Courtesy: Detroit Free Press
Adam Wainwright‘s breaking ball froze Carlos Beltran with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth last night and sends the St. Louis Cardinals to Detroit for the begining of the 2006 World Series. Justin Verlander has been named the game one starter with Kenny Rogers, Nate Robertson and Jeremy Bonderman following.
Joel Zumaya is a go for the Series and manager Jim Leyland has suggested that first baseman Sean Casey will be as well. The full 25-man roster is not yet available, but rumors are that Andrew Miller might replace Zach Miner. I hope that Chris Shelton makes the roster in lieu of Neifi Perez if Casey isn’t able to go or needs time off at any point during the series.
Both of the previous Series’ between this franchise went seven games with Detroit winning in ’68 and the Cardinals taking the ’34 bout. The 1968 victory marks the last “true” World Series where just the winner of the American League played the winner of the National League for the whole ball of wax. In 1969, the LCS playoffs were introduced.
I like this collection of bits and pieces from various articles about the Series put together by the Free Press that can be found here. I’ll post a similar collection of blog previews as they appear over the course of this afternoon/evening and tomorrow afternoone. My full preview will likely be done by tomorrow morning.
As for the season series, the Tigers swept the Cardinals in a three game set that took place in Detroit at the end of June. I wouldn’t take much from it because it was so long ago, but it is nice to have that success as well as the experience against the Cards as they make their way to Detroit. For some reading enjoyment while you wait for my preview, I direct you to Jerry Crasnick‘s piece on how the Tigers were built. Part of me likes the article because it’s well done, part of me hates it because I was writing a very similar piece for this space. Oh well.
Look for my preview sometime between tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Go Tigers!
UPDATE: The Cardinals have announced their rotation and it is as follows:
1st: Anthony Reyes
2nd: Jeff Weaver
3rd: Chris Carpenter
4th: Jeff Suppan
Shout out to DTW.com for that.
Baseball By Paul 