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For three years, I’d been beating myself up about not taking my friends up on the opportunity to catch the final game of the 2006 season at the Metrodome.  I’m sure you’ve all heard the story a zillion times by now- Twins win their final game, forcing Detroit to defeat Kansas City…the Detroit game is being played on the Jumbotron at the Dome with thousands of fans sticking around chanting “Let’s Go Royals”…the Royals defeat the Tigers to give the Twins the division championship…the crowd goes nuts as the players party it up on the field…and I passed that opportunity up because I wanted to monitor the games at home.  Since then, my crew’s gone to dozens of other games, some of them big games (last season’s three-game sweep of the White Sox in September), some of them games that turned out to be full of foreshadowing (July 4, 2007 in the Bronx, the Twins’ last victory out there and Johan Santana’s 8-inning audition to play in New York), and some of them historic games (Michael Cuddyer hitting for the cycle against the Brew Crew).  Still, with all those games, my friends kept saying that nothing topped that game in 2006 to win the division).

Until now.

I was one of the 54,088 screaming fans that subjected themselves to 4 ½ hours of the most intense, insane, nerve-wracking baseball that’s ever been played in the regular season.  Win this thing, you win the division…lose and it’s déjà vu from 2008’s Game 163 loss.  Let’s get right to the story from section 229, row 5, seat 7:

4:02pm: After getting out of work around 3:40, I make the Superman phone booth change from the work clothes to the trusty Twins jersey.  This jersey got off to a rough start- in fact, it was 0-for-2007 until the aforementioned game in the Bronx.  Since that game, ol’ blue has been hot.  There was no doubt that baby was coming out for this battle.  After stuffing myself onto the light rail up to the Dome, I manage to find my way to our seats just as Jacque Jones is throwing out the first pitch (and the place went bonkers when they announced he was throwing it out).

I was the first of our group of five to show up- in fact, at first pitch the stadium was probably about 70% full.  It was the perfect storm of crappy weather, tons of traffic coming into town for the game, and work traffic trying to leave.  If you’ve ever driven around the Dome for a game, you know it’s not the easiest thing to do.  Add in a huge crowd, all the downtown workers filling the ramps, and the fact it’s raining out…well, you’d have a better chance getting into Natanz to see what Ahmedinejad’s hiding than of finding a decent parking spot.

2^nd inning: One of the others has made it in, but amazingly, there’s no one sitting in rows 1-4 in front of us.  People who have a ticket for row 30 notice this and pop a squat…and within seconds, the usher is over giving them the boot.  Later, we overhear that all these seats are reserved for people with special needs.  It gets to be pretty high comedy, watching people sneak into these seats with guilty looks on their faces (honestly, did you think Minnesotans could pull off the whole “sneaking into a better seat” thing without their faces giving everything away?) and getting tossed within a batter.  In fact, by the 6^th inning the usher is getting so good at this the fans’ butts aren’t even touching the seasons before they get run.  Fantastic.

3^rd inning: During his first at-bat in the top of the second inning, the outfield fans serenade Miguel Cabrera with a loud “AL-CO-HOL-IC!!” chant.  Naturally, Miggy responds by striping a ball off the wall in left for a cozy double.  In hindsight, it probably wasn’t a good idea to fire that up again in the 3^rd, especially after he hits a ball approximately 440 feet to dead center for a three-run dinger.  3-0 Tigers and the crowd takes a body blow.  In a related story, the rest of my crew shows up in between the half-innings…and right on cue, the Twins get one back when Porcello throws a wild one over to first, letting Tolbert score.  3-1, Tigers.

6^th inning: We jump ahead to the sixth inning…Porcello is cruising and we’re taking nervous glances at the scoreboard as the inning ticks upward, upward, upward.  The crowd’s eerily quiet…in fact, we’re getting called out on it by people not at the game.  I get a text from my wife who’s watching from home that we need to fire it up.  My friend Julie, sitting next to me in seat 8, gets a text from a friend demanding she get the crowd into the game.  Who’s coming to the plate…Joe Mauer!  Time to get the crowd on their feet!  It’s the 6^th inning, the Twins are down, the MVP’s coming up…and I feel a tap on my shoulder.  Nah…it’s not someone asking me to sit down, is it?  At a situation like this?  It sure is.  Only in Minnesota will you get the tap in a situation like that.  Luckily for me, my friend Bryan turned me around before I can lambaste this guy for asking me to sit down in the 6^th…little did I know that we’d be there for another six innings.  And little did I know that Jason Kubel would get all of us on our feet with a mammoth bomb to the upper deck in right-center to make it 3-2.  Now the crowd’s into it…we wouldn’t be getting any more “fire up” texts from anyone for the rest of the game.

7^th inning: Back in August, I was breaking down the moves the contenders in the AL Central made at the deadline with my amateur baseball team.  I talked about how the Tigers got better by getting Washburn…how the White Sox got better by adding Peavy (and man, did that help the Twins down the stretch)…and how the Twins, um, got Orlando Cabrera.  “I don’t think that’s the move that’s going to put the Twins over the top,” I distinctly remember saying.  While I’m sure that statement (along with my previous statements on the blog and on the WCMP sports show saying the Twins couldn’t possibly make up all that ground on the Tigers in the standings) didn’t energize Cabrera’s fly ball just enough to clear the fence for a 2-run home run, it sure stuffed those all those words right down my throat.  We head to the 8^th with the Twins enjoying a 4-3 lead and 54,088 people thinking “just six more outs until we win the division”…little did we know that this game was just getting started.

8^th inning: Remember thinking about how the Twins just needed six outs to clinch the title?  Magglio Ordonez put a very quick end to that when he launched a home run on the second pitch of the inning to tie it up.  It was a bit like the cops showing up at a raucous college party and shutting the place down as the Dome went from rockin’ to silent.  In fact, I even got the tap once again to sit down during a big at-bat (that ended in a walk).  With two on and one out, Ron Gardenhire called in the big gun…Joe Nathan.  Now, for his entire career, Nathan’s been a lights-out closer, but recently fans are a little more nervous when he gets the ball.  Maybe it’s because guys are getting on base against him…maybe because he’s given up a few home runs…or maybe it’s because it’s a 4-4 game in the 8^th inning of the biggest game of the season.  Either way, Bryan’s going Jerry Tarkanian with his Homer Hanky, wadding it up, chewing it…and Nathan rewards him by getting out of the jam.  The Twins do nothing in the 8^th, so we head to the 9^th tied at four.  I’m just starting to feel a tingle in my throat…yep, it’ll be sore tomorrow.

9^th inning: A few weeks ago, my wife said that Joe Nathan’s saves were starting to get a bit Eddie Guardado-like, a reference to the fact it’d seem like the tying run would be on third and the go-ahead run on second when Everyday Eddie would “induce” a rocket right at a fielder for the third out.  So when Joe allowed the first two guys to reach via the single and put runners on the corners with nobody out…seriously, are we going to get bounced due to a Nathan loss?  I was almost sick thinking about it…how this was such a great game, how I was screaming my lungs out, and how it was all going to be for naught.  Then, out of nowhere, 2006 Joe Nathan arrived, striking out Polanco on a devastating hook.  Up came Magglio, the guy who tattooed a dinger an inning before.  Pins and needles can’t begin to describe how tense I was…Ordonez smashes a line drive…right at Cabrera who doubles off Granderson!!  Inning over!!  The Dome erupts in (what was at the time) the loudest roar I’ve ever heard.  Punto leads off the bottom of the inning with a walk…and now, we’ve got Span, Cabrera and Mauer to follow.  In my head, I’m thinking this baby’s done.  Span does his job and sacrifices Punto to second…Cabrera hits a smash toward the hole at third that Inge somehow makes a fantastic diving play on (the first of many game-saving plays)…and the defensive substitution Gardy made in the 8^th comes back to haunt him, as Mauer gets walked intentionally.  Would this have happened if Jason Kubel was batting next?  Probably…but with Carlos Gomez on deck, this was a Fort Knox-sized lock.  Could Kubel get a hit and win it?  “If he gets a hit here, I’ll forgive him for all the times he’s driven me crazy this season,” I told Bryan…but nope, a grounder to short and we’re going ten.

10^th inning: Unbelievable, uncharted territory.  Tied after 162 games…tied after 9 innings in game 163…it’s almost fitting, isn’t it?  Gardy goes away from Nathan (a wise choice given the fact he’s already gone 1 2/3 innings and the 9^th wasn’t exactly 1-2-3) and goes to Jesse Crain, the reliever that gives more Twins fans ulcers than any other one.  After a leadoff out, Wilkin Ramirez (???) gets hit by a pitch.  Crain gets Raburn to strike out, bringing up Brandon “How The Heck Is This Guy Always Batting In Big Situations??” Inge.  Almost as if it were pre-destined, Inge strokes a double down the left field line, scoring a pinch runner and giving the Dome fans a collective punch to the stomach.  Crain gets the next guy to finish off the inning and while 30,000 fans lean over and say they knew this was going to happen because they all despise Jesse Crain, we head to the bottom half of the 10^th.

Now…it’s a great time to mention the Metrodome will be losing the Twins to Target Field next year.  This stadium is having a tough time letting the Twins go; I was at the game on Sunday, the “final game at the Metrodome”, that not only wasn’t the last game at the Dome, it wasn’t the last REGULAR SEASON game at the Dome!  Two weeks earlier when the Tigers were in town, an easy fly ball to left field got lost in the lights, turning a likely Twins loss into a Metrodome-style win.  Yep, this stadium isn’t going out without a fight…as evidenced by Michael Cuddyer’s sinking line drive that ducked into a light bank at just the right time, turning a potential out into a leadoff triple.  Again, we’re going completely bonkers with the tying run on 3^rd with nobody out and Delmon Young at the plate.  Like I am with Gomez, Bryan’s ready to forgive Delmon if he can come through…but no, a first-pitch groundout to short kept him on Bryan’s, um, “undesired” list.  After a walk to set up a double play, who’s coming to the plate?  Matt freaking Tolbert.  Who?  This guy’s the one we’re counting on to save the season?  A guy that was probably on about 3% of fantasy baseball rosters?  And of course…a base hit!!  Up the middle, about four inches away from the second baseman’s glove and a game-ending double play; instead, we’re even at 5 and there’s runners on the corners with one out.  Up comes Nick Punto, another of the Twins who have been mercilessly crucified in the media this season, with a chance to be the hero.  Alexi Casilla’s on third, looking to speed home at the first opportunity.  Punto rips a shot to left…Casilla’s gonna tag and try to score…OUT AT THE PLATE!!!  We’re going to the 11^th, and I’ve gotta sit down.  At this point, the ushers started handing out paper bags to everyone, just in case people started hyperventilating…or worse. (OK, I made that up, but I don’t think I was too far away.

11^th inning: The crowd’s obviously worn out- while we’re still standing for most of the inning and definitely with two strikes on a guy and yelling as loud as we can, the pain in everyone’s throats is creeping in.  The Twins’ pitchers are dealing a couple strikeouts, but the yelling with two strikes and the cheering for the third is just a bit quieter than it was in the ninth.  We’re running out of gas, and Gardy’s running out of pitchers- he just put in Bobby Keppel, the 8^th guy to appear on the mound for the Twins tonight.  Keppel gets the last out, and with the top of the order coming up, maybe this will be the inning the Twins break through!  Nope…a 1-2-3 inning sets the Twins down, and we’ve got a 12^th inning coming up.  I don’t know if I’ve got another one in me.

12^th inning: Oh my.  If I didn’t have a nervous breakdown during this inning, I don’t think CIA interrogators could crack me.  How many times can the Twins allow guys on third with less than two outs and not allow runs?  And how many times can Brandon Inge come up with the game on the line??  Sacks jacked, one out…and of course, it’s Inge at the dish.  It’s a chopper over the middle…it could be two…wait a minute, Punto’s throwing home???  HE GOT HIM!  An unbelievable play that looked fairly pedestrian on TV, but man, to make that play charging in, throwing the ball across his body, right on the money to Mauer at the plate…wow.  Two outs.  Now it’s Laird, the catcher…ball one.  Ball two.  Oh no…we’re not going to walk in a guy, not after all this, right?  Strike one…ball three…foul ball, full count.  The crowd taps the reserves for one last yell…and Keppel gets him!  I don’t know whether or not to wave the Hanky, stand and scream, or collapse into my seat.  I pick the latter, take a look at my scorecard and see Gomez, Cuddyer and Young scheduled, and steel myself for the 13^th.

Again, I decide if Gomez can come through, I’d forgive him for all his transgressions against the Twins.  This time, it’s no grounder to short…base hit to left!  “Should we start chanting ‘Go! Go! Go!’ like they did in Major League?” Bryan asks me.  At this point, given the emotional wringer this game has put me through, I would’ve thought a traditional Estonian folk song would’ve been a great idea.  After a ground out to advance Gomez to second, something happens- actually, two things happen- that I never thought would.  With Delmon Young coming to the plate, Bryan starts screaming “LET’S GO DELMON!!” at the top of his lungs.  Yep, he’s forgiven the guy.  Secondly, the Tigers intentionally walk Delmon to put runners on first and second.  Let me say that again- the Tigers INTENTIONALLY WALK Delmon Young.  And sure, it’s a good idea to walk the guy in front of a guy hitting right around the Mendoza Line (Casilla), but who would’ve thought Delmon Young would be getting intentionally walked??

So now it’s Casilla batting with Gomez on second and Young on first.  Three of the most vilified Twins throughout the course of the season, guys that people would argue if just one of them would’ve shown up this season, this tiebreaker wouldn’t be necessary.  What are the odds Casilla comes through?  While I’m running through any available bat on the Twins’ bench, Casilla digs in…and bounds one through the right side for a hit!!  Gomez is gonna score and the Twins are gonna win it!!  Unbelievable!!  After 4 ½ hours, the Twins win it!

The scene after the win was crazy.  I was at the game in 2003 when the Twins clinched the division, and that sounded and looked like a garden party compared to the madhouse in 2009.  We’ve got Jose Mijares stealing the big Twins flag from the mascot and running around the field with it…Carlos Gomez high-fiving everyone in sight…Joe Mauer leading the team on a victory lap around the field…and me yelling the last bit of voice right out of me.  The crowd in front of the ticket window buying up playoff tickets was insane (and cemented my thoughts that postseason priority is reason #1 to have season tickets).  The mile-long walk to the car was like an extension of the party.  So what if the Yanks are heavily favored in the playoffs?  This Twins team has overcome everything else this season, so why not go out to NY and shake up the Yanks a bit?  Besides, that Metrodome just isn’t letting the Twins go…we saw it in September, we saw it on Tuesday night, and we’ll see it again this weekend.  Who knows, maybe there’ll be a game on Sunday or Monday that’ll be just as memorable as this one.

Tying this back to the introduction from long, long ago…now the demons I had from passing up the trip to the season finale three years ago are gone.  I’ve got the game that I’ll be able to tell everyone that I was at, and fifty years from now when I pull out the scorecard from this one, I’ll be able to remember Granderson getting doubled off, Casilla getting thrown out at the plate, Cabrera hitting that go-ahead bomb and Gomez diving home with the winning run.  I’ll remember the deafening roars of the course, my raspy voice the next day, and most of all, the most exciting Twins win I’ve seen.  Unbelievable.

 Quick picks for the divisional series:

Yanks over Twins in 5 (I’d love to see them win, but I just don’t see them winning a fifth game at the Stadium…or any games at the Stadium, for that matter).

Sox over Angels in 4, setting up yet another Sox/Yanks ALCS.  Yech.

Cards over Dodgers in 3.

Phils over Rox in 5.