Dirtgate!

WARNING: Long, biased, sometimes technical baseball post to follow. Sorry, but it is the World Series and my Cards are in it and things are tied up one game apiece right now. I'm going to blog about it.

Okay, who out there believes Kenny Rogers' (the pitcher, not the singer) story that TV cameras captured nothing more than a "spot of dirt" on his pitching hand in the first inning of last night's game? Hello? Anybody? Of course it wasn't dirt! It was pine tar!

Okay, Rogers cheated (in my opinion), but he still pitched a jewel of a game even after washing off his "spot of dirt" -- at least that's what the experts all are saying. Well, there are several points I'd like to make about the game. I know some of these may come from a "sour grapes" attitude, but I'm okay with that.

First, after seeing "the spot" on TV, why in the world did (Cards manager) Tony LaRusa wait until between innings, after Rogers had been to the dugout, to call the umpires' attention to it. Gosh, Tony, don't you think the Tigers might have been watching the game too. Heck, Joe Buck (or maybe it was McCarver) said something like, "Well I bet that will have been washed off by the second inning. Sure enough it was. Actually I have a theory about LaRusa's delay in bringing it up. It's been widely reported that LaRusa and (Tigers manager) Leyland are best friends. I think Tony let his friendship get in the way of good managing. The spot should have been inspected, (I think) it would have been determined to be an illegal substance, and Rogers would have been ejected. Even if Detroit's bullpen had held St. Louis in check, 8+ innings of work from Detroit's pen would have changed Leyland's use of relievers the rest of the Series. I think Tony missed a huge opportunity here by not asking to have Rogers' hand inspected as soon as the cameras showed the spot.

Second, none of Rogers' or Leyland's or the umpires' "explanations" make sense. Nobody wants to acknowledge what happened, but I think it is interesting that ESPN has gone over video of Rogers' other post-season starts and they've noticed the magic clump of dirt in those games too. Gee, that's a stubborn clump of dirt, isn't it?

Well what about the other 7 innings he pitched -- after washing his hands? Weren't those pretty spectacular? I've got two points here, both of which will make me look like a nutcase. First, I'm not convinced that his pitching performance was that spectacular. No, no, I'm not making a "the best team didn't win" argument. I'm just saying the "greatness" of his performance might have been exaggerated. The Cards hit several sharp drives that just happened to be "at 'em" balls, hit right at Detroit fielders. [The Tigers, on the other hand, had several bloops fall in. BTW, has anyone asked Juan Encarnacion if he knows how to charge and catch a fly ball in the air?] Specifically, Pujols' laser shot to left with a runner on first should have made it a 3-2 game. I know, the game isn't played by "should ofs", but I'm just saying Rogers didn't really throw the "gem" some people are attributing to him.

My second point on the "well he still pitched great after the spot" is that I'm still not sure he was clean. The palm is not the only spot to put a foreign substance. Did anyone else notice a strange comment made by one of the TV guys after Rogers was taken out of the game. He said something like, "Look at Rogers going around shaking hands with his teammates. He hasn't even taken his glove off. That's unusual to see a pitcher do that." The TV guys didn't follow up on that, but I was suspicious. I've got to set this up. See Rogers is a left-handed pitcher, meaning he wears his fielding glove on his right hand. Now most people shake hands with their right hands, so imagine how awkward that "reverse handshake" thing looked as players would walk up to him, stick out their right hands, and then have to twist around to shake Rogers' left. Why? Why wouldn't he simply remove his glove and shake hands the usual way? I've got a theory?

Once upon a time I was giving an intermediate macroeconomics test when a student called me back to his desk/table to ask a question. I gave him a small hint as to a mistake he'd made in setting up the problem and told him to get rid of what he'd done there. Well this kid went to erase his work, but I noticed he was trying to erase just with his right hand. In other words, he wasn't using his left hand to hold the paper in place as he erased with his right. No, his left hand remained hidden under the table. As a result, the paper was scooting all over the table and it looked silly as hell. Of course it turned out the kid had a cheat sheet. That's what Kenny Rogers' handshakes reminded me of last night. I think he had something in his glove and he didn't want to the chance of being "outed" by the TV cameras again. No, I have no proof of that, but I really, really, really wish LaRusa had asked the umpires to search Rogers. That would have removed a lot of the doubt as to Rogers' performance.

Okay, I'm through complaining about Rogers'. My biggest complaint of game 2 actually lies with Tony LaRusa. I've already hit him for not pressing the "spot of dirt" issue, but his lack of action in the 9th inning defies explanation. Basically, the Cardinals got in a situation where they had the tying run coming to the plate with 2 outs in the 9th inning. Unfortunately, the Cards happened to have a couple of weak/questionable hitters coming to the plate. That's all right, I thought, Tony can pinch hit with Chris Duncan -- one of the Cardinals' better hitters and a legitimate home run threat and a left-handed batter (a significant advantage in the situation). What did Tony do? He let Preston Wilson (aka Mr. Strikeout) come to the plate. Luckily the Tigers pitcher hit Wilson with a pitch before he got the chance to strike out, so Tony avoided that disaster. Next, Jadier Molina came to the plate. Yeah, this is the same guy I criticized Keith Law for being so hard on. Actually this move didn't bother me as much as the decision to let Wilson hit. At least Molina has been "hot" during the post-season. Still, the least efficient offensive player in your lineup or one who has shown real power and ability. I just do not understand why Tony didn't pinch hit in at least ONE of those two situations. To me, that is the real "scandal" and it seems as though Tony is getting a free pass on it because everyone is obsessed with Dirtgate.