At last Sunday’s “Farewell to the Dome (sort of)” celebration, Kent Hrbek got the crowd all riled up by saying “when we needed a win, where did we go? To the Dome.” Well, what do you do when you need to close down a Dome? You bring in the Yanks. Nine days after the countdown to outdoor baseball hit zero, the Yanks sucked the life out of the Dome one last time, sweeping the Twins out of the AL playoffs with a 4-1 victory.
By now you know the story of the playoffs for the Twins- their normally sound fundamentals went horrifically flat, their newly found power went soft, their years-long jinx against the Yanks keeps getting worse (an anti-perfect 0-10 again the Bombers this year). I won’t go into a rant on why the Twins always flame out in the playoffs, the inequalities in the baseball economic model (I’ll save that for when the Yanks or Red Sox bring in Matt Holliday or some other stud in the offseason), or how you can beat the Royals and White Sox without Justin Morneau but not an elite team. Rather, I’ll focus on the 54,700+ that were in the Dome on that cold Sunday night.
Last Tuesday’s tiebreaker was the most crazy, intense, loud, fun game I’ve ever been to. After that Jason Kubel home run in the 6th to bring the Twins to within 3-2, it was non-stop, voice-destroying yelling for the next 6 innings. Before that, however, the Tigers had taken a 3-0 lead on a home run in the 3rd inning. Despite being down from the 3rd inning through the 7th and then again in the 10th, I never got the feeling from the crowd that losing the game was even conceivable. Heck, even after the top of the 10th the vibe wasn’t doom and gloom; it’s like everyone knew the Dome wasn’t going to let the Twins lose that game.
Sunday night? Completely different. I tweeted during the game that if Tuesday’s crowd was a 10, this one was around a 4. The player intros were nowhere near as loud as the tiebreaker…the cheering before the players took the field was muted…you just got the feeling that while the crowd really hoped the Twins could win, they just didn’t believe that it could be done. I’ve read enough early Bill Simmons columns that talked about the imminent sense of “uh oh, the wheels are coming off and there’s nothing we can do about it” in the pre-2004 Fenway Park playoff games…well, this had to be what that felt like. I guess that’s what being down 2-0 in a series to a team that’s 9-0 against you during the season, beating you in every heartbreaking way possible, will do to a fan base. Oh, and let’s not forget the playoff beatings in 2003 and 2004 either.
To further illustrate my point, here’s the four loudest cheers from the throng on Sunday night:
- Joe Mauer’s RBI single in the 6th to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. That, I must admit, was a ton of fun- crowd screaming “MVP!”, Mauer in a clutch situation ripping a single to left to score the game’s first run- and for a fleeting moment, I thought this game was going to be different. Of course, when I flipped over the scorecard and saw Teixeira, Rodriguez and Matsui the scheduled three, I was nervous…for good reason.
- Bottom of the 9th, one out, Twins down 4-1…and a fan jumps on the field behind the plate and runs all the way out to center field. He eludes the guards for a while and as he’s trying to climb over the plastic fence in center, they finally corral him, cuff him and stuff him. The crowd went bonkers.
- Third inning, 0-0 game, Nick Swisher’s batting with a 2-2 count. He takes ball 3…and starts taking off for first base, thinking it’s a walk. When the ump called him back, the crowd really got on him…we stayed up for the 3-2 pitch and when Nick went down swinging, it was the loudest cheer for any of the 13 strikeouts of the whole night.
- Before the 8th inning, the video board showed that “steroids don’t create great athletes, they destroy them” commercial. Since A-Rod had went yard the inning before, the crowd got the old “A-ROID” chant going. I’ve gotta admit, it was pretty funny to show that PSA. I can just imagine the people running the video board, coming up with this idea last Thursday but not really having the guts to play it for a while. Finally, with the Yanks up 2-1 and Rodriguez hitting the big bomb, the guys say “screw it, this baby’s going on” and playing it…and the crowd ate it up.
Notice a theme here? Only one of the big cheers was due to something the Twins did. Everything else was brought on either by hatred of the Yanks or by a few too many Miller Lites. Not a very good sign for your chances to pull an upset. And really, is it the crowd’s fault? It is our fault we felt the impeding sense of doom after blowing Game 2 for the 9th loss in 9 games to the Yanks? How about being beaten with the whole “The Twins haven’t won in NY since 2007″ stat? Yes, we certainly sensed something bad was going to happen, and you’ve gotta wonder if the Twins didn’t feel it too.
I hate to end the season with such a negative post, but it is fairly disappointing to have been to the playoffs five times in the last eight years and only have one series win to show for it. Disappointing to have lost nine consecutive playoff games. Disappointing to see the Twins go into brain-lock once again to blow a lead late, or to cough up runs the half-inning after scoring themselves. Disappointing to get sucked out of the Dome one last time…actually no, that wasn’t disappointing. I wasn’t the only one looking for that final experience of getting blown out of the place, as there was nobody using the revolving doors. Who knows, maybe they’ll set up some giant barn fans at Target Field so fans can relieve that experience of getting whooshed out of the Dome.
RIP, Metrodome. It’s been real quirky, but it’s been pretty fun.
