LIVERPOOL, England -- With their title dreams extinguished, Liverpools players circled the pitch inside Anfield Stadium, heads bowed, to the backdrop of another passionately sung rendition of club anthem "Youll Never Walk Alone. Bob Gibson Jersey ." The final match of the Reds season could have been a celebration of the most unlikely championship triumph in Premier League history. It ended up being a tale of what might have been. Liverpool came up short Sunday in its bid for a first league title in 24 years, finishing two points behind champion Manchester City despite a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Newcastle. Brendan Rodgers team did their part on what proved to be an anticlimactic last day, passing the 100-goal mark for the league campaign after near-identical strikes in the space of two second-half minutes by Daniel Agger and Daniel Sturridge. That clinched a club-record 26th league victory. But Liverpool was also relying on a favour from West Ham at Etihad Stadium, which was always unlikely to happen. City won 2-0, keeping the trophy out of Liverpools grasp. "Im devastated for the fans," Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard said. "Although weve made them dream, Im devastated we didnt go that one step more." If there was any frustration inside Rodgers after the final whistle, he hid it well. For Liverpool had the destiny of the title in its hands just three weeks ago, when it beat Norwich 3-2 for an 11th straight win. Then came a decisive nine days when Rodgers side lost 2-0 at home to Chelsea before conceding three goals in the final 11 minutes to draw 3-3 at Crystal Palace. It meant there was more hope than expectation heading into the Newcastle match. "We finished the season winning 12 games out of 14," Rodgers said. "So the players have shown incredible level of consistency and quality in that period ... wed prefer to finish top, but its a great mark of progress this season." Anfield has seen previous last-game drama, with Arsenal winning 2-0 here in 1989 thanks to an injury-time goal from Michael Thomas to snatch the title from Liverpool. Twenty-five years on, Journeys famous song "Dont Stop Believin" blared out before kickoff. But all hope among Liverpool fans was gone by halftime, with their team 1-0 down thanks to Martin Skrtels own goal in the 20th minute and City having virtually guaranteed finishing first by going 1-0 up against West Ham. After a poor first half, Liverpool steeled itself to finish the season on a high, with Gerrard crossing for Agger to volley in after 63 minutes and then producing a similar delivery for Sturridge to tap in at the far post. It was all in vain. "When we went in front and there was no roar from the crowd, I realized the story was elsewhere," Rodgers said. Having started so positively, Newcastle imploded after the break in conceding two quick goals and then seeing Shola Ameobi and Paul Dummett both sent off. Ameobi received two yellow cards in 10 seconds for dissent as he argued with the referee about fouls in the build-up to Liverpools goals, before Dummett departed after a high challenge on Luis Suarez. Sunday was all about Liverpool, though, not Newcastle. From a seventh-place finish last season, Liverpool almost achieved what many considered impossible. "The word now is belief -- belief that we can be up there challenging," said Rodgers, who read out to his squad before the match a letter from a young fan called Ben -- sent before the start of the season -- which urged the players to believe they could win the title. "Probably at the time, the players and maybe the staff all thought the letter was maybe far-fetched," Rodgers added. "But I truly believe we could progress. "For us, its been a wonderful campaign of growth and development." The Premier League remains elusive to the 33-year-old Gerrard, who sees hope for the future. "I thought my days of title races had gone," he said, "but having played with this group of players this year the dream is back. Although Ive only got a couple of years left I still believe I can get there." Ernie Banks Cubs Jersey . Kowalczuk has spent four seasons with the Bombers. He spent most of 2013 on the reserve list but played in four games. Lucas is entering his sixth CFL season and third with the Bombers. Michael Conforto Mets Jersey . Kane, who was leading Chicago in scoring when he was hurt in a game against St. Louis on March 19, resumed skating on his own five days ago. On Wednesday, he skated with his teammates for the first time in the hours before a game against Montreal.DETROIT -- Don Kelly entered the game as a pinch-hitter and batted twice before the inning was over. It was an unusual experience for the Detroit utilityman -- and a sign that the Tigers offence is beginning to live up to its potential. Miguel Cabrera hit a go-ahead single and the Tigers scored seven runs with two outs in the eighth to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-3 on Sunday. Kelly started the rally with a one-out single with the Tigers down a run. By the time he came to the plate again, Detroit led 7-2. "It doesnt happen too often, but we like it when it does," Kelly said. Detroit was playing in front of its third home sellout of the season -- the team retired former manager Sparky Andersons No. 11 before the game. Jhonny Peralta gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the second with his 12th homer, but the Tigers trailed 2-1 until their big eighth inning. Kelly singled off reliever Aaron Heilman (4-1). After Austin Jackson struck out, Casper Wells drew a walk. David Hernandez then came on and didnt retire any of the four batters he faced. He walked Magglio Ordonez on four pitches to load the bases for the always-dangerous Cabrera, who appeared to get jammed but managed to line a two-run single to left. Hernandez then gave up RBI singles to Victor Martinez and Peralta. "We never quit, thats for sure," Martinez said. And they didnt stop. Brandon Inge hit a two-run single off Bryan Shaw to make it 7-2, and Kelly -- batting again -- reached on an error, with another run scoring. Al Alburquerque (5-1) pitched 1 1-3 innings of scoreless relief for Detroit. "We played a tough game, but theyve got a great offence and they got everything rolling all at once," Arizona outfielder Chris Young said. "Thats why you have to get all 27 outs." The Tigers are averaging 5.1 runs a game in June. Cabrera, Peralta and Martinez have hit well all season, and Ordonez is showing signs of turning arround a poor start. Madison Bumgarner Giants Jersey. "We hit some of them good, some of them not so good -- but wherever we hit them, they found a gap, found a hole," manager Jim Leyland said. "That was the big thing. Miguel had a big two-out hit, thats golden. Thats what hes good at. The other guys kind of picked up on it and we added some insurance and had a good win after what looked like it could be a potentially tough day." Arizona wasted a fine start by Joe Saunders, who allowed a run and four hits in seven innings. He struck out eight and walked one and has thrown at least six innings in 11 consecutive starts. Arizona scored twice in the seventh to take a 2-1 lead. Young led off with a double and Miguel Montero followed with a tying single. Detroit starter Brad Penny got the next two outs on popups, but Gerardo Parra hit a single and Ryan Roberts followed with another to put the Diamondbacks ahead. Roberts was in the starting lineup only because Melvin Mora was a late scratch with a bad back. Penny went 6 2-3 innings, allowing two runs and eight hits with a walk and two strikeouts. "Thank God they took Saunders out," Penny said. "He threw a great game. He was making pitches with everything -- pitching in and out, up and down and locating his off-speed stuff." Alburquerque, who has been outstanding all season, relieved Penny with two on in the seventh. He allowed a walk to load the bases, then struck out Stephen Drew to end the threat. Alburquerque gave up two hits in the eighth but worked out of that jam, too. He lowered his earned-run average to 1.95. He has struck out 46 hitters in 27 2-3 innings. NOTES: Montero and Roberts had three hits each for Arizona, and Peralta had three for the Tigers. ... Detroit 2B Carlos Guillen (left knee) is scheduled to start a rehabilitation assignment with Class-A Lakeland on Monday. ... Jackson struck out twice in the eighth inning and four times in the game. 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