Tigers Live

The Tiger clubhouse

ST. LOUIS -- While the thunderous victory celebration rocked Busch Stadium, it was so quiet inside the Tigers' sprawling clubhouse after the game that the loudest noise came from the young assistants knocking mud off of the players' spikes.

Several players stood in front of their lockers, talking quietly, answering questions about what it felt like to lose the World Series by hitting poorly and, most amazingly, fielding like Little Leaguers in front of 46,000 spectators and millions on TV.

Manager Jim Leyland chatted with coaches inside his small office. Willie Horton looked like he was ready to cry.

Justin Verlander, who had made the latest costly error by a pitcher, was philosophical.

"I wouldn't say we gave it away," he said. "We've got a good team here. We'll be back. This is only the start. It's a building block."

Verlander said Leyland told the team to keep their heads up, "that we had a hell of a year." He said Leyland assured them it was a honor to lead them.

Sean Casey, who came back from an injury to be the Tigers' best hitter, was stoical, smiling and almost upbeat.

"We have no excuses," he said.

Leyland sounded a similar note.

"I make no excuses," he said. We didn't play well enough."

Leyland added: "I'm a little embarrassed we didn't represent it a little better, but we were very proud to represent the American League."

When you walked out of the Detroit clubhouse, it got very noisy, and the first thing you heard was "YO! CARDS!"

And all the way to the airport, the Tigers' bus would have been engulgfed in a sea of red partying people.

It was a harsh conclusion to a charmed season.

By BILL McGRAW

The celebration

ST. LOUIS -- The Tigers' dugout is empty.

By BILL McGRAW

The end

ST. LOUIS -- They're erecting a stage by second base. Baton-wielding cops have taken up positions in the outfield. The Cardinals are jumping into a big pile in the infield. Confetti is flying. Fireworks are thundering through the night sky.

The Cards have won the World Series.

The Tigers' magical season is history.

By BILL McGRAW 

Ninth inning

ST. LOUIS -- It's the top of the ninth. No one is sitting. Everyone, it seems, is yelling. The Cards need three outs.

By BILL McGRAW

10, 9, 8, 7...

ST. LOUIS -- Now that's it's the bottom of the seventh, and the Cards lead, 3-2, Busch Stadium is getting ready to pop. Many fans are standing, and the noise level is increasing.

By BILL McGRAW

How to pronounce Gratiot

ST. LOUIS -- When you look out the back of Busch Stadium, you see a cityscape that could be Detroit: Old, dark-brick warehouses, steeples, chimneys and freeways.

St. Louis and Detroit have a lot in common. They were both founded by a French guy in the 18th Century. They both haved lost more than half of their population since 1950. They both are trying to breathe life into their downtowns, with some success.

And they both have a street called Gratiot.

In St. Louis, they pronounce it GRAD-ee-ott.

By BILL McGRAW

Comerica and Busch: The music

ST. LOUIS -- One area in which Comerica Park seems to have the edge over Busch Stadium is music. (See previous post.)

The tunes played at Comerica tend to be more contemporary, or hipper. But fans at Busch sing along with some lines from the songs played there, which turns them into cheers, and that produces an atmosphere like a giant pep rally.

By BILL McGRAW 

Comerica vs. Busch

ST. LOUIS -- Now that I have watched 2 1/2 games at Busch Stadium, I can observe that Busch and Comerica Park, while new, are different.

The biggest difference is the sense of intimacy. Busch, which opened this year, is more intimate. Its grandstands appear to be closer to the playing field than those at Comerica, which opened in 2000. While its outfield is open to the downtown skyline, like Comerica's, Busch's outfield opening is smaller, which heightens the feeling of enclosure.

As a result, Busch is noisier. It holds the roar of the crowd better than Comerica, whose soup-bowl design, as Todd Jones described it, lets the noise escape.

By BILL McGRAW 

Fans mocking Tigers

ST. LOUIS -- Cardinals' fans are simply making fun of the Tigers, now that another pitcher has committed a run-scoring error.

"They are just handing us the game now," said one fan after Justin Verlander's throwing error. "This is incredible."

By BILL McGRAW

Magic moment

ST. LOUIS -- Game Five's magic moment took place before the game when Albert Pujols and Carlos Guillen aproached each other behind second base and hugged.

By BILL McGRAW

Bless you, Al

ST. LOUIS -- One of the biggest differences in Detroit sports between the 1984 World Series and the 2006 World Series is Al Ackerman.

Ackerman was the chief sportscaster in 1984 for WDIV-TV (Channel 4), but he is long retired and living in Florida. He is widely known today for coining the phrase, "Bless you, boys," but he was much more than that. He was Detroit's Howard Cosell, an intelligent and pugnacious voice in what then and now is the make-no-waves world of Detroit TV sports broadcasting.

Ackerman had opinions and he picked fights -- verbally -- with powerful people, like Lions' owner William Clay Ford and local boosters who wanted to build a riverfront stadium and the Pontiac Silverdome.

Ackerman picked a fight this month with WDIV, which began using his slogan again when the Tigers got hot. Ackerman says he owns the trademark on the phrase, and he wanted the station to at least ask his permission to use it.

Ackerman and his attorney, Sheldon Miller of Southfield, said in telephone interviews this week that permission would have been granted.

"He didn't want to end any body's celebration," said Miller. "He's just mad the way they treated him."

Said Ackerman: "I'm glad it's carried on."

Miller said the dispute was resolved when WDIV agreed to donate $500 to the American Cancer Society. Ackerman's adult son, Mike, died of lymphoma in July, and he said it hit him hard.

Does Ackerman really own the trademark to "Bless you, boys?" That's uncertain. Channel 4 lawyer John Ronayne declined comment.

"Bless you boys" started out as a sarcastic retort to critics who thought Ackerman was too tough on the local teams and their owners. (Imagine that.)

But it caught on, and became a popular catchphrase during the Tigers' 1984 World Series season. The station even lined up local and national celebrities to say the words, which added to the fun.

Ackerman has experienced some health problems in recent years, including a heart attack and knee and hip replacements. "I'm literally covered with metal," he said. Asked his age, he said: "Between social security and death."

He was laughing when he said that, and he emphasized that he gets by with the help of a great wife, Terese. 

"I'm remembered for three little words, and not for anything substantial I did," Ackerman said. He added: "I couldn't be happier people still remember it."

By BILL McGRAW

Get yer lineups!

St. LOUIS -- Here are the lineups for Game Five of the World Series:

Detroit Tigers

Granderson CF

Monroe LF

Guillen SS

Ordonez RF

Casey 1B

Rodriguez C

Polanco 2B

Inge 3B

Verlander P

St. Louis Cardinals

Eckstein SS

Duncan RF

Pujols 1B

Edmonds CF

Rolen 3B

Belliard 2B

Molina C

Taguchi LF

Weaver P

By BILL McGRAW

Weather update

St. LOUIS -- The grounds crew is removing the tarp, aways a good a sign on a rainy night at the ball park during the World Series.

The infield looks wet, and so does the outfield, the same outfield where Curtis Granderson performed his Curt Flood imitation last night, falling on the slimy grass while chasing a fly ball.

The weather is misty, cold and rainy.

By BILL McGRAW

Leyland: We'll practice playing in rain

ST. LOUIS -- "It might sound crazy," Jim Leyland was saying Friday evening.

And, to be truthful, it does sound crazy: Leyland said next year, in spring training, he will have the grounds crew water the area in front of the mound so the Tigers can practice fielding balls in sloppy conditions.

Especially the pitchers.

Tiger pitchers have made four errors in the first four games of the World Series, most notably Fernando Rodney's wild throw to first base in the seventh inning last night that resulted in the Cardinals' tying the game.

The pitchers' errors tie a World Series record.

"I hope we don't break it tonight," Leyland said. "I've never seen anything like it."

By BILL McGRAW

We are family

ST. LOUIS -- During the Cardinals' batting practice, he stands by the cage, in uniform, watching and talking.

You do a double take. Yes, it is Red Schoendienst, the longtime Cardinal infielder and manager who, at 83, continues to be associated with the club. Schoendienst, whose Hall-of-Fame career lasted from 1945 to 1963, has a daughter, Colleen. She sang "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch last night.

By BILL McGRAW

Weather: Promising

ST. LOUIS -- It rained all day. It is cold. It is gray. It is windy.

The good news, though, is that the rain has stopped. It is still cold, gray and windy, but everyone from the weather persons on local TV to Tony La Russa say the rain will stay away for the game.

The tarp still covers the field; it's unclear if the teams will be taking batting practcie.

By BILL McGRAW 

Leyland: No Rogers, no way

ST. LOUIS -- With the Tigers' marvelous 2006 season ticking down to perhaps its final hours, manager Jim Leyland is refusing to budge on his pitching rotation. He is going to stay the course.

Tonight, in Game Five, he's planning to start a 23-year-old rookie, Justin Verlander, who was shaky his last time out and has sparked questions about how much life is left in his arm. Leyland will keep on the bench Kenny Rogers, who has pitched 23 shutout innings in the post-season. He wants Rogers ready for a possible Game Six in Detroit.

Now that the Tigers' season may not extend to a Game Six, might the skipper switch to Rogers?

"Absolutely not," Leyland said after the Tigers had lost, 5-4, to the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday night to give the Cards a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven World Series.

"I'm not going to pitch him in this atmosphere," Leyland added, referring to the circus-like surroundings following Rogers' dirty hand incident in Sunday's victory in Detroit and the antagonistic St. Louis fans. Rogers' superb pitching this month has taken place at Comerica Park, and Leyland believes that is where he should appear next.

Leyland added: "If it was the seventh game, I'd pitch him."   

Verlander took the loss in Game One, giving up seven runs (six earned) in five innings and raising questions about his arm because his pitch speed was off.

On Wednesday, Verlander said he has thrown in the bullpen and is not worried.

"I actually feel great," he said. "I went out and threw the day after my start and I felt fantastic.  Actually I felt better than I did...on seven, eight days rest. I felt good, and I'm ready to go."

Someone asked if his arm might be "semi-dead," which sounds creepy, but Verlander took it in stride.

"No, I don't think so," he replied. "A week ago, I might have said, 'maybe,' but after my last start, coming back, my arm felt great."

Leyland stated the obvious: "We've got to win three in a row. Are we capable of doing it? Absolutely. Are we in a good position? Absolutely not."

OK. Let's say your name is Jim. You're in your 60s. You smoke a lot of Marlboros. Your players seem to like you. Your entire season is riding on tonight. Which pitcher do you use?

WEATHER UPDATE: It started raining shortly after the conclusion of Thursday's game, then stopped. Friday's forecast calls for periods of rain. High near 52. Breezy, with a north wind, 6 to 9 mph increasing to between 17 and 20 mph. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100% during the day, but only 20% at night.

By BILL McGRAW 

Pudge shuts up crowd

St. LOUIS -- Pudge Rodriguez's double to start out the Tiger eighth has silenced the Busch Stadium crowd. It's a huge change from a few minutes ago, when the fans wentn wild as the Cards took a 4-3 lead. Pudge now has three hits tonight as he has busted out of slump

By BILL McGRAW

Is St. Louis a better baseball town?

ST. LOUIS -- The World Series is not over, but the winner in the TV ratings war appears clear.

It's St. Louis, by a long shot.

For games one, two and three, St. Louis has scored ratings of 41.0, 47.5 and 51.9.

Detroit's ratings have been 32.5, 42.9 and 37.1.

A ratings point represents one percent of viewers in the surveyed area.

That is a fairly convincing victory by St. Louis, and I'm not sure what the explanation is. Do people care more about baseball in St. Louis than Detroit? That is virtually impossible to answer, but there is no doubt baseball is huge in St. Louis, and it long has had the reputation as a great baseball town.

Have so many people in Detroit fallen away from baseball during the bad years that even the 2006 Tigers have failed to bring them back? That explanation seems far-fetched, but how else to explain the ratings gap?

By BILL McGRAW

Fashion notes

ST. LOUIS -- Of the 18 starting players in tonight's game, only two -- Tigers Brandon Inge and Curtis  Granderson -- wear their uniform pants the old-fashioned way, cut off at the knee, which exposes a lot of dark blue sock. Everyone else lets their pants run down to their ankles, where they droop over their shoes. Superficial but interesting information.

By BILL McGRAW

Tiger bats

ST. LOUIS -- Give Jeremy Bonderman credit. The guy had only batted 19 times previously in his major-league career. Twelve of those at-bats ended in strikeouts. But Bondo forced Jeff Suppan to throw seven pitches -- as many as Suppan threw during the entire first inning. Bonderman fouled off three, drew two balls and finally grounded out to first. His exploits, of course were overshadowed by two other noteworthy Tiger hitting performances in the second inning: Pudge's first hit of the series and Sean Casey's 386-foot homer that gave Detroit a 1-0 lead.

By BILL McGRAW

With God on his side

ST. LOUIS -- Cardinals' starter Jeff Suppan was wearing a T-shirt this week that said: "Property of Jesus Christ."

By BILL McGRAW

Willie Horton at large

ST. LOUIS -- Enjoying himself immensely during the World Series is Tiger great Willie Horton, who serves as an assistant to Tiger general manager Dave Dombrowski. "I'm always all right when I'm at a baseball park," Horton said during batting practice Thursday. He has been a frequent interview subject while in St. Louis, and you can guess the subject of the most-asked question: His throw from the outfield that nailed Lou Brock at home plate in Game Five of the 1968 World Series. Horton lost his series ring early in the playoffs, but later found it -- under the seat of his car. "It must have fell off when I was putting my seat belt on," he said.

Little known fact: Horton's birthday, Oct. 18, is Willie Horton Day in Michigan every year. Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill in 2004 that so designated Oct. 18 in 2004.

By BILL McGRAW

The state of the Tigers

ST. LOUIS -- From spring training in February to the end of the season in October, major-league baseball teams play virtually every day, with occasional single days off. With the wait for a World Series opponent and the rainout Wednesday, Game Four tonight will be only the Tigers' fourth game in 12 days. How it affecting the players?

Said Jim Leyland: "We're bored, to be honest with you."

By BILL McGRAW

Weather is decent, so far

ST. LOUIS -- Batting practice is over, and final preparations for Game Four of the World Series are under way. Most importantly, all is dry.

The forecast calls for periods of drizzle, with a low of only 50, which is relatively warm for this series so far. The forecast for Friday, and Game Five, is rain...100 percent chance of rain.

By BILL McGRAW

Dining chez Pujols

ST. LOUIS -- When he isn't playing first base for the Cardinals and winning MVP awards, Albert Pujols runs a restaurant. At least his name and number are on the outside, and the inside is sort of an Albert Hall of Fame.

Pujols 5 Westport Grill opened recently in an area of suburban St. Louis that combines the worst aspects of Novi and Roseville. The restaurant is surprisingly good, even if a good number of the patrons this afternoon were wearing red.

Surprising, because when jocks open restaurants, they don't always get the food right. Think of it, when is the last time you've heard anyone talk about the great meal they've had at Chris Chelios' joints in Dearborn and downtown Detroit? Chelios serves up decent drinks and fun times, but the food is nothing to blog about.

Pujols, on the other hand, has higher ambitions than Chelios. Pujols 5 is far from fancy, but the menu is wide-ranging and the food was judged to be above average and even excellent by all five people at my table. They ordered everything from grouper to tuna to chicken wings to iceberg salad.

The portions are Albertan in size. A dinner salad would feed three adults in France, and no one had room for desert, which included creme brulee, which is not the kind of desert I think of when I think of Albert Pujols.

There's a spot on the menu for what are called Albert's and Dee Dee's Favorites. Dee Dee is his wife, I think. They include chicken flautus, chicken wings, arroz con pollo, applewood smoked chicken, center cut pork chops and, yes, creme brulee.

The walls are spotted with lots of plasma TVs, and if you sit near one, people at nearby tables will spend a lot of time staring in your direction because they've gone without ESPN for at least 30 minutes. The restaurant claims it changes the artwork (read: photos of the Cardinals and Albert in action) constantly.

Pujols 5 also contains a nice-looking sports bar, with even more TVs. We couldn't check it out because we had to get downtown to watch Albert play tonight, weather permitting.

If you're in St. Louis: Pujols 5 Westport Plaza is in the Westport Plaza in Maryland Heights, MO. 314-439-0505.

By BILL McGRAW

Does Kenny have a conscience?

ST. LOUIS -- That's the question asked today about Kenny Rogers in the Wall Street Journal.

Yes, Rogers' dirty hand has caught the attention of the country's best-known business daily. Author Joshua Prager wonders if Rogers gets to pitch in a Game Six, and he equals Christy Mathewson's record of 27 consecutive shutout innings in the post-season, "will he regret years hence smearing on his hand what he said was dirt?"

Prager is the author of a new book, "The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thompson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World," which tells how the 1951 New York Giants created an elaborate system to steal signs from the opposing catcher. The system helped the Giants to overcome a 13 1/2-game lead by the Brooklyn Dodgers, and defeat them in a one-game playoff that the Giants won on Thompson's famous home run.

Prager writes that the memory of cheating affected the Giants's players for decades. Several spoke at length to him as he was preparing his book. Thompson compared letting out this long-held secret to getting out of prison.

Various commentators have come down on all sides of Rogers' possible cheating. Prager notes that putting anything on the ball is, indeed, illegal, and cites baseball's rule 8.02: "The pitcher shall not apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball."

Writes Prager: "The desire to keep pure our idylls is deep-seated. Looking the other way every now and then is a small price to pay for their perpetuation. Rule 8.02 aside, did we really want a starting pitcher ejected this week from the World Series? Did we want another cloud? No matter that the mustard-colored splotch on the left hand of pitcher Rogers was shiny and glutinous. It was, explained umpire supervisor Steve Palermo, "'observed as dirt.'"

He adds: "But if looking the other way helps the game, it harms the player," and cites home-run heroes Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa, once thrill-producing players, today "figures of shame."

By BILL McGRAW

Series' forecast: Uncertain

'ST. LOUIS -- With Wednesday night's Game Four of the World Series postponed due to rain, the question arises: What is the forecast for the next couple days?

Jimmy Lee Solomon, executive vice president of Major League Baseball, looked uneasy as he heard that question.

"They're going to be dicey," he said, explaining there is a 70 percent chance of rain Thursday night in St. Louis and the possibility of 2 1/2 inches of rain on Friday.

"Friday could be worse," he said.

Weather permitting, Game Five tickets will be honored Thursday night, and Game Four tickets will be accepted Friday, officials announced.

The original schedule called for Friday to be a travel day, with Game Six and Game Seven, if necessary, to be played in Detroit Saturday and Sunday.

Those games, if needed, will still be played as scheduled. The travel day is history.

Here are the forecasts for Detroit over the weekend, from the National Weather Service.

Play ball!

Saturday: A chance of rain showers, mixing with snow after 2pm. Mostly cloudy and breezy, with a high near 46. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Saturday Night: A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 32. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Sunday: A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 42.

Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 34.

By BILL McGRAW

Game off

ST. LOUIS -- Baseball officials have called off Game Four of the World Series.

By BILL McGRAW

Game delayed

ST. LOUIS -- It was just announced: The first pitch has been delayed 30 minutes, to about 9 p.m. EDT. No other details are available.

There is nothing so sad as a ballpark in the rain.

Especially during the World Series.

The weather has done a lot to kill the joyous buzz that was so evident around Busch Stadium Tuesday for Game Three. It's less than an hour to the original time for the national anthem tonight, and water is pooling on the tarp, which covers the infield. The stands are about 15 percent filled. The organ music sounds somber.

With the heavy mist swirling through the stadium, the powerful lights and the bright red seats, the stadium looks like it is inside one of those snow globes, and someone is shaking it.

It's also cold.

"I think we might as well be prepared for some tough, ugly conditions tonight," Jim Leyland said before game time.

By BILL McGRAW

Leyland juggles order

ST. LOUIS -- Tiger manager Jim Leyland has tweaked his weak-hitting lineup for Wednesday night's Game Four of the World Series.

Leyland dropped Placido Polanco, who was the Most Valuable Player during the American League Championship Series but has yet to get a hit in this series, from the third spot to seventh, and raised Carlos Guillen from fifth place to third. Sean Casey will bat fifth.

Leyland said if catcher Pudge Rodriguez is still hurting from being banged by a foul ball last night, plus other injuries, he might replace him with Vance Wilson. Rodriguez is suffering from a sore groin, back and hip. Plus he has no hits in the series. Pudge, Polanco and Granderson are 0-for-34.

Did Leyland consider benching anyone....Pudge perhaps?

"Good question," Leyland said.

"I think when you've got a player with the history and career of Pudge Rodriguez, that if he's healthy...I think I play him. This is the team that's taken us to the World Series and these are the players that are either going to win the World Series or are not going to win it.

"There's no magic formula now."

  Leyland said Rodriguez is down on himself. "He's fighting and trying to do too much. And we're going to try to perk him up tonight to get him to relax and hopefully have a good performance."

As for the nasty weather, Leyland said he was told they are going to play tonight's game if at all possible, because the forecast for Thursday night is even more dismal. There is a light drizzle falling an hour before game time and the temperature is in the mid 40s.

"We are going to play under some real tough conditions," Leyland said.

The Tigers' order:

Granderson 1B

Monroe LF

Guillen SS

Ordonez RF

Casey 1B

Rodriguez C

Polanco 2B

Inge 3B

Bonderman P

The Cardinals' order:

Eckstein SS

Duncan RF

Pujols 1B

Edmonds CF

Rolen 3B

Wilson LF

Molina C

Miles 2B

Suppan P

By BILL McGRAW

Baseball and politics

ST. LOUIS -- The debate over stem-cell research is about to mix with the World Series.

Jeff Suppan, the Cardinals's starter tonight, is among VIPs in an ad that is scheduled to run during Game Four that urges Missouri voters to vote against an amendment that would enshrine federally protected forms of stem-cell research into the state constitution.

An ad supporting stem-cell research that featured actor Michael J. Fox ran during Game One. Fox has been battling Parkinson's Disease for more than a decade, and has become a spokesman for stem-cell research. He spoke up for Claire McCaskill, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Missouri, who supports the amendment.

By BILL McGRAW 

Tiger smackdown

ST. LOUIS -- Who says the World Series is all play and no fun?

The website of the WWE, wwe.com, provides a rare insight into what real, live Tiger players do when they aren't preparing psychologically to repel a steel-chair assault by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Before Tuesday's Game Three, Curtis Granderson, Joel Zumaya and Sean Casey did a little meet-and-greet with some real, live "SmackDown" wrestlers who were appearing in St. Louis. Granderson was especially giddy. He tells wwe.com that coming into close contact with his favorites was a dream come true.

Who are his faves? The Million Man and Rey Mysterio, of course. He said Rey Mysterio is so fast he could be a pinch runner. According WWE spokesman Kevin Hennessey, Sean Casey was filmed saying if the Tigers win the World Series, "I'm going to WrestleMania," the World Series of wrestling, which will take place at Ford Field April 1.

Zumaya is quoted on wwe.com today as saying: “When I was kid, me and my brother used to wrestle all the time in the house. We made paper belts and we’d break plastic plates over each others heads. One time I even slammed him so hard that it broke my mom’s bed.”

Hope that wasn't too much fun for the Tigers, who got smacked down by the Cards Tuesday night. See details at wwe.com. The video clip could air on "Friday Night SmackDown" at 8 p.m. Friday on the CW Network.

By BILL McGRAW

Tigers' hitting woes

ST. LOUIS -- Three Tiger regulars have no hits three games into the World Series.

Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco and Pudge Rodriguez all are batting .000 going into Game Four Wednesday night.

In Tuesday's game, the first six hitters in the Detroit lineup were 0-for-18.

"We've got a few guys not swinging the bat very well," Jim Leyland said.

By BILL McGRAW 

Leyland: Lineup changes possible

ST. LOUIS -- Tiger manager Jim Leyland said in his post-game press conference Tuesday that he might juggle the Detroit lineup for Game Four Wednesday night.

"I'm not sure who I'm going to play," Leyland said in response to a question. "I don't know what it's going to look like." Some changes, Leyland said, are a "possibility," especially when so many Tigers are not hitting well.

Leyland provide no other details. He said he would have to sleep on any possible decision, and he would talk to any players before announcing any changes.

By BILL McGRAW 

Best sign of the night

ST. LOUIS -- A couple of snickering Cardinals fans held up a funny sign during Tuesday's game. It read, in professional-looking lettering: "EMPLOYEES MUST WASH THEIR HANDS BEFORE LEAVING DUGOUT."

By BILL McGRAW

Now, let's worry about the weather

ST. LOUIS -- The Tigers are now down in games, 2-1, after being held to three hits Tuesday night. They lost to the Cardinal, 5-0, and looked sloppy. What else could go wrong?

How about the weather? Tuesday was a perfect fall day in St. Louis, though chillier than normal. But the forecast for Wednesday is 60 percent chance of rain. And it gets worse for Thursday -- a 75 percent of rain.

By BILL McGRAW

Pudge's tough inning

ST. LOUIS -- Wow. What a painful inning for Pudge Rodriguez, who got hit in the thigh or knee with a foul ball from Albrt Pujols, then had to chase a wild pitch immediately after he had recovered. At least many of the Cardinals' fans applauded when he finally righted himself.

By BILL McGRAW

The seven-inning glitch is over

ST. LOUIS -- We're back, after Internet problems.

Nothing like the problems facing the Tigers. The St. Louis crowd is eating it up. They've been standing for most of the seventh inning. One big difference between the Cards' rooters and fans in Detroit: In Busch stadium, about 80 percent of fans come color coordinated, wearing nothing but red. It's not so easy in Detroit. The Tigers don't have such a dominant color scheme. What color is a tiger, anyway? A cardinal is so much easier.

By BILL McGRAW 

Billy Bob, in the house

ST. LOUIS -- Looking taut, tanned and balding, actor Billy Bob Thornton was taking in his first World Series game Tuesday night. He's a huge Cardinals' fan, he said, and friends with some players, but he never has been able to get to the Fall Classic. "I grew up near Little Rock, Arkansas, always cheering for the Cards," he said.

Thornton chatted with Jim Leyland before the game. "He told me, 'I know you're rooting for the Cardinals. You can't help it,'" Thornton said.

Billy Bob was sporting a soul patch on his chin, like that worn by many Cards and their fans. The usual color is red; Thornton's is salt-and-pepper. He said the Cardinals' Scott Spiezio was bugging him to colorize.

Said Billy Bob: "If the Cardinals win the World Series, I will dye it red."

By BILL McGRAW

"

Kennygate, cont.

ST. LOUIS -- Three of the people at the center of the World Series hand-substance controversy that has captivated everyone from David Letterman to the fan on the street gathered near home plate during batting practice Tuesday.

They were Tiger manager Jim Leyland, Cardinal manager Tony La Russa and umpire supervisor Steve Palermo.

The three talked for 15 minutes, out of earshot of reporters. The body language was alternating  intense, friendly and even jocular.

We don't know what they were talking about, of course, but afterward, Palermo declined to discuss the conversation. Leyland and La Russa weren't available.

I'm guessing it had something to do with Kenny Rogers' dirty hand in Sunday's Game Two in Detroit.

Palermo said there were no changes in procedure contemplated if a hand spot is detected the next time Rogers pitches, even though there was evidence Rogers might have been breaking the rules on Sunday.

If cheating is detected, "the umpires will rectify it," Palermo said. "You act accordingly, that's all."

Palermo was asked what he thought about allegations that the situation Sunday was downplayed because of a old-boys' network in baseball that tolerates some level of illegality, or because La Russa pulled his punches because of his friendship with Leyland.

"There's a fine line between professionalism and gamesmanship," said Palermo, referring to the two managers. "And they were showing complete professionalism with everything they did. There was no gamesmanship or good-old-boys-network."

There is also a current of thought that Major League Baseball seemed a bit laid-back in its reaction to possible cheating in its showcase event that was witnessed by an international TV audience.

Has he seen any balls that were used in Sunday's game?

Said Palermo: "Nothing."

He added: "We don't have any evidence of any smudge or mark on any ball."

By BILL McGRAW

Get yer lineups!

ST. LOUIS -- Here are the lineups for Game Three of the World Series. The headline: As expected, Sean Casey is back at first base, and Carlos Guillen returns to shortstop.

Detroit Tigers 

Granderson CF

Monroe LF

Polanco 2B

Ordonez RF

Guillen SS

Rodriguez C

Casey 1B

Inge 3B

Robertson P

St. Louis Cardinals

Eckstein SS

Wilson LF

Pujols 1B

Rolen 3B

Belliard 2B

Edmonds CF

Molina C

Taguchi RF

Carpenter P

By BILL McGRAW

An idea for Mr. I

ST. LOUIS -- Detroiters like to think of themselves as living in one of America's great baseball towns, and few people would argue with that.

St. Louis fans believe the same thing, and they are also correct.

But I discovered one thing today that gives St. Louis an advantage over Detroit: The St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum.

The baseball museum shares space with the international bowling museum (see previous post). It's not very big, but it contains enough photos, drawings, uniforms, exhibits, souvenirs and game-used equipment to give the visitor a good idea of why baseball is so special in St. Louis. Baseball fans could lose themselves in the museum for the time it takes to play a few innings.

It's no secret that the Tigers possess a decent archive of their historical artifacts. They store it in a big room in the Fox Theatre Building, which is the home office for Mike Ilitch's many ventures. They even employ an archivist. There is everything from bases to photos to gloves to uniforms.

But all that stuff is just in storage, and when great archival material is unavailable to the public, it might as well not exist.

The makings of a similar treasure already are sitting in Detroit. All it would take to pull the pieces together is someone with vision, motive and money.

Mr. I, why not pay the Cards' museum a visit while you're in St. Louis?

By BILL McGRAW

A break for bowling

ST. LOUIS -- We take time out from our regularly scheduled updates on the World Series to bring you an account of another cultural touchstone close to the hearts of many Detroit baseball fans:

Bowling.

Next to Busch Stadium is the International Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum. It's worth a visit, especially if you believe that bowling started a few years before your parents were born.

This museum even has a soundtrack. It's the sound of of a ball rolling down an alley and striking the pins. It plays in a never-ending loop.

You hear it when you start walking through the museum and learn that evidence of bowling goes back to ancient times in Egypt. (Doesn't everything?) Real proof comes from the Dark Ages, when the "earliest bowlers were barbaric Germans," an exhibit notes, and we later find out it was the more civilized German immigrants in the 19th Century who brought their love for the sport to the United States.

The museum brings out one aspect of bowling history loud and clear. For hundreds of years, in both Europe and the New World, bowling was associated with drinking, gambling and rowdy behavior, and various people and institutions, like the Catholic Church, succeeded in having it banned.

There's an interesting copy of a painting of what looks like a European village scene from the Middle Ages. Sure enough, people appear to be bowling in one corner of the frame. And if you look carefully at the rest of the tableau, you can see villagers in various states of extreme partying, including a couple of people barfing; one of them is leaning out of a second-story window and appears to be aiming at villagers standing below. At one table, people are playing cards and drinking. Next to them is a man stretched out on his stomach on a bench. His pants are pulled down, and a big hat covers his butt.

Bowling became associated with numerous legends over the years, we learn, like one tale that said judges who had allowed innocent people to be executed were doomed to be spend eternity bowling -- with the heads of their victims. (Or listening to the museum soundtrack.)

One exhibit in the folklore section says: "Satan bowled, too, using a human skull for a ball and the cross of Christ for a lane." There's an image of Satan, too, with a human body and a tail. He is wearing a diaper, and he has talons on his nipples and knees.

Who would have thought bowling had such an interesting history?

Detroit, perhaps the country's most intense center of bowling, is not forgotten in the museum. It says the first bowling competition in the city goes back to 1849, and adds, "Detroit bowlers were reluctant to switch from palming the ball to using two-finger balls." Detroiters switched, though, in the 1890s, when Eastern bowlers using the two-fingered grip came through town and beat them badly.

In 1932, a Detroit bowling alley owner, Don Campbell, formed the Bowling Proprietors Association of America at a meeting in the Fort Shelby Hotel. Another Detroiter, Robert Kennedy, was the driving force behind the development of the automatic pinsetter, "which freed the sport from the bondage of the pinboy and lifted the sport to its present eminence," a plaque proclaims.

There are far too many men and women associated with Detroit in the Hall of Fame to be named here. So I'll mention just one, William Golembiewski, the one-and-only Billy G, who was voted Detroit King of the Bowlers three times, a "fine honor," the museum notes, "in one of bowling's hotbeds." If you grew up in Detroit in the 1960s and '70s, and you hung out at bowling alleys, you probably knew kids who wanted to grow up and be like Billy G. They had that sountrack of bowling balls smashing into pins playing in their heads.

By BILL McGRAW

The pre-game lineup

ST. LOUIS -- Tonight's first ball will be thrown out by Stan (The Man) Musial, the Cardinal legend who had 17 major-league records when he retired in 1963.

The national anthem singer will be country singer Trace Adkins. "God Bless America" in the seventh inning will be performed by singer-songwriter Jo Dee Messina.

By BILL McGRAW 

A story about Kenny that doesn't mention hand dirt

ST. LOUIS -- Even though he has been dead for 81 years, Christy Mathewson has a web site. It's http://www.christymathewson.com.

In case you missed it, Christy Mathewson has been in the news for the past couple of days. His name has been spoken many times across America in the same breath as Kenny Rogers, the Tiger pitcher.

Mathewson, one of the greatest pitchers in history, threw 27 scoreless innings in the 1905 post-season. Rogers has thrown 23 scoreless innings this post-season, and he might not be done.

By reading christymathewson.com, you quickly realize that what Mathewson did was quite different than what Rogers is doing. That's not to take anything away from Kenny's fine accomplishment, but here are the facts. As they say on Fox News: We report, you decide:

Mathewson pitched his 27 scoreless innings in three complete games in one series in SIX DAYS. Rogers has pitched his 23 scoreless innings in three incomplete games over three series in three weeks.

No big deal. That simply illustrates how things have changed in baseball. Pitchers rarely throw a complete game these days. In 1905, when men were men and pitchers were pitchers, complete games were the norm. Pitchers get much more rest today; tonight's Tiger starter, Nate Robertson, hasn't pitched in almost two weeks. 

In 1905, Mathewson pitched for the New York Giants of the National League. They played the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League that year in what was only the second World Series. (The series began in 1903, but wasn't played in 1904.)

In his 27 innings, Mathewson struck out 18 and walked one. The Giants won the series in five games. In the regular 1905 season, Mathewson won 31 games, and would win 373 in his 17-year career. He won 20 games 13 times and 30 games four times, and he had 37 wins in 1908. He pitched in the so-called dead-ball era, when pitchers dominated and home runs were relatively rare.

After pitching his most recent scoreless game Sunday night, Rogers said, "I'm not Christy Mathewson, that's for sure."

True, but Rogers has had a good and long career. To cite one factoid among thousands, he's one of only 17 pitchers in history to throw a perfect game. And he seems to be peaking this post-season, at almost 42 years of age.

Admit it: Wouldn't you like the series to go six games, at least, so Rogers can pitch again?

By BILL McGRAW 

A tale of two stadiums

ST. LOUIS -- The World Series shifts to the newest ballpark in the nation tonight when the Tigers plays the Cardinals in Game Two of the World Series.

It will be interesting to see the new $365 million Busch Stadium, which opened this season. I haven't been inside yet, but driving past last night, you can see it has a design similar to that of 6-year-old Comerica Park, especially the low center-field wall that allows a view of the city skyline.

I spoke to two Cardinal fans en route to St. Louis. One liked the stadium; the other called it chintzy and boring. We'll see.

While the Cardinals and Tigers might share 21st-Century homes, they couldn't be more different in what they did with their old ones. In the Cardinals' case, their former home, also called Bush Stadium, wasn't that old. It opened in 1966, one of the cookie-cutter parks of that era. It's gone. In fact, workers began demolishing it on the day after the 2005 season ended.

The Cards quickly held a sale for everything from players' lockers -- Albert Pujols' went for more than $20,000 -- to boxes of rubble, for $10. They sold seats by twos, for $470, including shipping to your home. During the demolition, fans asked workers for pieces of the stadium, and some people stole items, including the microphone from the statue of legendary broadcaster Jack Buck -- yes, the father of Fox announcer Joe Buck, who's doing the series. Someone tried unsuccessfully to swipe the statue.

The Tigers, of course, closed Tiger Stadium after the final out in 1999, but it's still standing. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick announced in June that the city would demolish the park in the fall, which is now, but it's still standing. Now officials say they will raze the stadium in the spring. They had hoped to sell seats and other artifacts in time for the 2006 holiday season, but we haven't heard any plans, and there are only 62 shopping days left until Christmas.

As previewed in this space last week, Tiger Stadium is the subject of an interesting article and video by ESPN.com reporter Jim Caple, who visited the Corner last week while he was in Detroit to cover the World Series. Caple interviewed Peter Zeiler, of the city's development agency, who, in discussing the eventual demolition of the beloved park, compared the stadium to the beloved movie dog who had to be put down: "Nobody wants to shoot Old Yeller. I can't shoot Old Yeller. But sometimes you have to man up and do something about Old Yeller."

Here are the links for the article and video:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/tigers/061023
http://broadband.espn.go.com/ivp/splash?id=2633711

By BILL McGRAW

The many moods of Kenny

DETROIT -- With his marvelous pitching overall in the postseason and strange controversy Sunday night (see previous post), Kenny Rogers has become the major story of the World Series. But he doesn't seem totally comfortable in the limelight.

Because of the way he is slicing through the opposing batting orders, Rogers has received considerable attention from reporters. Sometimes his question-and-answer sessions have been unusually frank and revealing, such as when he beat the Yankees, and he talked at length afterward about failure and success -- both of which he has known in his long career -- and how he has had to harness his emotions.

After Sunday night's victory over the Cardinals, Rogers spoke about refocusing energy and perseverance and success. He seemed to be on a roll.

But, oddly, he refused to answer two questions that were classic softballs, and he turned an upbeat session momentarily awkward and left sports writers, league officials and other observers shaking their heads. Rogers might have been boycotting questions posed by reporters from Texas, his former home, but still. He's 41.

Here are the questions:

Q) "Over the things that happened to you over the last 17 months of your life, did you ever imagine you'd be here doing this tonight?   

A) "Another question."

Comment: The question obviously suggests a reference to Rogers' infamous pushing of a TV cameraman last year. But it was hardly the most invasive inquiry Rogers has received over the past three weeks. He could have gone wherever he wanted with the answer.

Q) Can you explain how fun this postseason has been for you, 23 scoreless innings?

A) "Got another one?"

Comment: That is about as easy as it gets. Maybe he was insulted at its softness.   

There are hundreds of media representatives covering the World Series, representing countries from Latin America to Japan. They are only getting more interested in Rogers as the games progress. It's going to be interesting to watch Rogers in the coming days, both on and off the mound.

By BILL McGRAW 

Kennygate

DETROIT -- Did Kenny Rogers tell a little white lie about the sequence of events surrounding a mystery substance on his pitching hand during his masterpiece Sunday night?

Or is Major League Baseball covering up something?

Or is this much ado about nothing?

Those questions arose after people tried to sort out what happened at the beginning of the Tigers 3-1 victory over St. Louis in Game Two of the World Series.

The whole thing started in the first inning when FOX TV cameras captured a smudge of some sort near the base of the thumb of Rogers' left hand, and their announcers wouldn't shut up about it. After the first inning, the substance had disappeared, but the speculation was just taking off. By the end of the night, there were enough questions, contradictory statements from authority figures and conspiracy theories to create a plot suitable for the old "X Files" TV show. 

After the game, Rogers said it was only a "big clump of dirt" that he wiped off after he had noticed it. He described it as "dirt and resin and all that stuff put together."

How did it get there?

"When it's moist you're going to rub up the baseball and it was left on my hand when I rubbed them off," he said.

Sure, he talked to an umpire, but that was only about the pace of the game, Rogers explained, not the mystery spot.

"The umpires didn't mention it at all to you?" he was asked. Rogers replied: "No."

A few minutes later, Steve Palermo, the supervisor of umpires, appeared to contradict Rogers' chief assertion.

Palermo told reporters a "dirty mark" was observed on Rogers' hand, and home-plate umpire Alfonso Marquez "just asked Kenny to remove the dirt, so there wouldn't be any question." 

Said Palermo: "He observed that there was some dirt or whatever, and he asked him to take it off, because he had noticed it."

Palermo said no one assumed that Rogers had purposely put the dirt on his hand to affect the flight of the ball, nor that he had tried to put anything on the ball itself, which would be major rule violations. Palermo added that when the umpire talked to Rogers, he also discussed the pace of the game, as Rogers had said.

Palermo turned defensive when asked what seemed to be a fair question, how did the ump, who stands more than 60 feet away from the pitcher, know it was dirt? He never inspected Rogers' hand.

Said Palermo: "Because it was observed as dirt. Umpires, they've been around for more than a week or so. This is not their first summer away from home." 

Another version emerged from Tiger manager Jim Leyland, who said he understood that St. Louis manager Tony  La Russa asked the umpires about the discoloration on his hand after a couple of his players said the "ball was acting a little funny."

Pitchers can sometimes make the ball act a little funny when they have foreign, or shall we say alien, substances on their hands.

"They made Kenny wash his hands," Leyland said.

Palermo said there had been "no formal request." 

La Russa refused to discuss the matter.

"It's not important to talk about," La Russa said. "When a guy pitches like that, as a team we don't take things away from nobody."

The mystery continues, but this much is certain, secret substance or no secret substance: Rogers now has 23 scoreless post-season innings, up there with some of the game's greatest legends, like Christy Mathewson, who pitched a century ago.

When Rogers heard the name of Mathewson, he laughed.

"I'm no Christy Mathewson, that's for sure," he said.

Hmmm. How do we really know that?

Maybe Rogers is Christy Mathewson, and this whole post-season is a big cover-up.

Where's Agent Mulder of the "X Files" when we need him?

Wait. Wasn't Mulder's first name Fox?

Never mind.

By BILL McGRAW

The crowd warms up

DETROIT -- The Comerica Park crowd, which according to many critics fell asleep during Saturday night's game, is much livelier tonight. It certainly helps that Kenny Rogers has a one-hit shutout in the sixth inning , and the Tigers have a 3-0 lead. There's been a lot more to cheer about than last night. The fans are waving towels, chanting for Pudge to break out of his slump and standing at key times. The weather has improved in some respects: The snow/rain combo is gone, but the wind chill is down to 34 degrees.

By BILL McGRAW

Tram comes home

DETROIT -- Alan Trammell was fired as manager of the Tigers after last season, but he returned Sunday night to a hero's welcome. Fans roared when he took the field before the game. Almost always upbeat and outgoing during his long stay in Detroit as a player and skipper, Trammel spent considerable time behind the scenes at Comerica Park shaking hands, and hugging and kissing old friends. He had hip-replacement surgery this past summer, but said he was doing well. "I'm good. I'm good. I'm good," he told one acquaintance. For the most part, he avoided reporters before the game, which he watched from a suite.

By BILL McGRAW

Sparky Anderson has arrived

DETROIT -- You knew one of baseball's great characters was on his way seconds before you saw the white hair bobbing down the hallway.

That's because you heard him.

"Oh, my dog here," Sparky Anderson said, loudly, he grabbed Channel 4 sportscaster Bernie Smilovitz in a bear hug.

Anderson was making a rare visit to Comerica Park to participate in pre-game festivities for the second game of the World Series. He drew a huge crowd of journalists for a Q-&-A session that featured a Casey Stengel-like stream-of-consciousness, complete with non-sequiturs, fractured syntax and nonsensical sayings. He got more laughter in 15 minutes than the Cards' and Tigers' players and managers have totaled in three days, and when it was over, some of the sportswriters applauded, a rare tribute, and other were scratching their heads, asking, "What the heck was he talking about?"

Anderson praised Detroit before the international gathering in his first answer.

"I think you had to have been here and worked in this city to realize the people in this city are really the most generous people," he said. "Once-in-a-while I heard a little rumble of maybe 30,000 booing as hard as they can, but those things happen."

Anderson asserted baseball is far from dying, and said, "I hate to break the sad news to football, but nothing will ever take the place of baseball, and it proved it here this year...Baseball is always going to be with us." He added: "When it goes bad, call me, because I won't be around, but I can be reached under-the-ground contact."

Mentioning some great baseball managers of today's game, Anderson said someone once asked him about Bobby Cox and all his division championships.

"If I could ever do that, I said, yeah, give me a .38 and I'll stick it in my mouth and when I pull the trigger I've done it. You ain't going to do something like that."

Anderson, who was the first manager to win a World Series in each league, said his greatest baseball memory was winning the 1951 American Legion championship that, coincidentally, was played at Briggs Stadium, the former name of Tiger Stadium. He was 17, and living in Los Angeles.

Would he like to see Barry Bonds break Hank Aaron's record? His answer got the reporters chuckling.

"I would never say that, and I'm dancing with you now, I'll tell you the truth, but I don't believe that anybody should wish either way."

  By BILL McGRAW

The weather outside is frightful

DETROIT -- An hour or so before game time, the temperature on the Comerica Park scoreboard is 40 degrees. The precipitation is light, but it is a combination of snow and rain, or snrain, as Sonny Elliot might say. The tarp remains on the field, and the players are tucked snuggly in their clubhouses. One exception: Tiger outfielder Curtis Granderson, who was doing radio interviews in the Tiger dugout dressed in practice shorts and long socks.

By BILL McGRAW

Leyland speaks...

DETROIT -- Manager Jim Leyland said Sunday afternoon that the Tigers thought about starting Sean Casey at first base for Game Two, moving Carlos Guillen back to short and bringing another hitter into the lineup. But they decided against it because Casey, who will DH again Sunday, continues to recover from a calf injury and might have trouble dealing with the cold. Casey will return to first base in St. Louis Tuesday.

* Leyland said he didn't give Joel Zumaya an inning to pitch in the St. Louis blow-out Saturday because he could be needed in Game Two. It had nothing to do with concern over Zumaya's recent wrist and forearm trouble, Leyland insisted.

* Asked again about criticism surrounding his decision to pitch to Cardinal slugger Albert Pujols Saturday night, Leyland said: "It's the third inning of the ball game, and if he gets a base hit, it's 2-1. You have to hit one out, which he obviously did. That wasn't supposed to happen. But like I said, I take responsibility for that...I have no problem with Justin Verlander in that situation."

By BILL McGRAW

Get yer lineups!

DETROIT -- Lineups for Game Two of the World Series Sunday night.

St. Louis Cardinals

David Eckstein SS

Scott Spiezo DH

Albert Pujols 1B

Scott Rolen 3B

Juan Encarnacion RF

Jim Edmonds CF

Preston Wilson LF

Yadier Molina C

Aaron Miles 2B

Pitcher: Jeff Weaver

Detroit Tigers

Curtis Granderson CF

Craig Monroe LF

Placido Polanco 2B

Magglio Ordonez RF

Carlos Guillen 1B

Ivan Rodriguez C

Sean Casey DH

Brandon Inge 3B

Ramon Santiago SS

Pitcher: Kenny Rogers

Buzz kill

DETROIT -- The drip, drip, drip of the rain is a perfect metaphor for the mood outside of Comerica Park this afternoon. It's hard to believe that this is the same landscape as Saturday, when the city's sky-high spirits were reflected in the street-party atmosphere and large crowds that showed up hours before the game. There are people on the street today, a number of tail-gaters, and music coming from from bars. But the tone is much more subdued.

The weather forecast is also dank: The temperature of 45 at 5 p.m. is already 7 degrees colder than the temperature at game time Saturday night. The wind is gusting to 20 miles per hour, and scattered rain showers are predicted before midnight, with a chance of snow showers afterward. The wind during the later innings could be gusting  to 34 mph.

"It's going to be really cold tonight," Tiger manager Jim Leyland said this afternoon.

And we haven't even touched upon the Tigers' 7-2 loss last night to the St. Louis Cardinals. Interestingly, whenever I tuned into Detroit's sports-talk radio today, it seemed like everyone had a huge chip on their shoulders. The fans and commentators were complaining about fans. Particularly some of the fans who attended Saturday night's game whom, the radio crowd perceived, were elitist snobs who failed to support the Tigers during the regular season, not to mention the past decade. They said the atmosphere was dead inside Comerica Park, and they blamed that on the parvenu fans.

Is the criticism valid?

Partially. With the cheapest seats going for $190, and at least one person paying $1,250 for a ticket, there is no doubt that fans who need to take advantage of ticket bargains during the summer to see the Tigers are not able to attend the World Series, and some more affluent people are going to show up. With corporate and other connections, a World Series also attracts many out-of-town visitors who don't care who wins the game.

Life is not fair, inside or outside of baseball, but the economic divisions evident during big-time sporting events belie the much-discussed bromide that the Super Bowl and World Series have brought metro Detroiters together this year. In some cases, high-priced events drive us further apart. African Americans make up about 25 percent of the region, but their presence Saturday night inside Comerica appeared to be around 3 or 4 percent.

There is never a regular-season Tiger crowd that comes near 25 percent African American. On the other hand, many of the fans I saw Saturday night looked -- and acted -- just like the fans you see during the regular season. They made a lot of noise and created a super-charged atmosphere before the game and while the Tigers held a one-run lead. But they grew quiet after the Cardinals took over and the Tigers began playing like a high-school team. Maybe the Tigers deserve some of the blame.

The fallout from dangling expensive World Series tickets in an economically troubled region has sparked discussion this week long before the Tigers lost before a quiet crowd Saturday night. Here are the thoughts of one fan, Denise Albrecht, who emailed the Free Press this past week. It typifies many other emails and comments to this blog:

"I have been a die-hard Tigers' fan ever since I was a young girl  growing up in metro Detroit.  My first child was born in 1984, when the Tigers won the World Series. I promised him for 22 years that when the Tigers made it to the World Series again we would attend a game together.  Over all these horrific seasons for the Tigers, I have stuck my them through thick and thin, always knowing that one day we'd arrive back at the series.

"But we were not able to get tickets on line or by phone on Monday morning.  Despite the $175 cost for one of the lowest priced seats, we were both willing to sacrifice any Holiday gift giving/receiving in order to afford to attend at those steep prices.
 

"With the "Tigers Ticket Exchange" cost of $500 plus per ticket, only the richest probable "new Tigers fans" could afford to go.  The "regular" true blue fans can not afford these steep prices.  It is a damn shame to see how the ticket sales were handled, and how so many of us lifelong fans can not have the opportunity to attend. Perhaps you could suggest to the powers that be to open up another venue, like Ford field or Joe Louis for fans to be together for the games (like they do for the Red Wings). I'd certainly love to attend that way."

(Signed) A disappointed but true blue Tiger fan."

By BILL McGRAW

The cat in the hat

DETROIT -- What is the deal with Anthony Reyes' hat?

The St. Louis pitcher, who handed the Tigers a Game-One loss in the World Series Saturday night, has a unique style when it comes to his cap. Its bill is totally flat, which puts it out of step with the curved bills of virtually all major leaguers and almost everyone else who wears a baseball hat on Planet Earth. It looks, well, out-of-synch, strange and un-American.

"I'm not a real style master, but that style is not that attractive," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said after the game. He was smiling. "It has something to do with his concentration and focus."

To Reyes, it's simple.

"The hat helps me see a little bit, gets more light in , helps me see signs," he said.

A certain mystique, or folklore, has grown up around the bill of his hat. One rumor has it that he irons the bill to flatten it out.

Not true.

"It comes out of the box like that," Reyes said. "I just don't bend it."

Now that Reyes, a rookie with a losing record who started the season in the minors, has looked good on international TV, perhaps he will start a style.

La Russa thinks not.

"I don't think it's going to be copied widely by the kids of America," he said.

By BILL McGRAW

Leyland: Mea culpa on Pujols

DETROIT -- Tiger manager Jim Leyland had a decision to make when Cardinals' slugger Albert Pujols came to bat in the third inning Saturday night wth a man on: Pitch him or walk him.

He pitched to him.

Pujols hit a home run.

Leyland wouldn't go into detail, but he admitted it might not have been the right decision.

"I pitched to him," Leyland said. "Obviously, he burned us. I take the bullet there."

By BILL McGRAW 

Leyland on Verlander

DETROIT -- Tiger manager Jim Leyland said starter Justin Verlander failed to come out firing Saturday night.

"I thought he was very tentative. He didn't attack them early," Leyland said. "That was kind of disappointing."

By BILL McGRAW

Is this any consolation?

DETROIT -- The Tigers lost Game One of the World Series, 7-2.

O.k., look at it this way: They don't lose many World Series games at home. The last one was 38 years ago, on Oct. 6, 1968, against these same St. Louis Cardinals. That score was 10-1.

History will show the Tigers went on to win that series.

By BILL McGRAW

Pink balloons

DETROIT -- The most action in the Cards' eighth inning?

It took place in the right-field stands, where ushers chased down several pink balloons that someone had apparently blown up and released. Once they apprehended the balloons, they popped them.

By BILL McGRAW

The crowd grows silent

DETROIT -- Nothing like a goofy play and a 7-1 deficit to make a once high-energy crowd drowsy. Tigers fans spent the last seven days telling one another about the greatness and the destiny of their team. But in the sixth inning Saturday night, their World Series high came crashing down to earth, right at the corner of Woodward and Columbia. The St. Louis Cardinals took a 7-1 lead, after third baseman Brandon Inge made two errors on the same play and the Cards knocked starter Justin Verlander out of the box.

In the top of the seventh, the Tigers have three errors. And two hits. And the crowd is getting sleepy. Very sleepy.

By BILL McGRAW

Gibby, in the house

DETROIT -- Kirk Gibson is one of the heroes of the 1984 World Series, one of best known residents of metro Detroit and one of the most accomplished athletes to emerge from the region in the past 30 years.

But Gibby took in Saturday night's game like an ordinary fan, sitting in the lower deck in right field.

Gibson was dressed like an ordinary fan, too, in a hooded sweatshirt and camouflage cap. He didn't fool everybody, though, and Gibby could be seen high-fiving his neighbors and posing for pictures.

Gibson was one of Tiger manager Alan Trammell's coaches until Trammell and his staff were fired before this season.

By BILL McGRAW 

Where's Bob?

DETROIT -- It's the bottom of the third inning, and we haven't heard anything from Bob Seger yet.

Before the game, Seger sang "America the Beautiful."

In the first inning, they played songs from his new CD, "Face the Promise," and showed scenes on the scoreboard.

In the second, an advertisement on the scoreboard for XM satellite radio played Seger's "Old Time Rock & Roll."

It's called synergy.

By BILL McGRAW

Slim Shady in the house, sort of

DETROIT -- A surprise VIP who appeared on the scoreboard right before the game was Detroit's own, Eminem.

He even introduced himself, as if that was necessary, especially considering the opening bars of "Lose Yourself" were playing on the P.A. system.

Eminem goofed around, pretended to hit a ball with a small plastic bat and said, "Here we are back in the World Series" and "Let's go Tigers...2006!"

He didn't make any public service announcements,