i don't think kenny is the sharpest tool in the shed. but even i have a hard time believing kenny rogers is not only a cheat...but also so stupid that he conceals the pine tar so poorly. at this point i gotta figure there's some other explanation for the skid mark.

What makes this an issue, more than anything, is his abysmal record in the post-season prior to 2006.

It could be something silly like the way he warms up in the bullpen, rubbing dirt in his hands, etc.

But either way the Tigers' [muted] reaction along with the Cards and Umps is making it hard to say it was nothing...

What I keep going back to is the fact that he still came out and pitched lights-out for the next 7 innings. If he was cheating, and that explains his success' so far this post season, how do you explain the REST of the game last night? Do we just blame the Cardinals poor hitting at that point?

It's been noted that Rogers touched the brim of his cap quite a bit during the game. Also, Tim McCarver (of all people) observed that Kenny was over-protective of his glove when he was in the dugout during the 8th inning.

Unfortunately, this will all be speculation, as the umps never bothered to look at his hand/glove/hat, and LaRussa didn't make a point about it.

Weird incident.

Do we just blame the Cardinals poor hitting at that point?

Yes.

@ franklin: excellent point, that's what is stopping me from believing he was doctoring the ball 100%--now it could just be poor Cardinals hitting, but its tough to say...

Franklin, Bill, what makes you so sure he wasn't still cheating after his hand was washed? As Dave hinted, there are more places than one to put pine tar. The evidence, while circumstantial, is strong enough for me to think he's been cheating. I will be skeptical of every performance after being caught, including innings 2-8 last night.

I'm with Casey - and glad I'm not the only person who heard Tim McCarver wonder why Rogers was so protective of his glove when he retreated to the dugout after coming out.

And how'd he manage to get the same smudge in the same place in two different games, in two different cities? Nice work, Kenny...

Casey, you got me there. I didn't put two and two together when I heard that comment by McCarver.

Now I'm curious how they decided to have the camera stay on Rogers in the dugout - I mean, there's what, at least a dozen cameras, and that was the most interesting thing going on? And somebody just saw that? I've seen cameras catch things like Bernie Williams a few years ago picking both sides of his nose at once (a finger-thumb pinching motion with the efficiency of a double play, I suppose), but for the cameras to peer into the dugout long enough for somebody to notice Rogers shaking hands (with his glove still on? shaking gloves? more details, anyone?) is sort of weird, and then remark on it suggests to me that perhaps something else was going on. And for Tim McCarver to point it out - as opposed to Joe Buck, if you want to get into a small conspiracy theory - then perhaps it was someone on the STL side having the non-STL announcer (if McCarver's not team-specific, the way I think Buck is) do the whistle-blowing. Interesting...

They kept the cameras on Rogers was because he had just finished the eighth and they had Jones up in the pen. Everyone knew Rogers was done, and they wanted to shoot the team reaction to his performance.

And McCarver is as much of a St. Louis man as Joe Buck: he caught for them for a good chunk of his career.