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2006 World Series (Official Thread)

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ABJ

Pair of rooks: Verlander vs. Reyes in opener

RONALD BLUM

Associated Press

DETROIT - When the Cardinals and Tigers last hooked up in the World Series, the starting pitchers in the opener were Bob Gibson and 31-game winner Denny McLain.
When they get together at Comerica Park on Saturday night, Game 1 will have a pair of rookie starters for the first time, with Detroit's Justin Verlander facing off against Anthony Reyes. And the way Reyes sees it, two rooks are better for him than one.
"That's kind of good, knowing he's probably going to have the same feeling as me," he said Friday,
Reyes, 5-8 with a 5.06 ERA in 17 regular-season starts, has the fewest wins of any Game 1 starter in World Series history and is the first with a losing regular-season record since the Mets' Jon Matlack in 1973. He wasn't even on the Cardinals' roster for their first-round series against San Diego.
Verlander was 17-9 with a 3.63 ERA during the regular season. Despite Reyes' poor pedigree, Verlander doesn't think the Tigers are favored.
"I think we view ourselves as the underdogs, personally," Verlander said as the unexpected pennant winners prepared Friday on a cool, overcast day at Comerica Park. "Everybody has doubted us."
Detroit won a seven-game Series from St. Louis in 1968, and the Cardinals' Gas House Gang beat the Tigers 4-3 in 1934.
Back in 1968, the last World Series before playoffs, Gibson pitched a five-hit shutout and struck out a Series record 17 to beat the Tigers 4-0 in the opener at the old Busch Stadium. The Cardinals' Dizzy Dean pitched an eight-hitter to defeat Alvin Crowder 8-3 in 1934's first game at Detroit's Navin Field, as Tiger Stadium was then known.
The 23-year-old Verlander and 25-year-old Reyes have combined for 23 career wins - when John Smoltz opened the 1996 Series for Atlanta, he had 24 victories in that year alone.
The previous low for wins by a Game 1 starter was set by Howard Ehmke for the 1929 Philadelphia Athletics, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He went 7-2 during the regular season, then beat the Chicago Cubs and Charley Root 3-1 in Game 1.
Coming off a draining Game 7 win at New York in the NL championship series Thursday night, the Cardinals pulled into their suburban Detroit hotel at 5 a.m. Friday. By late afternoon, they straggled onto the field at Comerica Park for a workout.
"Maybe that champagne is still stinging their eyes," Tigers reliever Jason Grilli said.
At 83-78, the Cardinals have the second-worst record of any World Series team, trailing only the 82-79 mark of the 1973 Mets. Detroit, which blew the AL Central on the final weekend of the regular season, gives the Series a wild card team for the fifth straight year.
"It's been a little bit weird," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "It's been crazy. It's been tremendous for baseball."
Detroit will be playing for the first time in a week, since completing its four-game sweep of Oakland in the AL championship series. The last six teams that began the World Series with five or more days of rest all went on to win - only twice in history have Series teams with such a long break not won, and both were led by Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.
"I think the game is so mental," La Russa said. "If you sit around and you're mentally strong, you're ready."
Reyes was selected by Detroit on the 13th round of the 2002 amateur draft but stayed at Southern California for his senior year, then was taken by St. Louis in the 15th round a year later.
He pitched just once in the playoffs, starting Game 4 of the NLCS - his first appearance since Oct. 1. He allowed runners in all four of his innings, walked four and threw 86 pitches. But he gave up his only runs on homers by Carlos Beltran and David Wright.
He found out Friday that he'll be starting.
"I'm just trying to not think about it right now, just trying to relax and just get rested up and get ready for tomorrow," he said.
La Russa could have gone with Jason Marquis, who wasn't on his NLCS roster.
"It's not an easy call. We wrestled with this," La Russa said. "Anthony took the assignment in the NLCS. I think he handled himself well. The experience will be helpful tomorrow."
St. Louis will follow with Jeff Weaver, Chris Carpenter and Jeff Suppan. Kenny Rogers will start Game 2 for Detroit, followed by Nate Robertson and Jeremy Bonderman. Rogers pitched 15 shutout innings in the playoffs over two starts - both in Detroit.
"We wanted Kenny to pitch two games at home," Leyland said.
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AP Baseball Writer Ben Walker contributed to this report.
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ABJ

Leyland and La Russa downplay friendship in World Series

LARRY LAGE

Associated Press

DETROIT - Jim Leyland woke up at 4:15 a.m. one day during the AL championship series in Oakland, called his kids back East and wished his son a happy birthday.
Then, since he was up, he called one of his best friends - Tony La Russa.
"We chatted for a little while and I went back to bed," Leyland said last week.
Now, the Detroit Tigers manager wants to put to rest a really good baseball story: his longtime friendship with LaRussa, the St. Louis manager who is playing quite a different role in Leyland's life these days.
Their teams will play against each other as the World Series gets under way Saturday night with Game 1.
"I'm going to say this at the beginning of the World Series and hopefully end it. I'm not going to talk about Tony La Russa and myself this series at all," Leyland said sternly Friday, the day before Game 1. "I know some Cardinal players and have the utmost respect for everybody, obviously including Tony, but I'm not going to make that a story during the World Series because I don't think that should be a story.
"This story should be about the players. And that's what it's going to be about from my end."
Like a good friend, La Russa is on the same page.
"When the series is over, we'll reflect," he said. "Right now, we're not going to get into the personal stuff. Everybody knows we're friends."
Leyland and La Russa have been close for decades. After Leyland was passed over by the Tigers to be their manager - or a coach on Sparky Anderson's staff - La Russa gave him his first job in the majors as third-base coach for the Chicago White Sox in 1982.
Three seasons later, Leyland's ascent as one of this era's great managers began in Pittsburgh, where he led the Pirates to three straight division titles and won two NL Manager of the Year awards.
Leyland went on to win a World Series with the Florida Marlins in 1997, then exited the dugout as a burned-out manager in Colorado two years later.
That's when La Russa was there for his friend - again - helping him land a gig as a Pittsburgh-based scout for the Cardinals before he resurfaced in Detroit this season. Leyland said it was the best six years of his life.
"The Cardinals treated me like gold, they just didn't pay me much gold," Leyland joked.
La Russa and Leyland often talk on the phone after games - win or lose - and the latest chat came Friday morning after St. Louis outlasted the New York Mets in Game 7 of the NL championship series.
The friendly chats will fade out, La Russa insisted.
"I'll guarantee you, starting tomorrow we won't talk very much over the next 10 days," he said.
Whoever wins will join Anderson, who won titles in Detroit and Cincinnati, as the only managers in baseball history to win the World Series in both leagues.
"I have a regret about it a little bit only because it's such a significant accomplishment and Sparky is such a significant part of our lives," La Russa said. "You kind of wish he could have it by himself."
In his fifth World Series - a total that trails just seven managers - La Russa has a chance to add to the championship he won in 1989 with the Oakland Athletics and move further out of Whitey Herzog's shadow.
After leading St. Louis to the 2004 World Series, its first in 17 years, La Russa signed a new contract that keeps him with the storied organization through 2007.
"I know Jim Leyland respects and loves Tony La Russa for not just the way that he manages, but the person he is," Tigers pitcher Nate Robertson said. "It's probably like going up against your brother."
---
AP sports writer R.B. Fallstrom contributed to this report.
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Dispatch

Unlikely teams in Series provide world of story lines
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Mark Gonzales
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
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DETROIT ? One team that lost 119 games three years ago faces a team that won barely more than half its games this season for the right to capture baseball?s most coveted trophy.
"It?s a great baseball story," Detroit coach Andy Van Slyke said yesterday. "It?s without the New York teams, which people are going to find hard to accept.
"All the personal and professional stories are written like fiction but happen to be true. And the conclusion of what is going to take place is well worth sitting through every commercial with Tommy Lasorda."
All humor aside, the World Series opens tonight in Comerica Park with ample story lines.
The same Detroit franchise that lost nearly 75 percent of its games in 2003 now carries the expectation of winning its first Series since 1984 after winning seven consecutive postseason games. The Tigers oppose a St. Louis team that won only 83 games and was stretched to seven games before holding off the New York Mets for its second National League pennant in three seasons.
Naturally, the Tigers are confident, despite not having played since last Saturday.
"I don?t think we have lost it," said Justin Verlander, who will oppose Anthony Reyes in a Game 1 showdown of rookie pitchers. "I think the time away from the field was beneficial for us. The past couple of weeks have been stressful, actionpacked. The mental side might have been fatiguing. To take a break from that, gather your thoughts and get ready, it might be advantageous for us."
The parallels between the two clubs extend to their health.
Tigers manager Jim Leyland said reliever Joel Zumaya has recovered from a right wrist injury and will be available to pitch tonight, and Sean Casey is likely to start as the designated hitter.
Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols declared himself ready despite a nagging hamstring injury.
"It?s bothering me, but I?m OK," Pujols said. "I?m in the World Series, so I don?t think about it."
Both teams didn?t care to dwell on the fact they had losing records in September before rebounding.
They also downplayed the significance of rookie starters for the opener.
Leyland trusts Verlander will possess the stuff that saw him win 17 games. That allows him the luxury of going with veteran left-hander Kenny Rogers to start Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 6.
"You know how big (the Series) is, but you keep it in perspective," said Tigers starter Nate Robertson, who was pushed back to Game 3. "If you let the atmosphere, what it means and what kind of stakes are involved, come into the picture, you get in trouble.
"We?ll be ready and focused."
The Cardinals thrive on the scrutiny surrounding their 83-78 regular-season record.
"We?ve been the underdog in every series," closer Adam Wainwright said. "Why change now? "
Detroit swept St. Louis in a three-game series during the midst of an eight-game losing streak in late June in Comerica Park.
But Pujols remembered a conversation he had with Leyland before the final game. "I told (Leyland), ?You guys have the team to play in the World Series,? " Pujols recalled. "The next time I want to see you is in the World Series, and here we are."
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ABJ

Pitch to Pujols at your own risk

JIM LITKE

AP Sports Columnist

DETROIT - Albert Pujols showed up at the World Series hitting what baseball people like to call a "quiet" .324.
That made it sound as if the St. Louis slugger walked all the way to Motown on his tippy-toes, but no. In this case, quiet meant Pujols was putting up respectable numbers in the postseason boxscores, but not enough, finally, on the scoreboard. Not enough, anyway, for a guy widely regarded as the most dangerous hitter in the game.
That all changed with one swing of the bat Saturday night.
Pujols re-directed the first pitch he saw in the third inning - a 94 mph fastball from hard-throwing Detroit starter Justin Verlander - into the right-field seats for a two-run homer and the road-weary Cardinals went on to steal a 7-2 decision in Game 1.
That one swing also ignited a debate that will rage for the rest of this Series:
Pitch to Pujols? Or not?
"I could go into a lot of detail about that," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said tersely, "but I'll leave it at this: The manager's decision is either to pitch to him or walk him. I pitched to him and obviously he burned us.
"I'm not going to get into a lot of explanation about what the thinking was. But I take the bullet there and if somebody gives criticism you accept it, because it's ultimately my decision."
Leyland is an old-school manager who hates giving anybody anything for free, which means every Pujols' bat from here on out is likely to turn into a chess match. Leyland has considered giving up smoking more times this season than giving a hitter - any hitter - an intentional walk. So it's a safe bet that every time the camera catches him during one, expect to see a lighted cigarette dangling from his lips.
The Tigers issued just 35 free passes during the regular season, the sixth-lowest total in the American League. Before Saturday, the only time Leyland saw Pujols up close and personal was during a three-game series against St. Louis in June, and he walked him intentionally exactly once.
And before this one, Leyland was very cagey about his plans. But Verlander went right at Pujols in the first inning, mixing fastballs and curves, snapping off a sharp breaking ball at 2-2 and striking him out. Then came Pujols' first swing in the third, and it quickly made any debate about strategy irrelevant.
"I just try to see the ball," Pujols explained, "and put a good swing on it."
Verlander went back to the same mix in the sixth, tickling the radar gun at 76 mph with a curve and pushing it to 95 on the next with another fastball. His final pitch of the sequence, at 3-2, was another one of those fall-off-the-table breaking balls, but it fell just far enough off the plate to walk Pujols.
"If I've got an arm like Verlander, what do you do the first time you face him? What do you do the next time?" Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa said, glad he didn't have to answer either question. "He walked him.
"But the guy behind him got two hits tonight. And Jim is very aware of that - in fact, both of guys behind him got two hits. That's part of our strength.
"Albert is very dangerous, but these two guys, when they're swinging, and they're swinging well, be careful putting them on base," La Russa added, "because it will lead to runs, I think."
On this night, that was more than a hunch.
After Pujols walked, Verlander tried picking him off and his throw bounced away from first baseman Carlos Guillen and rattled around the right-field wall with several Tigers in pursuit. Even with a hamstring injury that limited his effectiveness against both the Padres and Mets, Pujols motored all the way to third.
His pained expression made it clear running is still an effort, but at least the pain didn't last long. Jim Edmonds drilled a single to right, allowing him to stroll leisurely home with St. Louis' fifth run. Then Scott Rolen doubled behind Edmonds and the chain-reaction was complete. Just don't forget who started it.
"I don't want to put any pressure on myself," Pujols said, "because I have a lot of guys that can help the team a lot of different ways."
But not enough did before Saturday night. Edmonds was hot at the start of the postseason, getting three hits in his first seven at-bats, but had gone .214 since. Rolen, struggling with a bad shoulder, came here at .188.
In the NL division series, the Padres weren't scared enough of either to walk Pujols, intentionally or otherwise, and issued him just one base on balls in four games. He responded by driving in three runs.
The Mets took a different tack in the NLCS, walking him intentionally four times, and seven in all in seven games. Pujols collected one RBI, but it was a Game 5 homer off Tom Glavine that launched St. Louis' comeback.
The truth is that there's no right answer. The Elias Sports Bureau found that during the regular season, when Pujols came up with runners in scoring position and first base open, he was walked 42 percent of the time. Of the 31 times he did walk, 25 were intentional.
Considering Pujols' final regular season numbers - .331, 49 home runs and 137 RBIs - deciding whether to pitch to him is like choosing between water torture or a cigarette and a blindfold. Whichever Leyland chooses, Pujols will be ready.
"You can't get caught up worrying, 'Is he going to pitch to me?' You've just got to go up like you do every time," Pujols said.
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Dispatch

CARDINALS 7 TIGERS 2
Reyes doesn?t look like rookie in win
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Mike Fitzpatrick
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Tigers manager Jim Leyland removes Justin Verlander from the game in the sixth inning.
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Scott Rolen hits a double off of Justin Verlander in the sixth inning that chased the Tigers? starter.


DETROIT ? Rest can be overrated.
The St. Louis Cardinals managed just fine in Game 1 of the World Series without much.
And maybe the hard-throwing Detroit Tigers, who had a week off, aren?t so tough after all.
Rookie Anthony Reyes pitched brilliantly into the ninth inning, Albert Pujols made Detroit pay for pitching to him, and Scott Rolen also homered to help St. Louis cruise past the ragged Tigers 7-2 in the World Series opener last night.
"Nobody expected us to win here," Pujols said. "They have a great team out there. The last thing we want to do is just show up and just embarrass ourselves."
The Cardinals have already put up more of a fight than in their previous World Series, when Pujols and Rolen came up empty as Boston swept them two years ago.
Game 2 is tonight, with Kenny Rogers pitching for Detroit against ex-Tiger Jeff Weaver.
With the Tigers playing host to their first World Series game in 22 years, fans showed up hoping to see rookie Justin Verlander buzz through a Cardinals team that scraped past the New York Mets in a seven-game National League championship series that had wrapped up less than 48 hours earlier.
But instead, Reyes outpitched Verlander in the first Game 1 matchup between rookies, taking the crowd out of it early and ending Detroit?s sevengame postseason winning streak.
"We didn?t play well," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.
And he made a curious decision that cost his team dearly.
First base was open when Pujols stepped to the plate with two outs in the third inning and St. Louis ahead 2-1.
Chris Duncan was on second after an RBI double, but the Tigers pitched to Pujols and Verlander challenged him right away with a 93 mph fastball that the slugger drove over the right-field fence for a 4-1 lead.
When Pujols came up with runners in scoring position and first base open during the regular season, he was walked in 31 of 73 plate appearances (42 percent), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Twenty-five of the walks were intentional.
"Obviously, he burned us," Leyland said. "I?ll take the heat for that."
The three-run cushion was more than enough for Reyes, who retired 17 consecutive batters before Carlos Guillen?s seventh-inning single. The right-hander was lifted after Craig Monroe?s homer on the first pitch of the ninth.
Reyes, the first World Series Game 1 starter in 33 years with a losing regular-season record, gave up only four hits and one walk.
"I don?t know if I can top this," Reyes said. Braden Looper finished St. Louis? first World Series win since 1987, stopping an eightgame Series losing streak for NL teams.
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