By Sean McAdam
CSNNE.com
DETROIT -- You can't always be perfect.
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Tom Gordon found that out the hard way in 1998. Jose Valverde learned it Wednesday night.
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Gordon was a striking 46-for-46 in save opportunities during the regular season that year, then picked the worst possible time to blow his first -- in Game 4 of the American League Division Series against the Cleveland Indians.
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He came in for the eighth inning as Jimy Williams asked him, for the first time all year, to get a six-out save with the Sox clinging to a 1-0 lead. He gave up two runs in the eighth and, though he pitched a scoreless ninth, the Sox lost, 2-1, ending their season.
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There were similarities with Valverde last night. Like Gordon, he had successfully converted every save chance in the regular season. Like Gordon, he was asked to pitch two innings.
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And like Gordon, Valverde tripped, bringing his team to within one loss of winter.
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True, it wasn't a save situation as Valverde entered a tie game, 3-3.
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But in a somber Detroit clubhouse, after Valverde had yielded a run-scoring single to Mike Napoli and a three-run homer to October's newest hero, Nelson Cruz, in the top of the 11th, the feeling was the same.
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Unbeatable all year, fallible when it counted most.
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"We were down two games to one," shrugged Jim Leyland of his decision to go with Valverde for two innings. "You have to give it your best shot. That was our best shot."
There's no arguing with Leyland on that count. He's been into his bullpen earlier than he would like in most games in this series and he had little faith in Al Albuquerque, who was not-so-effectively wild while taking over for starter Rick Porcello in the seventh.
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After two innings from Joaquin Benoit, he went with Valverde. Both, he later, acknowledged, are "pitching on fumes and heart."
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Even by the industry standard for closers, Valverde is an eccentric. In the Division Series, he pronounced the Yankees done after the first game, then saved two of the Tigers' three wins to make his prediction a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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Following Wednesday's loss, he sat in his chair in front of his locker and discussed what might be the next-to-last loss of his team's season with a casual air, as if he had just spit up a lead in the Grapefruit League.
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No, he wasn't tired. No, he isn't doing anything different in the postseason.
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The pitch to Cruz was a sinker, he revealed, pretty much where he wanted it.
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"He went and got it," said Valverde, adding a small chuckle as an afterthought, an audible what-can-you-do. "Nothing I could do."
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He regretted only the outcome.
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Had the Tigers done a better job with some opportunities, or perhaps not run into some outs on the bases --
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