No relief in sight: Situation bleak as Twins blow lead, lose in 11

Jared Wickerham, Getty Images

Although left-field umpire Phil Cuzzi ruled the ball foul, Joe Mauer’s fly to left clearly glanced off Melky’s Cabrera’s glove in fair territory, and the bounce made a mark there.

After Joe Nathan gave up a tying two-run homer to Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira finished the Twins off with a home run of his own.

By JOE CHRISTENSEN, Star Tribune

Last update: October 10, 2009 - 1:46 AM

NEW YORK — The mood inside the Twins clubhouse Friday night was a combination of shock, disbelief and anger.

Another blown save by Joe Nathan at Yankee Stadium. Another walk-off loss. Another 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five Division Series.

There were so many reasons for the Twins to kick themselves after Mark Teixeira hit his winning homer off Jose Mijares in the 11th inning, giving the Yankees a 4-3 triumph.

The Twins squandered some huge chances before and after Alex Rodriguez smashed his two-run, tying homer off Nathan in the ninth inning.

But darn that umpire.

Leading off the 11th inning, Joe Mauer sliced a ball down the left-field line and umpire Phil Cuzzi -- assigned to that line as part of a six-man crew -- called it foul. But after viewing replays following the game, crew chief Tim Tschida said it was the wrong call.

So Mauer should have been awarded a ground-rule double, after the ball bounced into the stands.

"There's really nothing we can do about a terrible call, and that's really what it was -- a terrible call at the wrong time," Nathan said. "When they showed the replay, I thought it was at least going to be a close call, but this thing was clearly about 8 or 10 inches inside the line, and [Cuzzi] was about 10 feet from it."

Nathan snickered. He had just spent five-plus minutes answering questions about his first blown save since Sept. 2.

"I had a tough night the inning before, and [Cuzzi] made a bad call there," Nathan said. "So we both blew one tonight."

According to Tschida, Cuzzi knew it, too.

"There's a guy sitting over in the umpire's dressing room that feels horrible," Tschida said. "I've been there."

Mauer eventually singled in the controversial at-bat. Asked how the inning might have changed if Mauer had been awarded his double, manager Ron Gardenhire said, "What did the next guy do? Next guy [Jason Kubel] got a single. You can figure that out, I think."

So why didn't Gardenhire or anybody else argue?

"We couldn't see it," said Michael Cuddyer, who followed Kubel with another single to load the bases. "Nobody knew anything until some of the guys in the clubhouse came to the dugout after watching it on TV. By the time we found out it was fair, it was like two pitches into the next at-bat already."

The Twins were on their way to squandering the bases-loaded, no-out chance. Delmon Young lined out; Carlos Gomez grounded to first baseman Teixiera, who threw home for the second out; and Brendan Harris flied to center, ending the inning.

Just a half-inning earlier, the Twins had pulled their own escape. An errant pickoff throw by Nathan moved Brett Gardner to third base with one out. After an intentional walk, Gardenhire hooked Nathan for Mijares.

The Yankees blew that chance when Johnny Damon lined out to shortstop Orlando Cabrera, who threw to third base to double off Gardner, who had inexplicably wandered too far toward home.

The Twins were in no position to laugh. Gomez had cost the Twins a run in the fourth inning by overrunning second base on a single to right by Matt Tolbert. Gomez tripped and got tagged for the third out before Young could score from second.

When Gomez drew a two-out walk to spark the two-run go-ahead rally in the eighth inning, it looked like he was off the hook. But then came A-Rod. And then came Cuzzi. And then came Teixeira.

The Twins fell to 0-9 against the Yankees this season and ran their postseason losing streak to eight games.

The Twins suffered three walk-off losses in their first three games at the new Yankee Stadium in May. But this was far worse.

"A game like this you never forget," Gomez said. "Because when somebody gives you candy, and you don't take it, you never forget."

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