Rogers and Tigers clean up in Game 2
DETROIT -- Maybe he'd had some chocolate that melted in his hand, not in his mouth. Maybe he didn't remember his mother's advice, and forgot to wash his hands at the appropriate time.
But Kenny Rogers, who has been master of any neighborhood he has occupied this October and showed no letup last night, shutting out the Cardinals on two singles through eight innings, evidently didn't resort to anything underhanded in pitching the Detroit Tigers to a 3-1 win last night that evened the 102d World Series at a game apiece.
To suggest otherwise would besmirch a reputation that has undergone a major renovation this postseason, one in which Rogers's performance is approaching historic levels. And last night's umpires did not take it upon themselves to do so, electing not to make an issue out of it, although the rules stipulate that any pitcher detected with an illegal substance on his person is subject to automatic ejection. And neither would opposing manager Tony La Russa.
"For some reason he's on a mission," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.
It was a smudge of dirt on Rogers's hand, umpiring supervisor Steve Palermo said, a conclusion the umpires reached not from a formal inspection -- none was sought -- but by observation.
"Umpires, they've been around for more than a week or so," Palermo said. "This is not their first summer away from home, so they've got a pretty good idea as to what dirt is and what a foreign susbtance is."
At 41 years, 11 months, and 12 days, Rogers became the third-oldest pitcher ever to start a Series game, and last night he extended his scoreless streak in the postseason to 23 innings. Only Christy Mathewson (27 in 1905) and Lew Burdette (24 in 1957) has strung together more zeroes in a postseason.
"I'm no Christy Mathewson, that's for sure, but I've had scoreless streaks before," said Rogers, who allowed only an infield hit to Scott Rolen in the first and a line single to right-center by Yadier Molina to lead off the eighth.
The Cardinals scored an unearned run in the ninth off closer Todd Jones, who booted a two-out comebacker, and had the winning runs in scoring position when they loaded the bases, but Molina rolled into a forceout to end it.
"He's going to take a little PFP -- pitcher's fielding practice -- before he gets on the bus," Leyland said of Jones, who sent palpitations through a crowd of 42,533 in
What is it with Rogers and TV cameramen? Last July, Rogers was suspended for 20 games and fined $50,000 for pushing one cameraman and grabbing the camera from another. The penalty later was reduced to 13 games and the fine converted to a charitable contribution, but the damage had been done to Rogers's reputation. He later reached an out-of-court settlement with one of the cameramen who had sued him.
Last night, it was very nearly a case of cameraman's revenge, as a Fox television camera detected a brown smudge on Rogers's pitching hand. That was in the first inning. After the inning, crew chief Randy Marsh spoke with La Russa while plate umpire Alfonso Marquez spoke with Rogers. Palermo said Marquez told Rogers to wash his hands. Rogers said he wiped it off without being told.
La Russa wouldn't discuss it. "When a guy pitches like that, as a team, we don't take things away from anybody."
Leyland said "obviously [the Cardinals] were a little suspicious," but that La Russa had elected not to make an issue of it.
Cardinals reliever Josh Hancock, a former Red Sox minor leaguer, said he was not one of the players in the clubhouse who saw the mark on Rogers's hand. "But I heard about it," he said. "The guys were talking about it."
Did anyone think it might have been pine tar?
"What else could it be?" Hancock said.
Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols said he would not speculate.
"Whatever he does out there, there are some pitchers who can get away [with it]," Pujols said. "If he was using something, like people are saying, it was obviously a bad time to do this. But the umpire went out there and didn't call anything.
"I can't say that it was anything bad."
In Game 3 of the 1988 National League playoffs, Dodgers reliever Jay Howell was detected with pine tar in his glove and suspended for three games (the penalty later was reduced to two). He said he used it because of the cold, wet weather in which he was pitching.
Howell was the first, and to date, the only pitcher ever punished during the postseason for such a transgression.
Last night, it was cold, the temperature dropping as low as 39 degrees at 6:25 p.m., two hours before game time, before rising to an announced temperature of 44 when Rogers threw the night's first pitch, a strike to David Eckstein. The wind chill, however, made it feel like 33.
Who enjoys playing in such weather?
"Eskimos, I guess," Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge said. "It's going to be sloppy, from what I hear. Good thing both teams have to play in it, and the best team's going to win, no matter what. No big deal."
The game, however, began on time, after John Mellencamp sang his theme song for a car ad, former manager Sparky Anderson threw out the ceremonial first pitch, and local favorite Anita Baker belted out the anthem, encouraging the home fans to wave their white towels, which had been quickly pocketed the night before during the Tigers' 7-2 loss.
And once again, the Cardinals couldn't get through a first inning in the Series without giving up at least a run. It happened in all four games they played -- and lost -- to the Red Sox in 2004, and it happened for a second consecutive time against the Tigers.
Craig Monroe, who had doubled and scored in Game 1, homered off Jeff Weaver in the first to open the scoring. It was Monroe's fifth home run of the postseason, a number meaningful in Tigertown. It drew him even with Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg for most home runs in a postseason.
Magglio Ordonez then blooped a single and was doubled home by Carlos Guillen. The Tigers led, 2-0, the spent the rest of the night confounding their fans by their inability to tack onto their lead, even after loading the bases with none out in the fourth.
The Tigers finally broke through with another run in the fifth when Guillen tripled and scored on Sean Casey's two-out single to right.
Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com 
