That is what this last month has felt like as I watch the Tigers slog their way through the American League Central. They started strong, fell flat and then picked themselves up and battled on. They could never quite put the Twins away though, and there is no script writer making sure our heroes prevail.
As today started the Magic # was 2. The Tigers, with Verlander on the mound and Granderson everywhere else, held the White Sox to 3 runs while scoring 5 themselves (Ryan Raburn with 2 home runs and Magglio Ordonez showing us that he can pull homers to left too). So the Tigers finally got a win in October and had to sit and wait to see if the Royals could overcome the Twins to end the race.
But that was not to be. The Twins beat the Royals 13-4.
So now there will be a one game, sudden death, winner take all, play off game. There can be only one. That game will be played in the HHH Dome. A truly horrible place to play a high pressure game if you are not a Minnesota Twin. (And we thought we were done with that place.)
The Tigers are 7 and 11 against the Twins this year. From what I can make out at Baseball-Reference.com the Tigers are 2-7 in the Dome this year. Rick Porcello will pitch for Detroit (according to Leyland after today's game). Rick is 1-2 in 4 starts against the Twins this year with a 3.09 ERA in 23 1/3 innings (according to my numbers). He did not win in the Dome.
But the Tigers have scored an average of 4.89 runs/ game off of the Twins this year so this should be a fight.
No matter what this has been a great ride. After 162 games the Tigers finished 86-76 in 1st place (tied of course)! I hoped that they would not embarrass themselves this year and that Dombrowski could make 2010 competitive, so to have 2009 be so competitive was great (and frustrating at times to be sure).
It all comes down to Tuesday night. The game is on TV on TBS.
There can be only one!
Week 26 Games back Elimination # Tigers -- -- Twins -- -- W. Sox 7 E Indians 21 E Royals 21 E
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