GolfHos

Who's going to win?  Why?

I think the Tigers will trounce the Cardinals with superior hitting and pitching.  I haven't seen the pitching roster yet, but hopefully Kenny Rogers is pitching at home (he's been thriving there).

Tigers in 4.

Cards got lucky. Tigers in 5.

I just don't really think it even made a difference who won the NLC.  The NL is weak this year.

Last night's game was good baseball, though.

Probably true, but I think the Mets could have at least given the Tigers a bit of a challenge, maybe taken them to a game 6 or 7. Last night's game was good, but I hated the way it ended. I can't believe with bases loaded, 2 outs and 2 strikes they struck him out looking. Very sad way to go out, IMO.

Yeah, it was very anticlimactic.  If Beltran had struck out swinging, then at least it would have been a failed try.  As it stands, he just looked like a deer in headlights.

as much as i hate to say, or even think it, detroit ... and easily  in 5.

It's Detroit's year.  Though I fear for the city if they win.

Tigers in six, and a couple of city blocks of Detroit store fronts smashed, looted and burned.

I'm going with Tigers in 5.

Tigers in 6.  Cards have pretty descent pitching. 

I just got home and turned this on.  Looks like this might be an exciting series. :)

who throws pitches like that to pooooholes?

What an ugly game for Detroit.  It seems the time off made them rusty both defensively and with the bats.  :o :'(

Hopefully they take Game 2 and head into St. Louis with a tied series.   8)

Um...  [sm_whistle]

Ok, Rogers was on fire last night (the man has now pitched 23 innings in the playoffs without giving up a run), and in general the Tigers looked to be their old (new) selves.

Clearly the Cards are tougher than I anticipated, though.

Yeah, but he's got smudgey stuff on his hand(I'm being sarcastic).  I really dislike Tony LaRussa.  He comes up with crap like this every time the Cards don't win.

I have to admit, I was wondering what the hell that stuff was myself.  It was gone by the 2nd, however, so it was really no big deal.

Maybe they had run out of TP in the Tigers locker room. [sm_yuck]

I missed the beginning of the game last night, but I've been reading some articles today and they said said Rogers had stuff on his hand in other games, too.

Did they show any footage last night of him in previous games with stuff on his hand?

Hmmm, they didn't show anything from any other games regarding stuff on his hands.

As Joe Buck said (and I'll paraphrase), "it's so obvious, it would be hard to believe it's actually an illegal substance on his hand."

He pitched just as well after washing his hands as before, so there was no obvious performance drop.  Rogers claimed it was dirt, and that the home plate ump just told him to wash his hands so there would be no questions.

here's the real question:

what is rogers shooting up on that makes him so good in his 40's?
 ;D

Fortunately, he's not suddenly throwing 100mph fastballs.  Not even steriods will help a pitcher finesse the ball over the outside corner of the plate.   ;)

Oh, I'll try to dig up the article I was reading this morning.  It mentioned something about the same substance in a game before last night.

Here's one mention I just found:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2006/news/story?id=2635538


(http://espn-ak.starwave.com/photo/2006/1023/mlb_rogers_hand_comparison_275.jpg)
Kenny Rogers' pitching hand during Game 3 of the ALCS (left) and in the first inning of Sunday's Game 2 of the World Series. The lefty appears to have a similar-looking brown substance on his hand in both instances.

That does look fishy.  I guess all I can say is that he pitched just as well after washing his hands, and I'll bet dimes to dollars that his hands will be extremely clean in Game 6 if it goes that far.

The ump spoke to Rogers before the start of the 2nd inning, though.  If it were pine tar, how could the ump not have noticed?

That is definitely pine tar.

I used it a lot playing high school ball.

Now, why on the thumbpad?

Hold out your hand, thump pointed up, and point all four fingers at an object in front of you.  Now close your fingers and make a fist.  Where are your finger tips?

On the thumbpad.  Now rub your fingers across your thumbpad.

What Roger's is doing with this little trick is getting his fingers tacky from time to time so he can grip the ball better.

It's not so much to doctor the ball as it is to 'accentuate' the movement you're trying to achieve with the ball by varying your finger pressure. 

Don't get me wrong, I think Roger's is the scum of the earth and that this is definitely cheating.  But he wasn't throwing spit balls with that one.  He was just trying to get more mojo out of his changeup.  You can make a changeup a viable contender on 'Dance with the Stars' depending on how you do index or middle finger pressure.

Another thing about LaRussa, who failed to make a deal out of it.

His lack of action was in deference to Leyland, who is a good friend.

If that game was against Bobby Cox, for whom LaRussa has lost no love, it would be a different story.  As soon as LaRussa got the call that the announcers say the tar, and if that was a Braves pitcher, LaRussa would've been out there before the next pitch.

Personally, I think it cost the Cards the game.  It would've been nice to see Roger's tossed after 2/3rds of an inning.

So much for our picks. ;D

ArtV and MP still have a chance, though.

This sucks!

LOL

I almost popped a vein in my forehead when I saw the throwing error to 3rd.  I guess this is when the inexperience comes into play.

Not only are the Tigers making mistakes, but the Cards are playing much tougher than all the analyists anticipated.  Their pitching has been awesome so far.  I just hope the Tigers can bring the WS back to Detroit for a 6th game.

As for Rogers, it probably was pine tar.  However, nobody involved in the game made a big deal out of it, so all I can do as a fan is follow suit and give Rogers the benefit of the doubt by accepting Sunday's win a legit.  If the Tigers end up winning the WS in a 7th game nail biter, I'm sure Cardinal fans will be looking back at Game 2, though.

So it looks like the Kenny Rogers controversy is going to end up going away.  It'll probably come up again during his next start, but I guess since it didn't seem to affect the game, no one cares.

I know that baseball has the whole "if you're not cheatin', you're not trying" thing, but I'm still a little surprised how this whole thing unfolded, especially how LaRussa reacted.

No one seemed to care about the Chargers' Merriman suspension either, which I thought was a big deal too, but I guess everyone just expects these things in pro sports nowadays.

I'll guarantee LaRussa didn't act because of Leyland.  Guarantee.  Anybody else, and Leyland is out there.  He's the kind of manager who'll go out and ask the ump to get the pitcher to tuck in his shirt better, just to get under the pitcher's skin.  Seen him do it abazillion times.

But him and Leyland are best buddies, so he let it slide quietly.

But Rogers is old school scumbag