The first half of Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader was history. The Tigers had suffered yet another tough loss, 3-2, to the Minnesota Twins -- a game they knew they could have, indeed probably should have, won. Their lead in the American League Central, that stood at a cozy seven games on Sept. 6, was now down to one.
        The start of Tuesday’s nightcap against the Twins was still four hours away.
        What do players do in a situation like that to pass the time?
        “What do you want us to do?” Jim Leyland snapped when a reporter asked that very question, which he considered silly.
        “Say a prayer? Have a meeting? What are they supposed to do, go to Wendy’s?
        “There’s five days left in the season. They’re going to do what they always do.
        “I know what I’m going to do,” Leyland added. “I’m going to smoke a cigarette and watch TV.”
        Down the hall, in the clubhouse, Gerald Laird, who would be called upon to catch both ends of the crucial doubleheader because of his defensive prowess behind the plate, was talking on his cellphone. Brandon Inge, hobbled by two bum knees, one worse than the other, was changing into his street clothes to go say hello to a few friends who had come to the game. Ryan Perry, headset on, was hunched over his computer.
        Baseball is a game. It’s also a business. While the ballpark and the surrounding parking lots emptied, work crews hastily swept and bagged the debris the fans had left behind in the stands.
        Soon, the day’s second crowd would begin arriving. And the players would have to put Tuesday’s opener out of their minds,  regroup, and try again.
        The show must go on.