Unbelievable!

I'm not sure where to begin; between the game itself, the end of the season, the individual accomplishments, and the ridiculous, SICK collapse of the Tigers over the last three days, it's hard to decide. But, here are the things (in no particular order) that I found interesting and/or important about today:

1.) That post I wrote earlier about Glen Perkins starting Game 4? Uh . . . file that under "No." Carlos Silva pulled a rabbit out of his hat, looking absolutely fantastic today when he most needed to, and when the Twins most needed him to. I was dubious in the extreme about Silva's ability to pitch strongly in a big game, but he deserves a ton of credit for getting the job done today. As a practical matter, this means that the Twins will almost certainly give Silva the nod in Game 4. The other options are Garza, who has been just as inconsistent as Silva but hasn't put together a game like the one Silva had today, and Glen Perkins, who has yet to make a single Major League start. This seems pretty clear cut to me. And by the way; if Silva manages to string a solid start together in the playoffs, all is forgiven from this season. Heck, today is almost enough for me to write off everything that came before. He won when he had to.

2.) I watched a great deal of the Tigers game today, flipping back to the Twins during commercials. Once it became clear that the Twins were in control, I thought it would be far more interesting to see if the Tigers really could blow a lead in the most important game of the season to the Royals. There are so many things to talk about in this game, because of the crazy stuff that happened therein. Here are some of the more interesting things from this game:

• This is proof that the Tigers aren't that good of a team anymore. I posted on this before, saying that while the Tigers were good early on this season, they've lost their edge. I don't have a reason for why, but look at their record in the second half. Actually, I do know why; the starting pitching is no longer dominant, and the hitting was never that incredible. The Tigers are in trouble, big time, and I see no way that they survive the Yankees. In fact, I'm going to predict a Yankees sweep.

• As bad as the Royals were this year, they played very tough down the stretch against some really good teams. They aren't going to be next year's Tigers by any means, but they have some good young players and have a chance to win 70-75 games next year. That's not great, but it would be good solid improvement.

• How demoralizing is it to first blow a 6 run lead against the Royals, then tie the game up, then have your "ace" come in to pitch the extra frames and give up two huge runs in the top of the 12th inning that lose the game? Like I said above, you'll see how huge starting on Tuesday night when the disappointment induced hangover rears it's ugly head.

• The first thing that I thought when Matt Stairs hit his homerun to tie the game in the bottom of the 8th was that the trade for him had finally paid off for the Tigers. Instead, it's just an insignificant note in the Tigers season.

• Everyone was so in awe of the Cardinals near-collapse (which was truly awe-inspiring) in the NL Central. But, bottom line, they avoided catastrophe and won their division. The Tigers, on the other hand, coughed up a tremendous lead to the Twins. It took a little longer (although really not that much), but it was just as monumental.

• Kenny Rogers started on Thursday and got rocked. Nevertheless, he was in line to start the first game of the playoffs on Tuesday on regular rest. Instead, Jim Leyland made the curious decision to put him into the game today. The move obviously back-fired, big time, as the Tigers lost anyway and now also wasted their Game 1 starter. I scratched my head when the move was made, because to me being ready for the post-season was far more important than winning the division. Now, the Tigers will turn to Justin Verlander in Game 1 against Chien Ming-Wang in New York. Rogers will probably be used in Game 3. I love Jim Leyland, but this was a really, really bad decision in my mind. Maybe there were other factors involved (such as pitcher availability in the bullpen), but unless that was the case, he screwed up.

3.) It's all over the internet, but I'll add my congratulations to Joe Mauer for winning the batting title and making history in the process. I find it amusing how the story about this on ESPN is headlined "Jeter comes up short of Mauer in AL batting race." (The story has a different head that doesn't mention Mauer at all if you click the link on the ESPN frontpage). The story should just be "Mauer wins batting title," but I guess the ESPN folks feel that Jeter has to be in the active position in the title. Have I ever mentioned that I hate the Yankees?

4.) I admit that I was rooting, just a little, for the Tigers to pull it out today. Why? Because I'm selfish; I want to be able to watch the games. Because the Yankees have a stranglehold on the prime time slot during the week, the Twins are relegated to 1 pm ET starts. That's 11 am in my neck of the woods, and I'll be in class at that point. Missing Games 1 and 2 is going to kill me. Sadly, I was really sick last week and missed a fair amount of class, otherwise I think I would have been "sick" this week to catch the games. I guess I'll have to wait until Friday afternoon to catch Game 3.

5.) Congratulations to Justin Morneau for tying Larry Walker for the single-season record for RBI's by a Canadian. He finished in 2nd place on the Twins single-season list, an amazing 10 behind Harmon Killebrew's team record, set in 1969. Kudos also to Michael Cuddyer, who finished in a tie with Gary Gaetti '87 for 16th on the list.

6.) Torii Hunter's 31st HR moved him into a tie with Kirby Puckett '86 and Gary Gaetti '87 for 18th on the Twins single-season HR list. He has absolutely shined over the past 6 weeks, and I sincerely hope he returns for next season and beyond. If the White Sox proved anything this year, it was that a solid Center Fielder is a very important commodity.