The ol' home town strikes out again

I have a longtime friend who is a diehard Boston Red Sox fan. Even though his team has now won two World Series titles after a long drought, there is still one man who is a villain of the peace. He has been so for three decades and he will be so long after he is gone from this mortal coil.

New Englanders know him simply as Bucky bleeping Dent, the weak-hitting shortstop who hit a home run to give the Yankees a victory in a one-game playoff at Fenway Park in 1978.

There is a new villain in Detroit this morning - Alexi bleeping Casilla. The backup infielder singled home the winning run in the 12th inning last night to lift the Twins past the Tigers, 6-5, in a terrific game that decided the AL Central title.

Never mind the fact the Twins now have to face the Evil Empire Yankees in New York less than 24 hours later. You take 'em where you can get 'em.

Tom Hanks was right. There is no crying in baseball. As a guy who is writing a Twins book that will be out next spring, I am overjoyed there is an extra chapter that can be added. It's a great story - the team and the ballpark that refuses to go away.

I have a friend (a former colleague) who works for the Tigers in marketing and I know his heart is broken today. Oh, he will go to work and start thinking about marking plans for the winter and the 2010 season. But he is also a fan. Like all fans, he will find himself wondering how it was that home plate umpire Randy Marsh missed the obvious hit-by-pitch call in the top of the 12th inning that would have given the Tigers the lead. But since he works in the game, he will merely grit his teeth and move on.

I am also a Detroiter at heart. I hear the snide jokes about my hometown all the time. Most of them are old but they still hurt. Even though I haven't lived there for 40 years, I am still a native who knows Detroit is a better city than it is given credit for. I know it is a good baseball town - one that is hurting badly today.

But there is no way around facts. And today's fact is, despite a terrific run, the Tigers fell on their face at the worst possible moment. In high school and college ball, you can pat them on the back and say, "Good try. Get 'em next time."

In pro sports, you don't get that option. You either win or you don't. So it is that my poor home town will have all winter with the haunting memory of Alexi bleeping Casilla.

There is only one thought that gives them hope today - spring training is just four months away.