Justin Verlander started Game 1, and while he had a great rookie year, he hadn't been good for a while. He'd had no quality starts and a 7.66 ERA in his last five games before giving up seven runs, six earned, in five innings in the opening loss.
While Leyland's odd starting-pitcher arrangement may have hurt the Tigers so far -- how would the Series have played out if Rogers' dominant Game 2 performance had come in Game 1, giving the Tigers the 1-0 lead with Bonderman pitching Game 2? -- it's coming in handy now. Needing a win to stay in the Series, the Tigers can turn to -- hey look! -- Jeremy Bonderman.
Jeff Suppan, the Cardinals' second-best starter and a guy with a growing reputation as a big-game pitcher, will throw for the Cardinals. But here's the real wild card, pardon the use of that term in this fifth straight World Series with at least one wild-card team: the weather.
The forecast is for rain all afternoon and most of the night in St. Louis both Wednesday and Thursday. If Game 4 gets rained out twice, the Tigers could go back to Rogers on full rest Friday, matched up with Suppan, and then Bonderman for Game 5 Saturday, most likely against Game 1 starter Anthony Reyes.
I think those matchups would give them a better shot at getting back to Detroit up 3-2 than the ones that are scheduled, Bonderman vs. Suppan and the struggling Verlander vs. Reyes. Reyes can't be expected to deal the way he did in Game 1, but Verlander's really leaking oil. After Game 1, his ERA since mid-September is up to 8.19.
The Cardinals wouldn't be affected by two rainouts until a potential Game 6, which would be Sunday in Detroit, but at that point, they'd have the clear advantage. They'd be able to move Carpenter up a game and pitch him on full rest against either Verlander or Robertson.
All of that would set up a Game 7 matching Jeff Weaver, who was so-so in losing Game 2, against whoever didn't start Game 6 for the Tigers. Leyland's biggest problem would be where to better hide Verlander.
Without rainouts, the Tigers had better win Game 4 behind Bonderman, because Verlander will start Game 5, and did I mention his ERA since mid-September?
With rainouts -- well, we'll have plenty of time to talk about what comes next.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Three minutes from glory [PERMALINK]
Almost got a third straight game in under three hours. Tuesday's Game 3 came in at 3:03, thanks mostly to three mid-inning pitching changes by the Tigers. So close. America was on the edge of its collective seat.
We still have at least two and maybe as many as four more chances for this World Series to become the first in 10 years to have three games under three hours.
You know what's making them play so fast? Fast being a relative term: The average time of non-extra-inning games in the 2005 World Series was 3:15. In 2004 it was 3:23. It's the cold weather.
Yeah, I like our chances, relatively-fast-baseball-game fans.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Why McCarver gets the big dineros [PERMALINK]
The game's key play: Two on, nobody out in the Cardinals' seventh, St. Louis leading 2-0. Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya can't find the strike zone, and Albert Pujols is up.
Pujols hits a sharp grounder back to the mound. Double-play ball. Huge play. For all his struggles, Zumaya's got a great chance to be one out away from getting out of the inning. He fields it, then throws wild to third. Instead of two outs, man on third, down 2-0, it's no outs, man on second, 4-0. A complete disaster.
Tim McCarver, in his best "Here comes a pronouncement from a font of baseball wisdom, the kind of thing you can only pick up from having played in the major leagues in four different decades" tone: "That's a bad play by Zumaya."
Really. Huh. I guess that's one way to look at it.
Previous column: Labor peace, fast games
- - - - - - - - - - - -
About the writer
King Kaufman is a senior writer for Salon. Visit his column archive. You can e-mail him at king at salon dot com or visit his MySpace page.
Related Stories
Baseball
Read Salon's coverage.
Story finder (3 ways to search Salon)
Salon Directory (browse by topic)