Tigers’ magical ride ends
Categories: Tigers
Written By: Admin
History will say losing a three-game lead in the American League Central with four games to play was unprecedented heartbreak for the Tigers, as was losing a division it either led alone or shared since May 10. That sickening feeling in the Tigers’ stomachs says losing a tiebreaker lead in extra innings feels worse.
“It’s tough to swallow,” reliever Zach Miner said.
After all the twists and turns of the past four weeks, the disappointments and the thrills, Detroit stood three outs away from its first division title since 1987. The Tigers lost its one-run lead, but the club still had a chance to pull ahead. Not until Alexi Casilla’s 12th-inning single scored Carlos Gomez did the Tigers’ division hopes finally die in a 6-5 tiebreaker loss to the Twins that will go down in baseball history for its own merit.
“We played our tails off. They played their tails off,” left fielder Ryan Raburn said. “All in all, it was a great game, and I was glad I was a part of it. But it’s just a heartbreaker, really.”
via Tigers’ magical ride ends | tigers.com: News.
October 7th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
The disappointment in losing the game 163 to the Twins was the moves that Jim Leyland made and did not make. I know he is the manager of the Tigers and he gets paid to make his decisions, however, most people would not have their jobs very long making the decisions he made yesterday. Loyalty shown to veteran players should only go so far. If the player isn’t producing then that player should be sitting on his butt in the dugout. Bad moves in game #163.
1. Starting Laird
2. Not pinch-hitting for Laird
3. Starting Carlos Guillen
4. Taking Porcello out of the game when he did
5. Allowing Zach Miner to pitch in a meaningful game, anytime
6. Allowing Rodney to pitch 3 plus innings. WTF?????????????
7. Not allowing Granderson or Ramirez to run on the Twins. Double-play anyone??
8. There was a loser in this game. It should have never been played in the first place and the Tigers choked big time in 2009.