King Kaufman's Sports Daily

Cardinals take commanding World Series lead as Tigers go sinking in the rain. Plus: NFL Week 8.

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Oct. 27, 2006 | Think the Detroit Tigers could have done with a little more rain?

On a slippery field on a misty night in a Game 4 the weather forecasters spent two days saying wouldn't be played Thursday night, the Tigers slid and skidded and threw away a 3-0 lead to the St. Louis Cardinals and their hitting star of the night, David Eckstein, who's 5-foot-7, soaking wet.

The Cardinals won 5-4, with all but one of their runs affected by fielding miscues, most of them water-related. St. Louis leads the World Series 3-1, with Game 5 scheduled for Friday night, again in St. Louis, again with a pessimistic forecast.

Eckstein had four hits, three of them doubles, two of those courtesy of misplays by Tigers outfielders, one of those caused by a slip on the wet grass. A fourth error by a Tigers pitcher in as many games helped Eckstein come home with the tying run. Left fielder Craig Monroe misplaying Eckstein's line drive in the eighth inning brought home the eventual winner.

It was a weird game all along. Sean Casey hit a home run. The Cardinals played hit-and-run with pitcher Jeff Suppan batting and had help from either the elements or Tigers fielders on four of their five runs.

St. Louis' seventh-inning rally from 3-2 down started when Eckstein's fly ball to deep center fell for a double because center fielder Curtis Granderson slipped and fell as he chased it. Granderson made a heroic effort to get back up, find the ball and lunge after it, but he didn't get close. You've heard of a wind-blown double? This was a Slip 'N Slide double.

Eckstein came home when pinch-hitter So Taguchi bunted and Detroit reliever Fernando Rodney -- who had struck out two to get starter Jeremy Bonderman out of a jam in the sixth -- fielded the ball awkwardly and launched a throw 10 feet over Placido Polanco's head at first. Is there anybody on the Tigers staff who can throw to a base? Preston Wilson eventually singled Taguchi home with the go-ahead run.

The Tigers tied it 4-4 in the eighth on doubles by Ivan Rodriguez and Brandon Inge, but they weren't done handing out doubles to Eckstein. With Aaron Miles at second and two outs in the bottom of the inning the St. Louis shortstop fought off an inside pitch from Joel Zumaya and hit a liner to left-center.

Monroe took a bad route, starting straight to his left, then curling back. He dived and the ball ticked off his outstretched glove. It would have looked like a spectacular catch if he'd made it, which is why you can't judge how good a fielder a guy is by the spectacular plays he makes. Had Monroe judged the ball correctly, he could have made a fairly routine catch.

Next page: Maybe the Cardinals have stolen the Tigers' underdog mojo. Plus: NFL Week 8. Beware the coin