Game 163... I have 1 word: Unbelievable!

I was there! Me, my wife, and 3 boys (ages 7, 10, & 12). It was the greatest baseball game I ever attended! I was at last years big comeback win versus the Whitesox to tie them for the division on game 159, that game was a big comeback that was very dramatic and fun, but this game was a see-saw of emotion, my 7 year old was emotionally spent by the 10th innning, I was getting there. Our seats weren't very good 21 rows up in upper deck Center field, but it didn't matter! That was a game I will never forget!

Big Moments in the game:

1. Cabrera's homer to give Tiger lead 3-0. The crowd was deflated, but getting the 1 run back the next inning gave everyone some hope.
2. Kubel's solo homer to make it 3-2. This got the crowd really going again. He absolutely crushed that pitch!
3. O Cabrera's 2-run homer to give the Twins a 4-3 lead! I have been at playoff games and I never heard the dome that loud! Crazy, my 7 year old had to cover his ears!
4. Ordonez's game tying home-run... as loud as it was the previous half inning it was equally quiet after that hit.
5. Nathan getting out of the Jam in the Top of the Ninth with unlikely strikeout and then the line-out double play! His fist pump was awesome!
6. Brandon Inge's double in the Top of the 10th. After getting out of major jams the previous 2 innings, a runner on first with 2 outs and Inge at the plate didn't seem like a big deal until it was 5-4. My 10 year old said, "I didn't come here and stay this long to see them lose!"
7. Micheal Cuddyer's leadoff "triple" that was badly misplayed by not 1 but 2 Detroit outfielders! After that I felt the entire dome thought this was our game, and we would win it this inning!
8. Tolbert's game-tying single! I still can't believe that ball made it through the infield, but when Casilla made it to 3rd with 1 out and the game tied, I thought we were gonna win!
9. Rayburn's awesome double play. Casilla's tag-up gaffe helped a little but it still took an outstanding throw by Rayburn to get him out at the plate.
10. Punto's throw home with 1 out and bases loaded on a chopper to 2nd! What a smart play knowing the double play was unlikely, but how lucky are the Twins that it was slow footed Cabrera trying to score from 3rd?
    
11. Keppel's strikeout of Laird. After falling behind 3-1 I began to accept in my mind that he was gonna walk in the go-ahead run, and I was hoping it would only be a 1-run deficit going into the bottom of the 12th with a tiring Rodney. But Bobby got a foul strike 2 and then for some reason Laird chase a ball below his knees and whiffed for strike 3!
12. Gomez's single to lead off the bottom of the 12th. I felt with his speed on the bases and no-one out we should be able to get him home. Then Cuddyer moves him over on a groudout to 3rd and they intentionally walk Delmon, I realized with 1 out it will be up to Casilla/Tolbert/Punto to get it done and I was worried.
13. Casilla, the hero in that epic Whitesox game 159 last year, singles on a bouncer in the hole between 1st and 2nd, Gomez bellyflops home and slides across the plate, and Casilla is the hero yet again! Twins win! Twins win!

There are other more minor but equally important moments, in the game like the luck that the Ump missed that Inge's jersey was brushed by a pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the 12th and Baker pitching around a lead-off double in the 2nd, just to name a few.

What a game. Thanks Twins for that memory with my family at the ballpark, I will cherish it. How they celebrated with the fans on the field afterwards, and the energy in the city as everyone eventually spilled out of the dome into the streets, it was a magical, memorable night!

The most unlikely road to the Division championship ever, even more so than the way they won it on the last game in 2006, because 3/5ths of the rotation falls apart in August, they lose both of their corner infielders for the season in early/mid September and yet somehow they finish the last 21 games 17-4.

One word: Unbelievable!