Cardinals rest easy in opener
DETROIT – Rest can be overrated.
The St. Louis Cardinals managed just fine in Game 1 of the World Series without much.
Maybe those 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 Saturday 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 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 hosting their first World Series game in 22 years, fans showed up hoping to see rookie Justin Verlander buzz through a Cardinals team that scraped its way 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 easily outpitched Verlander in the first Game 1 matchup between rookies, taking the crowd out of it early and ending Detroit’s seven-game postseason winning streak.
“We didn’t play well,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.
Leyland 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 anyway. 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.
“I don’t know if I can top this,” Reyes said.
Braden Looper finished off St. Louis’ first World Series victory since 1987, stopping an eight-game Series losing streak for N.L. teams.
Carrying only two players with World Series experience, the young Tigers appeared a little jittery, making wild throws and key mistakes.
Detroit, which completed a four-game sweep of Oakland in the ALCS on Oct. 14, was supposed to have the edge on the mound in Game 1. Verlander is a leading candidate for A.L. Rookie of the Year, while Reyes went 5-8 with a 5.06 ERA in 17 regular-season starts.
In fact, the Cardinals only turned to him in the opener because none of their three top pitchers was ready to go.
“He doesn’t scare, he’s got great composure – and when he gets it rolling he’s got great weapons,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said.
Reyes had the fewest wins of any Game 1 starter in World Series history and was the first in 33 years with a losing regular-season record. He wasn’t even on the Cardinals roster for their first-round series against San Diego.
But he pitched like a poised pro.
Peering from under a starch-stiff cap and with his red-and-white socks pulled high, Reyes allowed only four hits and one walk.
“That style is … not that attractive,” La Russa said, referring to that hat. “I don’t think it’s going to be copied widely by the kids of America.”
Soon after, Reyes explained his whole get-up.
“The socks I’ve had up since Little League, so I don’t feel there’s any reason to change now,” he said. “But the hat helps me see a little bit, gets more light in – helps me see signs.”
Reyes’ performance wasn’t as dominant as Bob Gibson’s 17-strikeout effort for St. Louis in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series against the Tigers, but it was just as effective.
“I was just trying to be as focused as I can,” Reyes said.
Rolen tied the score at 1 with a solo shot in the second, a no-doubt drive to left that proved his swing is coming around.
Playing with soreness and fatigue in his surgically repaired left shoulder, the All-Star third baseman began the night batting .188 without an RBI this postseason. His first trip to the World Series was no fun at all – he went 0 for 15 against Boston two years ago.
Yadier Molina, the home run hero in Game 7 of the NLCS, got St. Louis going again in the third with a leadoff single. He scored on Duncan’s two-out double before Pujols connected against the 23-year-old Verlander.
The pitch he threw was a big mistake, but Verlander smiled for some reason right after Pujols teed off.
“The pitch to Duncan with two outs in the third was a pivotal point, because then Albert came up and hit the home run,” Verlander said. “It was a bad pitch and it was probably the biggest pitch of the night.”