Cardinals Left to Wonder What Rogers Was Up To

DETROIT, Oct. 22 -- The St. Louis Cardinals, taking their cue from Manager Tony La Russa, did not directly accuse Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers of using pine tar. Rather, the Cardinals -- after a 3-1 loss in Game 2 of the World Series on Sunday night -- seemed almost indifferent about the issue.

After the first inning, several players apparently complained to La Russa about Rogers's pitches moving erratically, and Fox cameras captured shots of a brown substance on Rogers's left hand. But in the second inning Rogers's hand was clean. The Cardinals' video coordinator showed designated hitter Scott Spiezio a still shot of the brown substance, but that proved nothing. Rogers said in a postgame interview that the substance was dirt.

"You had your suspicions," Spiezio said. "But he said it was dirt. Talk to Kenny. If he did it and he got away with it, good for him. That didn't affect us at the plate at all. There's a lot of guys that use pine tar. We've run into that before. Who knows what it does?"

Spiezio said the topic was not discussed much during the game. La Russa talked to plate umpire Alfonso Marquez about the issue after the first inning, but declined to elaborate on that conversation. He also was firm in stating that his team was not using the issue as an excuse for getting only two hits in eight innings off the 41-year-old Rogers. "Tony was doing his job," Spiezio said. "If [Rogers] was doing something he should try to get him to stop. To me he looked like the same guy. If he was doing that, then he's been doing it his whole career."

Perhaps the most favorable evidence in Rogers's favor is that he pitched better after the first inning. Two Cardinals reached base in the first inning; only three more reached in Rogers's next seven innings. The Cardinals had their best rally of the game, which netted one run, against Tigers closer Todd Jones.

"If he was using something like people are saying, and if it was that obvious, I think he's more of a veteran [than] to do that," Albert Pujols said.

Spiezio said the Cardinals were not foiled by an illegal substance, but by bad luck. The Cardinals had pitches to hit, Spiezio said; they just didn't hit them. With a man on first base, Pujols crushed a pitch to deep left field, but it was not hit with enough lift to clear the fence. However grudgingly, the Cardinals gave Rogers credit.

"Tonight he pitched great," Cardinals second baseman Aaron Miles said. "Whether he was using something or not, it doesn't bother me one bit. Who knows if he was or if he wasn't? Pine tar is a funny thing. You can give someone a high-five and you have pine tar" on your hand.