The Sports Truth

The World Series has been entertaining thus far, and when it resumes this evening in St. Louis, things will have heated up considerably — and we’re not just talking about the change in weather from frigid Detroit.

We’re talking about Gamblergate. Detroit beat St. Louis 3-1 in Game 2 to even the series 1-1, and in the process, may have cheated. Possibly. No one really knows.

With or without the mysterious brown sludge on the palm of his pitching hand, Kenny Rogers (right) was nearly unhittable. He certainly was un-scoreable. But did he get caught red (brown) handed? And does it matter?

At 8:23 Sunday night, Rogers took the mound with a smudge on his pitching hand. The Cardinals said something to the umpiring crew after the first inning, and when the Gambler came out for the second frame, it was gone.

Four more shutout innings and Rogers ties the legendary Christy Mathewson for the all-time single postseason record. He hasn’t surrendered a run in 23 innings during the playoffs. Astounding. A little too much so?

Rogers said it was dirt on his inner palm. Of course, Rogers said a lot of things, some of which makes sense, some of which sounded like a guy with a very selective memory, or one trying to cover something up.

An ESPN video analysis of Rogers’ left hand during his previous starts during the ‘06 playoffs appears to show a similar substance. If it was dirt, that is perfectly legal, according to MLB rules.

But no one has inspected Rogers’ hand. According to Steve Palermo, the head of the World Series umpiring crew, the umps “observed” the substance as dirt. Observing isn’t the same thing as inspecting. We couldn’t make this stuff up.

If it wasn’t dirt, as many have insinuated, what would it have been? And how would that have juiced his pitches? And how wouldn’t an umpire notice in between throws? The whole thing is very peculiar. And gets weirder. Rogers was told by the ump crew, among other things, that he should probably clean his hand off. Palermo said the objective in telling him to do so was not a warning, but to remove any doubt that one was needed.

But why didn’t Cardinals skipper Tony La Russa discuss the situation with the media after the game? And why did Rogers say that he was never spoken to about the substance, or asked him to wipe it off?

According to Palermo, La Russa never requested the umpires inspect Rogers’ left hand. If not, then why is he still talking about it now? La Russa is the kind of old school manager that often preaches how the game be played the right way. Wouldn’t calling Rogers on this alleged impropriety be up his alley?

But regardless, no “inspection” was made. Is that because La Russa decided Rogers really did have an accidental — and legal — mixture of dirt and rosin on his hand? Or because Tony didn’t want to press the issue with a friend and respected adversary, Tigers manager Jim Leyland, in the other dugout?

“It’s not important to talk about,” La Russa said afterward.

Yes, Rogers pitched a scoreless first inning with the gunk on his hand, whatever it was. Then he pitched seven more scoreless innings without it. In fact, one of the two hits he gave up came during the first. He even walked someone in the first as well.

It’s not like the guy is injecting himself with steroids in between innings. But even if Rogers didn’t do anything wrong, this episode is mysterious, and has certainly raised the stakes of a Fall Classic some felt would be awfully boring and short-lived.

So now we root for the Series to reach a Game 6. Why? So Rogers and his dirty left hand can make their scheduled start in Detroit. Long live Gamblergate.