Last night I wondered which pitcher would be a nervous wreck in Game 4 and who will be a smooth operator.  I must admit, due to his youth and relative inexperience I thought Jeremy Bonderman would be the bundle of nerves as he hadn’t pitched in so long. 

I am pleasantly surprised at being wrong on that count as we head into the top of the 3rd inning at Busch Stadium.  Bonderman gave up a leadoff hit to David Eckstein, but got Chris Duncan to ground into a harmless double-play.  His handling of "Sir Albert" was nothing short of masterful!  Let’s see if he can keep that up though.  Getting Pujols to look that bad once is a feat in itself, getting him to go hitless tonight will most likely take a miracle!

Suppan gave up a solo homer to Sean Casey in the top of the 2nd inning after a great start.  He got out of a slight jam in the 2nd after that homer, but as we go into the 3rd inning, Granderson just hit a leadoff double.  Sounds to me like the Suppan of the 2006 NLDS has shown up tonight. 

Suppan does not look very sharp as he gave up a basehit to Casey and Granderson scored the 2nd run.  Casey is on fire tonight!

According to Kevin Kennedy of Fox Sports, the reason why LaRussa didn’t push the issue with the pine tar is because 5 or 6 of his own pitchers did the same thing.  Kennedy went on to say that infielders use pine tar on their gloves to get a better grip too.

Did Eckstein, Rolen and Pujols use pine tar on their gloves in the post season this year?  Is that why LaRussa didn’t push the issue?

If so, should a Cardinal win of the World Series forever have an asterisk next to it?

What does this say about previous World Series titles?  How many other players have been cheating?  How far back do you go and put asterisks next to the Championships?

If everyone does it even though it is "cheating", should MLB change its rules and  let everyone have an equal chance?  I personally think that is the fairest thing to do–get rid of a rule that obviously many players aren’t abiding by.  Level the playing field by letting all defensive players and pitchers use pine tar on their hands/gloves if they choose to do so.

For the first time since 1996.  Well, I guess I’ll watch the rest of the Rockets pre-season game and then go to bed.  At least this year, there’s hope for the Rockets!

Correction:  Even the Rockets game is over.  WAAAH!!!  😦 

War At Home is getting old now!  I’m sure many, many baseball fans all over the country are quietly (or loudly) expressing the same sentiment tonight.

As I sit here waiting for this game to finally start, I have to wonder how the delay and the cold will affect the two pitchers.  The waiting is the hardest part and some handle it better than others.  Who will be the nervous wreck waiting to get on the mound and who will be calm, cool, and collected? 

The latest update said another hour before game time.  Right now, I think I’m getting more antsy than the two teams are.  Soon we will all find out as Game 4 plays out who is handling the pressure better. 

One thing for sure, after at least 4 back-to-back episodes of War At Home, they better play the game tonight!

The Detroit Tigers and Jim Leyland obviously knew when to hand the ball to The Gambler. 

Wow!  what a game, what a series so far!  Whether it was a 2-hitter by Kenny Rogers or a game winning blast by Albert Pujols, you have to admit that the first two games of the 2006 World Series have been thrillers.

As the series shifts to St Louis, how will the two team fare?   Can the Cardinals and Tony LaRussa take advantage of the home field sea of red and the much superior playoff experience to shut down the Mo-train or can Jim Leyland and his band of unprobables keep its cinderella story alive? 

Last year it was two feel good stories with the White Sox finally shaking the jinx of the Black Sox and the Houston Astros winning the very first pennant in the history of Texas Baseball. 

This year has its own feel-good stories–the oft maligned and hurt St Louis Cardinals who stumbled into the playoffs and Jim Leyland’s Cinderella Tigers.  No matter which team wins the magical 4th game, this 2006 world series has a magic and fairy tale ending waiting to be written.

So, it’s time again to sing Root, root, root for the home team, if they don’t win it’s a shame!

I can understand the 6th run scoring, but how in the world can you call interference by Inge when he had his back turned to Rolen and Rolen went out of his base running path to run into Inge?  If anything, Rolen should’ve been called out for veering way off the base path!

The umpiring crew at home and 3rd need to look at the tape again and realize they screwed up big time.  If a guy can be called for interference when he couldn’t even see the play, there’s something seriously wrong with the game and its rules!

It is now less than 4 hours before the players take the field for Game One of the 2006 World Series.  The Detroit Tigers dominated the regular season in the American League and the National League including the current National League Pennant holders, the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Can the shoo-in for AL Rookie of the year Justin Verlander lead his team to a tone-setting Game One victory?  Or will the sometimes faltering rookie Anthony Reyes of the Cardinals pitch well enough to give Albert Pujols a chance to silence the crowd at Comerica Park on this chilly fall evening?

Those are the questions the pundits of the sports world are pondering as they all gather to watch batting practice and interview the stars of the game. 

If you were on the crew for Fox or ESPN, what questions would you ask the eventual MVP of this game?  Do you think it would be Pujols?  Ordonez? Verlander?  Reyes?

Could it be an unlikely hero like Yadier Molina in Game 7 of the NLCS or Alex Gomez who hit a key home run against the A’s when it mattered most?

Although my beloved Stros aren’t in this series, I still have a vested interest in the outcome.  I want to believe in miracles, like the one that propelled the 2005 Astros to their very first world series.  Like the one that can give the first World Championship in 22 years to a city that is starved for it, a city that saw itself called the laughing stock of the Major Leagues because their team lost a record 119 games a mere 3 years ago.

So, if the Astros can’t be playing this game tonight, I say, root, root, root for the home team, if they don’t win it’s a shame!