Rolling dice with Pavano hits inevitable snake eyes

DETROIT - Even during their inexplicably successful September, every Twins victory has felt like a miracle, every loss an imposition of reality, like a scientist telling your kids that cars really don't turn into robots as you buy tickets to "Transformers."

Wednesday night, Carl Pavano tried to continue his transformation from second-division journeyman to pennant-race ace in the Twins' latest biggest game of the season.

If his pitches had stayed as low during the game as his spirits appeared to be afterward, Pavano might have pitched a shutout.

"I need to step up, and I didn't do the job," he said. "Not only did I let myself down, I let my team down. They needed me to go out there and put in an effort for a win, and I fell short. I definitely didn't do my job."

Thus Pavano provided an admirable example of accountability for the Twins' young pitchers, but only after demonstrating how not to navigate an important start.

The Twins needed Pavano to channel his younger self, to evoke memories of his championship-enabling excellence with the Florida Marlins.

Instead, with writers from New York in attendance at Comerica Park to chronicle the last meaningful games of baseball's regular season, Pavano offered a reminder that he ranks among the worst free-agent signings in the free-spending history of the Yankees.

Wednesday, Pavano all but hand-delivered cases of champagne to the Tigers' clubhouse, allowing seven runs in 4 2/3 innings in the Twins' 7-2 loss.

A Tigers' victory today would eliminate the Twins from contention. Even if the Twins win, they will enter the last weekend of the season two games back with three to play.

If only Pavano's fastball had proved as precise as his self-appraisal. "I think it comes down to me doing my job, and I didn't do that," Pavano said. "Everyone else did around me. I put them in a position where they were going to go out there at 7-2 and try to do too much.

"That's a lot to ask from a team, from a lineup. I put it on my shoulders."

Before the game, teammates described Pavano as a veteran ideally suited to pitch a big game, but he couldn't make it through the fifth.

Is there a sadder sight in baseball than a manager trudging to the mound to remove a veteran pitcher who has failed him? Gardenhire signaled to the bullpen, took the ball, then stopped Pavano for a moment.

"I told him that 'I'd take you every time in that situation, take my chances with you, you've done it every since you've come over here and you've pitched really well against that team, and it just didn't work out tonight,' " Gardenhire said. "But I'm pretty happy having that guy on my ballclub."

Pavano's eerie dominance of the Tigers this season offered hope. Before Wednesday, Pavano was 4-0 with a 1.69 ERA against Detroit, allowing no homers and one walk in 37 1/3 innings.

Wednesday, he allowed as many earned runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Tigers as he had in his five previous starts against them.

This was a case of reality overwhelming coincidence. Pavano's ERA this season is 5.07; last year it was 5.77. He hasn't posted an ERA lower than 4.76 since 2004, his last year in Florida.

With elimination looming, the Twins again look like the team that meandered through the first five months of the season. With a few exceptions, they are a collection of fourth outfielders, utility infielders and end-of-the-rotation pitchers whose September burst allowed them to climb into contention in a weak division.

A good team would not have needed to rely on Pavano. Or Jose Morales, or Matt Tolbert, or Jeff Manship.

"This is the place we're in; we lost," Pavano said. "We come back tomorrow, and we battle. We've been doing it over and over again, and we're still playing good baseball."

That wasn't good baseball Wednesday; that was a journeyman pitcher and a flawed team facing reality.

Jim Souhan can be heard at 10-noon Sunday, and 6:40 a.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday on AM-1500. His twitter name is SouhanStrib. • jsouhan@startribune.com