Twins Insider: For Oliva, postseason angst is all too familiar

A star who knows what it feels like to flop in the playoffs has high hopes for Joe Nathan et al.

By JOE CHRISTENSEN, Star Tribune

Last update: October 11, 2009 - 12:14 AM

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Today's Twins fans think they know postseason heartbreak. Well, Tony Oliva knows postseason heartbreak.

He remembers losing Game 7 of the 1965 World Series, when Sandy Koufax twirled a three-hit shutout. He remembers winning 97 games with the Twins in 1969, only to go three-and-out against Baltimore in the AL Championship Series.

A year later, the Twins won 98 games, and the Orioles swept them again. That seven-game postseason losing streak didn't end until Gary Gaetti hit two home runs to lead the Twins over the Tigers in Game 1 of the 1987 ALCS.

On Friday, the Twins' latest postseason skid reached eight games, with a 4-3, 11-inning loss at Yankee Stadium in Game 2 of the Division Series.

"Last night was different," Oliva said Saturday morning at the Metrodome. "I'd take my chances any time with a two-run lead and [Joe] Nathan on the mound."

Oliva actually went through something similar in the 1969 ALCS. In Game 1, his two-run homer gave the Twins a seventh-inning lead, but Boog Powell hit a game-tying shot off Jim Perry in the ninth, and the Orioles pulled out a 4-3 victory in the 12th.

In Game 2, Dave Boswell and Dave McNally traded zeros until the 11th, when Curt Motton's pinch-hit single off Ron Perranoski gave Baltimore a 1-0 win.

Two October days. Two walk-off losses for the Twins.

Oliva was 31 in 1970. He believed the Twins would keep getting chances year after year. But he and Harmon Killebrew got hurt in 1971, and the Twins didn't return until 1987, when Oliva was the hitting coach.

Few could blame today's Twins for believing they will keep coming back, too. Joe Mauer is 26; Jason Kubel, 27; Justin Morneau, 28; and Michael Cuddyer, 30.

"This team, I think we'll get better and better and better," Oliva said. "It's a young team, and they know how to play."

But the Twins could do themselves a big favor by winning Game 3 tonight. This goes beyond extending the season. This is about extending hope that they aren't doomed to also-ran status, whether they make the postseason or not.

In manager Ron Gardenhire's eight seasons, the Twins have won five AL Central titles, but they are 6-17 in the postseason.

"We have run into some really good baseball teams, as you always do in the playoffs," Gardenhire said. "And the playoffs can go either way. It's always one play here, one pitch there, and fortunately we've been on the bad side of it.

"We want to win more than anybody. Just getting in the playoffs is never what you're after. We've got a group of guys that want to win the World Series right here. You just have to go get it done on the field."

This postseason skid started with Nathan's letdown in Game 2 of the 2004 ALDS, at the old Yankee Stadium, when Torii Hunter's 12th-inning homer gave the Twins a lead that Nathan couldn't hold in his third inning of work. A victory that night would have given the Twins a 2-0 series lead. Friday, the Twins missed a chance at a split.

"Once I leave the park, that game's over," Nathan said Saturday. "I've forgotten about it. I don't even know what we're talking about."

Facing elimination, the Twins keep repeating the same mantra, that they have had their "backs against the wall for four weeks," so why be fazed now? But this Yankees team would faze a lot of teams. If the Twins win the next three games, it would rank as one of sport's all-time greatest comebacks.

"Hey, this game can change any time," Oliva said. "I hope it changes [tonight]. I'd like to be in the same position, with Nathan on the mound."

Joe Christensen • jchristensen@startribune.com