Baseball's Most Exciting Games, No. 19: The Phil Cuzzi Game

2009 American League Division Series, Game 2: Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees

October 9, 2009, Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York

Yankees lead series 1-0

The Twins' current 18-game postseason losing streak is so well-known among baseball fans that it's essentially turned into its own meme. Just as well-know is the fact that 13 of those losses have come at the hands of the Yankees.

It might be a misconception, then, that the Yankees are continually kicking the Twins' butts in these games. It isn't as well-known that many of those Twins' losses have been close games, featuring late-inning Yankee comebacks. The Twins have held a lead at some point in 10 of those 18 games, and two of them went into extra innings. That's what has made this streak so horrifying for Twins fans - there have been several games where it truly felt like the Twins were finally going to win, only for it to all end so badly.

Despite how close many of those games have been, there's one that stands above the rest as the worst: Game 2 of the 2009 ALDS. Also known, by Twins fans, as the Phil Cuzzi Game.

But for all the anger Twins fans have directed at Phil Cuzzi, and to the baseball gods in general, for Cuzzi's blown call in the 11th inning of this game, the fact remains the game never should have gotten to this point. Tied 1-1 through 7, the Twins scored twice in the top of the 8th, getting a walk and three singles after two were already out to take a lead into the bottom of the 8th.

A 1-2-3 bottom of the 8th set things up nicely for Twins closer Joe Nathan to close things out in the 9th. And it took 8 pitches for the Yankees to ruin everything. Mark Teixeira hit a 1-1 pitch for a single to right. Alex Rodriguez worked the count to 3-1. And then Rodriguez hit one a very long way.

The rest of the ninth was just filler. Both teams got two runners on base in the 10th, but nobody scored. The Twins escaped despite Nathan throwing an attempted pickoff into centerfield; he was bailed out when Brett Gardner didn't bother trying to back to third on a line drive to short, turning it into an easy inning-ending double play.

This doesn't show exactly where the ball landed,
but it does show you how close Cuzzi was to the 
call. How he still managed to botch it is a mystery.

Then came the 11th inning, and that's when Twins fans learned to hate the name Phil Cuzzi. What should have been a defining hit in Joe Mauer's career was instead nothing but a long strike. And the bad call was exacerbated by what happened next. Yes, Mauer got a single during the at bat, but he could only move to second on Jason Kubel's single, and could only get to third on Michael Cuddyer's single. Had he been on second at the start of Kubel's at bat, he would have scored on one of those two hits. Instead he was thrown out on a force play, and the Twins left the bases loaded.

Of course, Cuzzi isn't the sole reason the Twins lost. They had the bases loaded with nobody out in the 11th, after all. But after they didn't score, the rest seemed inevitable. No need to get into too much detail about what happened in the bottom of the 11th.

And so the Twins' postseason losing streak hit 8 games. It's now at 18. This is the one that fans still talk about the most. And it always will be, until the streak is finally over.

As for the Yankees, they kept right on rolling. Perhaps buoyed by their close call against the Twins, they beat the Angels in the ALCS, then beat the defending champion Phillies in the World Series. The Yankees haven't won a World Series since.

Game 2, 2009 ALDS Overall Rank: 19 Top 10 Swing: 232 Top play: Rodriguez's tying home run (WPA of 45% for New York) Loser's largest WE: 92 Twins leading 3-1 entering the 9th Average LI: 1.66 Highest leverage moment: 6.9 (tied in the top of the 11th, bases loaded, two out, Brendan Harris up for the Twins)