances with man on 3rd with no outs. had multiple game lead going into the weekend. sad

  45. EDITED by billfer: Don’t swear on the site. Don’t spell out all but one letter of a swear word.

  47. Well… That was disappointing…
    Good luck Twins…
    Hav fun getting crushed by the Yankees…

    1. I thought leaving Rodney in was the wrong move too, but that’s not why they lost. Leyland didn’t blow it. The Tigers didn’t take advantage of numerous opportunities.

      1. That is also true, they did not take advantage. Going forward however…

        The Tigers were playing in that inning and Rodney is the one who gets the loss. Leyland left Rodney in wayy too long. Therefore Leyland blew it. I mean was anyone even warming up?

        1. Rodney didn’t get hammered that inning. A line drive single and a seeing eye grounder. Could have happened to anyone. I don’t know if someone was up.

        2. Who would you have brought in? Perry? I’ll take a tiring Rodney over Perry, plus you gotta figure you’re going to use Perry eventually, cuz it was gonna be Toledo Time after that. I liked it that he tried to squeeze an extra inning out of Rodney. Unconventional, but he was dealing and the situation called for it.

  50. A sad ending as we make history yet again blowing 3 game lead with 4 to go. I am very glad I found this forum and have enjoyed following the games thru it.

    Thx billfer for all the postings and time you put into this blog

  52. I was cool with Rodney pitching. He was at 36 pitches, which is high, but not crazy. It’s not like they hit him hard anyways.

    Damn shame it didn’t work out, but that was a sweet game.

  53. Congrats to the Detroit Tigers. They fought a real battle tonight, had some terrible calls not go their way, and even though they didn’t execute WRISP at times, they played a very good game offensively, defensively and the pitching(aside from Minor) was brilliant!

    My biggest regret is that ass wipe Gomez as to score the winning run.

    The Twins will get swept . . .

    1. yeah he was hopping around showboating like he hit the walkoff hit. you scored from second on a slow rolling hit, congrats. Fool. I tip my cap to most of the Twins, not him, Cabrera with that homerun trot, whatever that was.

  54. Great game.
    The better team won.
    Even without Morneau, the Twins are better.
    DD needs to get to work on the roster.
    Leyland…???

  55. Good Season Detroit, didn’t quite get there. The offense just has been the problem this year. Always a Tiger. Go Tigers!

  56. Wow, good game, no bitter taste in my mouth after that one.

    As someone who’s been keeping an eye trained on the Yankees’ doings all season, I suspect some of you living in the D might not know just how good they are this year…

  57. Heartbreaking. I hate baseball.
    Regardless of the fact that they played a good game tonight, the Tigers should be ashamed for the way they fell apart down the stretch.
    Just win 2 out of 3 against the White Sox and we’re not even here.

  58. All right. I will say it without profanity (It is not swearing, Bilfer. Swearing is taking an oath for no reason.) What I did was use profanity.

    I have been a Tiger fan since before 95% of you were born. We have lost many times. We never disgraced ourselves as a team or just plain threw it away like this time. It is thoroughly embarrassing now to mention in the baseball world that you are a Tiger fan. Not because we lost….but how it happened over the course of the last 30 days, the last week, and this totally predictable playoff game.

    1. Please 2003 was embarrassing. With the mediocre roster we had, I have no significant problems with this season.

    2. Maybe…I was born in Briggs stadium during game 3 of the 1945 world series. Rudy York rushed over from 1st to aid in the delivery…which is why I’m a devoted Tiger fan.

      OK, that’s not really true. Except the very last part.

    3. “I am a Tigers fan.”

      Uh, still not feeling embarrassed. I will wait for it…

      Do you think that the Twins going 21-11 from September on and playing a fantastic game themselves tonight had anything to do with the Tigers losing the division?

      Glad to hear this game was so predictable to you. I will admit I was shocked because I thought the Twins would forego using gloves in the field, bats on offense, and mainly pitch underhand. What I was hearing was they were hoping the Tigers would score 40 runs on them, then they could all drink champagne together.

      I’m joking with ya dude see you next spring! Peace

      1. See ya next spring? You must be new here. Billfer’s gonna take a week to catch his breath and then drop some hard-core analysis on us. I’m sure he already has a list of a dozen things he wants to dissect. Stick around for the good stuff!

        1. Oh, I’ll be here!

          Thought “Sky” might be through with baseball for awhile though…

          As for me, DTW gets more hits on my macbook everyday than any other site but the google home page,

          And on that note, thank you bilfer! I eagerly anticipate said hard core analysis.

  60. What an incredible game, one of the best ever, but a horrible outcome. I was looking forward to going to some playoff games…

    Good season… intense game… but like the last few years, we run out of steam at the end of the year for some reason.

  62. I think I just died inside…

    I wish this was all a dream… I will wake up and we have won the division weeks ago!!!
    Alas… It is not to be…
    Hopefully, next season will bring better results.

  63. Laird … 10 guys left on base, including swinging at ball four.

    Nuff said.

    (And Inge got hit and that wasn’t strike three on Polly. At least we avoid the sweep by the Yankees.)

    [And if you look at the box score, nearly everything was identical, except, sadly, the score.]

    One more thing, they showed a lot of the proverbial “guts” tonight. Oh well. Still hurts.

    1. I am imbalanced, I know. But I can only comment bitterly that one reason they lost this is because they are not real Tigers. I mean they are not really part of the Tiger tradition. Like all modern athletes, they are just employees. They make their money whether they ruin our day or not, so the motivation to score in those endless chances to win just isn’t there.

  66. This isn’t 8 year olds, I don’t really understand the “atta boy” stuff with professional athletes. This was a melt down pure and simple. In 22 years we haven’t won a division title in a division that’s tailor made for the Tigers. They have the 5th highest payroll in baseball, and got run down for the team with the 24th highest payroll, who…oh I forgot…have been missing Justin Bleeping Morneau! We have 4 winning seasons in 20 years. This season we’ve been outscored. They’re paid to win, they didn’t win. Whatever you want to call it, this season is a failure for them professionally, and we’ve probably torched the arms of Verlander, Jackson, and Porcello.
    On a happier note, thanks for the great site Bilfer, nice work.

    1. I agree 1000%. Sadly, you will probably see little if any changes in the front office or organization in the off season.

      1. If anything Mark, I’m hoping they develop a plan and follow it through. This constant over-reaction to the previous season, not enough offense, not enough defense…to young. The Twins have a plan. Sometimes it seems like smoke and mirrors, but that organization is one to marvel at.

  67. Always a Tiger fan. They played a great game tonight and was very fun to watch! Exciting but we lost–sad ending!!! Next year—maybe!!

  68. They’ve got to develop Avila and can Laird. No matter how good of a rocket he has, a dead stick in the lineup is just unacceptable.

    Thanks Bilfer for hosting the site. Have a great offseason everyone.

    1. the solution is not can laird but get him to be a professional batter– these guys get paid lots of money they should work on what is their weakenesses —

    2. Its borderline criminal that Leyland didn’t pinch hit Avila for Laird in the top of the 12th. Enough with the Twins running game and stoppping it blah, blah, blah. I had no problem with Gerald starting because you couldn’t have the Twins running wild all night, but in the 12th inning when you’re starved for a hit Laird is not the answer. Leyland needed to take a stab with Avila and see if he comes through, because anyone who follows the Tigers knew Laird wasn’t going to get a knock. You’ve got to score runs to win and Laird is anything but a run producer. Leyland left a bullet in the chamber and he didn’t have to, what a shame.

  69. Thanks for a great season, Tigers —

    And Billfer, thanks again for your great work on this site.

    See you in 2010!

  71. Hang in there every body. Part of sports is knowing how to lose graciously and take it on the chin. Heaven knows we should be used to that right now, right? 🙂

    1. This wasn’t a loss, mark. You don’t seem to get it. It wasn’t a loss. The 2006 Series was a loss. The 1972 playoff’s were a loss. The last day of the 1967 season was a loss. Etc. THIS WAS A SHAME-FILLED DISGRACEFUL MELTDOWN OF INADEQUACY AND INCOMPETENCE THAT LASTED 30DAYS!

  72. Just no silver lining anywhere. Wait till next year? So we can get strung along all year and then be subject to heartbreak again? There’s little chance we’ll get much better this offseason, which means best we can hope for is a 90 win season, which means we’ll be subject to lose it in the last week again.
    Can I somehow just not think about baseball and the Tigers ever again?

    1. Quit being a fan.

      2010 will be a new year. Just like 2004 was a new year from 2003. Honestly, I can only see the Tigers improving on this season. If Bondo and Nate can come back strong, the rotation will be strong, and perhaps a little addition in the offensive category, this team could be reloaded for next year.

  73. Yes. When all is said and done, Bilfer, thanks for doing this.

    I am in California and will not see the Detroit media coverage of this. I hope at least one sportswriter has the courage to tell Leyland and the entire team that they really owe the fans the deepest apology for this last month. No matter what else, fans as fanatically loyal as Tiger fans do not deserve this kind of professional failure from a bunch of overpaid kids playing a game.

  74. The difference between us and the Twins is late season additions. The Twins got O. Cabrera + a pitcher(I cant think of his name) The Tigers got Huff (never before in an important game) + Wasburn. Both Huff + Wasburn were horrible! Who do we have scouting? Who scouted Dontrelle Willis? That needs to be looked at. Also, Jackson was horrible down the stretch. Is he injured? For next year we need a big RBI guy and another pitcher. I think Leyland did a good job with the talent he had.

  75. Thanks for maintaining he site Bill. You put up with a lot of our negativity! I don’t think Leyland cost us this game. But he did cost us enough that I think his job should be questioned. Lack of bunting and constantly playing for the big inning cost this team. The better team won.

  76. Someone remarked that the Tigers – Twins in the last month is exciting, but is still a race between the two slowest kids in the class. The winner (Twins) will discover its quarter horse identity in NY when it meets a thoroughbred. (The Tigers would have done better against the Yankees.) Bottom line: playing in the dome was the key variable for the Twins in this game, and this year as it was in ’87. It has been raining steadily here for six days, and the temp is in the 40’s. No great home field advantage for the Twins next year.

    Thanks for the season Bilfer.

    Sincerely,

    Tom
    A Tiger since 1950

    1. Good point on the weather, I was looking out the window (Arden Hills) around 7pm thinking about how chilly October games are going to be next year.

      Very happy to say goodbye to the carpet. A good story line next year will be seeing how the Twins adjust without, well I won’t take all the space necessary to list them here, but without all of the baseball integrity killing properties of Hubert H. Humphrey’s dirty giant marshmallow.

      🙂

    2. The first round is a sprint. You keep your T-bred, I’ll take the QH, and let’s go at it at 400 yds…

      1. Ok Mr Coleman,

        Get up off of your couch, and sprint in place for 20 minutes. If you do not make 20 minutes and become a tower of jello, drop, and give me 20 push ups.

        1. Haha, I’m not falling for that one. A 20-minute sprint? and what, you’ll do a 20 second marathon?

  77. I’m actually feeling fine. Losing stinks, but I didn’t lose heart. Magglio, Cabrera, Inge, Porcello, Lyon, Rodney, Granderson, and Raburn, all played well. The Twins played spectacular though.
    What an amazing finish they had, going 17-4 in the final 21 games. They most certainly earned the division title and I’m happy for them. Hat’s off to the Twins fans too. They never gave up hope and helped give the Twins the spiritual momentum they needed to win. I only wish Detroit had fans like that.

    1. Couldn’t agree more except I think Detroit has great fans too. The last week just sucked the air out of everyone a little.

      The guys lost, but (as they say) I still cheer for the laundry.

  78. As terrible as this loss feels, I was proud of how the Tigers played that game. There are definitely little points to quibble, but the bottom line is the Twins are the luckiest team in baseball. This is a fact. Either that or God himself resides in the Metrodome.

    If this is the case then I hope “Target Field” is their Golden Calf. And a plague in the form of overpriced contracts and players like Joe Mauer jetting for the Yankees are visited upon them for the next 40 years.

  80. Well, goodbye! Maybe see you next year. Maybe I will go enter a monastery with no tv, radio, or newspapers. More peace that way! LOL!

  81. Thankyou Billfer. You’ve done a great job with your website and keeping the Tigers season more interesting.

  82. I have never been prouder of the Tigers. They played like men and with heart in front of 54,000 fans. Here are eleven ways lives and storylines can come full circle in five hours of baseball:
    1. Cabrera is a jerk! Cabrera gets mocked with alcoholic chant by class Twins fans! Cabrera gets key rbi’s! Stick it Twins fans!
    2. Ordonez should be released! Ordonez hits .500 in last two weeks! Ordonez hits crucial home run!
    3. Inge is an all-star! Inge sucks! Inge gets key hit of the season! Inge makes spectacular play! Inge is babe Ruth with bases loaded! Inge gets jobbed out of HBP. Inge fails with bases loaded!
    4. Kelly costs Tigers pennant at Metrodome! Kelly scores division winning run at Metrodome! (almost!)
    5. Raburn botches ball in left field about to become most infamous Tiger of my lifetime! Raburn throws out division winning run! Raburn lives on in Tigers purgatory!
    6. Rodney looks like he doesn’t give a crap and wears his cap funny! Rodney mans up and throws 50 mostly awesome pitches! Rodney more heroic in defeat than in victory!
    7. Polanco the steadiest of Tigers all season! Polanco strikes out in key situation! Polanco whiffs on division winning double play!
    8. Granderson gets doubled off! Granderson makes great play! Granderson looks like seven-year-old batting against lefties!
    9. Huff sucks! Huff gets key HBP!
    10. Porcello has no business playing in the majors this season! Porcello clinches Rookie of Year tonight!
    11. I bitch about Tigers all year! Sort of hate something about this team! It’s irrational! I fall in love with 2009 Tigers on last day of the season!

    2. Awesome post, hahahahaha!

      I won’t ruin it with any stupid observations…

      Simply well done stephen!

    4. Awesome post–thought I already said that, but it looks like I timed out instead. Please accept belated props.

  83. They had their chances but couldn’t get it done. The roster was not adequate to win this division. They had to grind a terrible hitting catcher into the ground because the team didn’t have any kind of veteran backup who could enter the game and fill in.

  84. What really, truly and utterly stinks is that the Tigers made the wrong kind of history today — the first team to blow a two game lead with three games to play.

    Sadly, most of us that post here saw this coming.

    Damn Royals, couldn’t beat ’em when it mattered and they couldn’t help us by beating the Twins.

    Disheartening, especially since the White Sox should be much better next year with a full year of Peavy.

    Maybe over the winter the plays are can bone up on the strike zone (well, not Randy Marsh’s today.)

  85. I think leyland brought Rodney out one more inning because he wanted his best remaining arm to pitch to cuddyer. Gomez got in the way. My guess is bonine was next in line while tied and that Perry would get the ball with a lead. Rodney pitched great: raburn misplayed fly ball, seeing eye artifical turf hits. He was around the plate for the most part.

  87. Thanks again Bilfer for your continuing investments in keeping us all sane.

    What most interests me about this game is how closely it symbolized the entire season. When the ninth inning came around, the Tigers could not close the door with fundamantal baseball. Sound anything like the last ninth of the regular season?

    We can take some merit that they kept fighting…I’ll lay at Leyland’s feet that you cannot save guys for a playoff game you never make…keeping Rodney in was a calculated risk/reward decision gone too far.

    Retrospect, I think this year’s strategy to add fielding depth was the right call, but one in which the team went 1 batter too far. With a pitching strength still in place next year, here’s to hoping they go out and find a bat.

    See you all on the hot stove.

  88. Bilfer, Thank you so much for all your hard work on this site. I think every regular on this site really appreciates you! My biggest complaint about this game was Leyland refusal to pinch for Laird in his last two at-bats.

    Let the hot stove league begin!

  89. That game was one of the best I’ve ever seen. That being said, this game was a microcosm of our entire season. We came in without very high expectations only to start fairly well and get everyone’s hopes up, but when it came down to it, we blew opportunity after opportunity to win the division.

    I thought Porcello was great and the bullpen was good with the exception of Miner. I think Leyland’s decision to leave Rodney in for the 12th, especially without having someone ready in the bullpen was indefensible. But as is typically the case with this team, the offense bears most of the blame for this loss. The Tigers were abysmal with runners in scoring position, particularly with less than two outs which has been a problem all year long.

    Dave Dombrowski’s got his work cut out for him this offseason but he’s gotten himself into this mess with some of the extensions he’s handed out. Lyon, Rodney, Polanco and Everett could all choose to leave. That’s the back-end of our already thin bullpen and both pieces of a defensively strong middle infield. I hope he can piece together another competitive team as he did this year, but I’m disappointed that we didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to win a weak AL Central.

    1. We need Lyon and Rodney, but Billfer seems confident we have replacement for Polly and Everett can catch the next train out; his glove wasn’t stellar and his bat wasn’t even decent.

      I look forward to Billfer’s ideas on what can be done to improve this team (on a limited budget again), but I’m sure DD will at least put together another respectable team.

  90. I just got done reading every post here and most every post in the 8x threads on blessyouboys.com. I’ve been a Tigers fan since… well, before the internet (born in ’80, first game @ Tiger stadium in ’85). I’ve watched year-in and year-out through thick and thin. This year hurts. Every year I think of how they can improve and this year it seems very obvious. Some years (98 comes to mind) I just thought that the team should be torched and rebuilt. This year however hurts even more because the solution could have been applied and Leyland and DD really did try with Washburn/Huff. Anyhow, here’s how I see it:

    1) Get Laird some batting help, if he doesn’t come through Avila gets the #1 starting role as the field general behind the plate.
    2) SS needs some better offense, Everett (.238/.288/.325/.613) and Santiago (.267/.318/.385/.704) need to be replaced. That Orlando Cabrera, though I dislike him right now, probably had a few years left (12 years experience, mid-season trade, and I think his contract might be up EOY). If not that, maybe Nunez from the Whitecaps.
    3) Cabby: I don’t think the drinking is a problem, 26 y/o manchild with $14mil contract just needs a life coach or a stricter wife. 😉
    4) Pitching, though I think Verlander is good, I worry about Porcello (no Tommy Johns, 20 y/o, now 6 months for the tendons to think about the last 6 months) and a bit about Jackson. We need another, though Washburn should be done. Even if it’s another Jiar Jurrjens/Andrew Miller. I bet we’ve got a couple arms in the minors, Nickerson comes to mind…

    I’m sure I could rant some more, but I need to not think about baseball until Feb. 1.

  91. To echo pretty much the same sentiment expressed by everyone – thanks and good work billfer.

    This team exceeded my expectations for the year, but unfortunately they didn’t match the expectations I had for them in September and October. Oh well.

    But hey, there is still Michigan football and basketball to look forward to…

  92. The Goat List:
    1) Leyland
    2) Miner
    3) Laird
    4) Raburn (for letting the ball go by)
    5) The Umpire (for the called 3rd strike on Polanco and not calling the Inge HBP).

    1. As much as I defend Leyland, I don’t think you can blame Miner. He is what he is. It’s Leyland’s fault he was in in that situation.

    2. hmmmm, a harsh list however:

      1) Laird
      2) Leyland(for leaving Rodney out there for 3 freaking innings, even if he was the only true reliever we had left. Personally I would have gone for broke, and brought out Verlander. LOL I know)
      3) Umpire (Blown call against Polanco, and for the Blown call on Inge)
      4) Lloyd McClendon (missed offensive opportunities all over the place)

      This would be my goat list.

  93. This was a hard-fought game. Both teams could have easily won. It just so happened to fall in the right column for the Twinkies. Bottom line, a couple very bad calls, a misplayed triple, and a fitting microcosm to the Detroit Tiger’s 2009 season — at the end of the night the Tigers lost this game because they failed to cash in on numerous opportunities. This has been their achillies heal all season long. How many times can you fail to execute and expect to still pull off a victory?

    I’m mostly disappointed because I truly felt the Tigers would have given the Yankees a good series. I was resigned to not advancing, but I nonetheless believeed we would not have laid down. We would have seen a different Tiger’s team. I was especially anxious to see V get another start against their lineup, which very likely could have taken the series to Comerica tied at 1-1. But alas, not meant to be.

    Hang in there, Sky. I feel your pain. We’ll all endure together.

  94. The Tigers held onto 1st place until the 12th inning of the 163rd game of the season. It felt like a post-season game to me though. What a great game it was.

    1. Wow…we were in first place since May 10th. I haven’t even thought about that part since the game was over. So heartbreaking.

  95. I’ll add my thanks to Billfer for the site. Been reading daily for 4+ years now and appreciate all the great analysis as well as the sanity provided by all the other commenters on here.

    This really was a microcosm of the season in every sense of the word. We’re all fans and we wanted the win as we should, but we also probably didn’t deserve it after how we’ve played over the last month. Perhaps my earlier comment about ‘karma will prevail’ did indeed come true…

  96. During Leyland’s time with the Tigers, we have generally played well when expectations are low and generally played poorly when expectations are high.

    Entering the ’06 season expectations were low after Trammell’s last year as manager, we got off to a great start and a huge lead in the division. After the All-Star break, expectations went up and we blew our division lead. Entering the playoffs, people expected us to lose to the Yankees and we won. Same thing with the A’s series. Entering the World Series, we were expected to win, things didn’t turn out so well.

    Entering ’07, expectations were fairly high as defending AL champions, we missed the playoffs.

    Entering ’08, expectations were astronomical with Miggy added to the mix. We finished in last place.

    Entering ’09, many picked us to finish last again and few picked us to contend for the division. We led the division for over 4 1/2 months only to blow it when expectations went up again.

    The ’97 Marlins, in the first year with Leyland at the helm, went to the playoffs a year after finishing below .500 and won the World Series over a favored Indians team.

    Obviously this analysis is somewhat oversimplified but if the Tigers are committed to having the largest payroll in the division, as we have the past few seasons, our expectations are generally going to be high. It seems to me that we’d want a manager more adept at handling those expectations. The question is whether or not that manager is out there.

  97. Man what a game!!! Though seeing the game mostly on the phone via gameday, sucked but I could feel the intensity. Then hearing it on the radio man I felt it then, the Tigers were giving everything they had tonight. The first time I’ve ever felt like they were laying it, I mean everything all things on the line, was tonight. I mean sure its because it was a do or nothing game, but still such passion. And then all of us fans supporting the Tigers in our shirts, jerseys, hats. It was just an all around spectacular show of support of what was known as a up and down season for the tigers, but still a great season none the less.

    And then we get to the last game of the season. The Tigers, give all they had, and bleed their beating hearts out there tonight in the Metrodome. It was just the best game I have EVER EVER seen/heard/stat watching EVER!

    The Tigers may have lost but with that lose, the Tigers have made all of us Always A Tiger!! Congrats to the Twins, and a great job done by the tigers tonight. Thank you for a great pennant run and season. Go Tigers 2010!!!

  98. Now THAT was a helluva game!

    Maybe our division will be more competitive next year – yeah, 2010 will be a much better year to win our division!

    Now what do I do til next season…

  99. just got a chance to comment couldn’t be with you guys and gals tonight…..

    Billfer thanks for a great year.. for everything you do,,,for keeping us in line …………………..your the best

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