Coin flip that flopped remains a frustration

The Twins weren't happy they had to visit U.S. Cellular Field for their one-game playoff with the White Sox.

By JOE CHRISTENSEN and JIM SOUHAN, Star Tribune staff writers

Last update: October 1, 2008 - 7:48 AM

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AL CENTRAL: FINAL White Sox 89-74 -- Twins 88-75 1

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CHICAGO — The Twins were not happy they were forced to play Tuesday's one-game playoff in Chicago even though they won the season series against the White Sox 10-8.

"But that's the way it is," Twins closer Joe Nathan said before Chicago's 1-0 victory at U.S. Cellular Field. "And the old coin flip ... ah, the coin flip. I love that.

"We went from head-to-head games meaning so much to head-to-head games meaning nothing."

Major League Baseball conducted a series of coin flips via teleconference Sept. 12.

The Twins lost both of their flips, against the White Sox and Red Sox. In each case, the other team got to make the call -- Chicago and Boston both correctly called heads -- because they had better records than the Twins at the time.

An MLB spokesman said the coin-flip tiebreaker rule has been written into the game's bylaws for decades.

A big reason MLB still determines one-game playoff sites early is logistics. Teams and the TV networks prefer as much notice as possible before playing host to such games.

In this case, the pendulum swing was huge, as the Twins went 8-1 against the White Sox at the Metrodome and 2-7 at U.S. Cellular Field.

"They didn't use my quarter, so I didn't really care about [the coin flip]," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "It's the way baseball does it. It's the way baseball has always done it. I can't control that."

After the game, Gardenhire added: "Hopefully the league will figure out something a little better than a coin toss, and we'll go from there. I don't want to get in trouble and lose my money [by getting fined]."

Hail the Tigers

Nathan praised the Tigers for making more than a perfunctory effort Monday, when they had to extend their season by one day to play a makeup game against the White Sox.

Although the White Sox won, Nathan said he believed the Tigers did all they could to compete.

"You've got to give credit to the Tigers and Jim Leyland for really trying to come out and play that game,'' Nathan said. "Freddy [Garcia] gave everything he had, and for Jim to bring in one of their better starters [Armando Galarraga] out of the pen shows a lot of respect for the game."

Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge even dived into the stands to catch a foul ball.

"Unbelievable,'' Nathan said. "It was just a very hard-fought game. And it would have been easy for a lot of them to sit it out or not give that 100 percent."

Liriano was unavailable

Starting pitchers Scott Baker and Glen Perkins were both wearing spikes in the Twins bullpen, ready to pitch in relief if necessary, but Gardenhire said he would not use Francisco Liriano, no matter what.

Liriano started Friday, and he would have been pitching on three days' rest.

"You're talking about a surgically repaired arm," Gardenhire said. "I will not mess with that young man's future or the organization's future by taking any chances with him."

The Twins had planned to have Liriano start Game 1 against Tampa Bay on Thursday, had they advanced.

Cuddyer gets the nod

Michael Cuddyer started at DH instead of Jason Kubel.

Cuddyer was 7-for-12 (.583) for his career against the White Sox starter, lefthander John Danks, compared to 3-for-7 (.429) for Kubel.

"This is the game I want to play in -- the one you always want to play in," Cuddyer said. "As a player, if you can't get excited at playing a game like this, then you need to be checked into another profession or something."

Cuddyer doubled in the fifth inning but was thrown out at home trying to score on a short fly ball.

Etc.

• The Twins lost a major league-leading five 1-0 games this season. Nick Blackburn lost his first start of the season 1-0 to the Angels; Baker started the other three 1-0 losses.