It was the second week of October, and the 1987 Minnesota Twins had not won consecutive games on the road since August 29^th and 30^th.

The '87 Twins were, in fact, an abysmal road team. They had scored on 29 regular-season victories away from their home stadium, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, and dropped 52 games. Not exactly the mark of a championship team.

On the afternoon of October 12^th at Detroit's Tiger Stadium, Minnesota got the monkey off its back - and, to the disbelief of many, the American League crown on its head. Breaking loose for four second-inning runs and then putting the game away with five runs over the final three innings, the Twins defeated the Tigers in the fifth and deciding game of the A.L. Championship Series.

The night before, the Minnesotans had taken a three games-to-one lead in the playoff with a 5-3 triumph over the Tigers, who had fashioned the best record in the major leagues, 98-64, during the season.

As modest a streak as it was, the Twins showed impeccable timing in winning two straight contests for the first time in six weeks. Call it, as the cliché artists might, rising to the occasion. Whatever the label, it clearly was the mark of a championship team, albeit an unlikely one.

The Twins' .525 winning percentage in 1987 - they compiled a 85-77 record - was the lowest ever record by an American League pennant winner. Manager Tom Kelly's offense finished 10th in the AL team batting and his pitching staff wound up tied for 10th in team earned-run average.

However, the Twins were solid defensively - as their major league-leading .984 fielding percentage would attest - and they packed plenty of wallop. Three Twins topped the 30-homer mark, with first baseman Kent Hrbek leading the way with 34, right fielder Tom Brunansky hitting 32 and third baseman Gary Gaetti pounding 31. Center fielder Kirby Puckett was right behind with 28, and three other players were in double figures.

Perhaps most important, Minnesota had come up with a stopper in the bullpen in Jeff Reardon, who was obtained in a February trade with the Montreal Expos.

Reardon, who notched 31 saves for the Twins in their drive to the AL West Division title, came up a winner in a two-inning stint in the first game of the Championship Series when Minnesota, down 5-4, struck for four eight-inning runs at the Metrodome. Puckett delivered a game-tying double in the big inning, veteran Don Baylor drilled a go-ahead single with the bases loaded and Brunansky capped the uprising with a two-run double.

Baylor's contribution in the Twins' 8-5 victory was just what the front office had ordered. The 38-year-old slugger had been obtained from the Boston Red Sox on August 31 as "pennant insurance."

The next night, the Twins roughed up Tigers ace Jack Morris for six runs in the first five innings and got an excellent bullpen job from Juan Berenguer. Catcher Tim Laudner belted a two-run double off Morris to feature Minnesota's three-run second, left fielder Dan Gladden stroked a two-run single in the fourth and Hrbek smashed a bases-empty homer in the fifth.

Bert Blyleven was the starter and winner in the Twins' 6-3 conquest, but Berenguer stole the pitching show by retiring all five Detroit batters he faced and striking out four of them. Berenguer, who won eight of nine decisions for the Twins in 1987 after being released by the San Francisco Giants, embellished his performance with his gesture of "shooting down" strikeout victims.

While the Twins had sprinted to a 2-0 lead in games, no one was quite convinced of their staying power. After all, they now faced their bugaboo: the other guys' ball park. And, sure enough, after three innings of the third game at Tiger Stadium, Minnesota found itself staring at a 5-0 deficit. Larry Herndon's two-run pinch double in the third inning had spiced Detroit's attack.

Minnesota showed its resolve by roaring back for two runs in the fourth inning on shortstop Greg Gagne's solo home run and designated hitter Randy Bush's run-scoring single, two more in the sixth on a Brunansky homer and another two in the seventh on Gaetti's two-out single. The Twins, now ahead by a run, were serving notice that they could play with the big boys.

The Tigers were eager to send a message of their own - one saying that this playoff was far from over. Outfielder Pat Sheridan was the man who delivered the communiqué, loud and clear. Batting with a man on base in the eighth, he rocketed a Reardon pitch into the upper deck in right field. Tigers reliever Mike Henneman then closed out Minnesota in the ninth, and Detroit emerged a 7-6 winner.

The spotlight in the fourth game focused on another Tiger. This time, however, the Detroit player in question was standing squarely in the glare. It simply was not Darrell Evans' night.

Minnesota, benefiting from home runs by Puckett and Gagne (who were a combined 2 for 25 before connecting for their solo shots), took a 4-2 lead into the last of the sixth when singles by Chet Lemon and Evans boosted Tiger hopes. Pinch-hitter Dave Bergman drilled a run-scoring single, and Mike Heath laid down a sacrifice bunt. Laudner then picked off Evans at third base, which seemed to take the bite out of the Tigers. Sparky Anderson's crew didn't score the rest of the night (or until the fourth inning the next afternoon, for that matter).

The Twins weren't quite through in game four, however. In the eighth, Laudner reached base on Evans' misplay at third base, advanced to second on a wild pitch and took third on a groundout. He scored on Steve Lombardozzi's single past Evans' glove, thereby accounting for the final run of the night in the Twins' two-run triumph. Frank Viola, a 17-game winner in 1987, worked only five-plus innings but got credit for the victory.

"I missed two balls I should have caught," acknowledged Evans, who had started the game at first base.

Meanwhile, Minnesota's Brunansky wasn't doing much of anything wrong. He laced a two-run double in the Twins' big second inning the next day and then cracked a homer in a three-run ninth. Gladden had three hits and two RBIs for the Twins, who withstood homers by Detroit's Lemon and Matt Nokes and sailed to a pennant-clinching 9-5 triumph.

Brunansky wound up the AL Championship Series with seven hits in 17 at-bats (.412) and drove in nine runs. He drilled four doubles and two home runs.

Gaetti's numbers weren't as impressive - two home runs, five RBIs and a .300 average - but they were good enough to win him Most Valuable Player honors in the series. The Twins' leader, Gaetti perhaps set the tone for things in the opening game by homering in his first two Championship Series at-bats (a feat never accomplished previously).

When it came to unimpressive numbers though, it would be hard to match the Minnesota Twins' road record in 1987. Until that is, it came to crunch time in the American League's Championship Series.