2006 World Series

File:MLB-WS 7361.gif

The primary logo for the 2006 World Series

The 2006 World Series, the 102nd playing for the championship of Major League Baseball, began play on October 21, and matches up the American League champion Detroit Tigers with the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. The Tigers won the 2006 American League Championship Series by beating the Oakland Athletics, while the Cardinals defeated the New York Mets in the 2006 National League Championship Series. This is the third Series meeting between the Tigers and the Cardinals, with St. Louis winning the first in 1934, and Detroit winning the second in 1968; both series went the full seven games. The Cardinals are poised to become only the second team to win the Series ten times, following the New York Yankees. They currently lead the Series 3-1, with the Cardinals winning Games 1, 3, and 4 and the Tigers winning Game 2.

Managers: Jim Leyland (Detroit), Tony La Russa (St. Louis)

Umpires: Randy Marsh, Alfonso Marquez, Wally Bell, Mike Winters, John Hirschbeck, Tim McClelland

Television commentators (FOX): Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, with Chris Myers and Ken Rosenthal reporting from the team's dugouts. Pre-game and post-game commentators are Jeanne Zelasko, Kevin Kennedy, Eric Byrnes of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Joe Girardi former manager of the Florida Marlins.

National Anthem Singers Game 1: Bob Seger (sang America the Beautiful) Game 2: Anita Baker Game 3: Trace Adkins Game 4: Nikko Smith (son of Cardinals Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith

Background

The Tigers have home-field advantage in the Series, due to the AL's 3-2 win over the NL in the 77th Major League Baseball All-Star Game on July 11 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. It is being televised by FOX, and with a new contract signed by FOX on July 11 2006, FOX will continue to air the World Series through at least the 2013 season [1].

Before the series began, both teams already had some experience with each other, as they played each other during the regular season. This was the first time since 2000 that teams meeting during the regular season met again in the World Series. In 2006 regular season play, the Tigers swept the Cardinals in three games in Detroit.

The winner of the 2006 Series will end a championship drought of more than two decades; neither of the pennant-winning teams has won the Series since 1984. The Series marks the third time in a row that both teams seek to win a championship after at least a 20-year drought. In 2004, the Boston Red Sox ended their 86-year hiatus by defeating the Cardinals, who themselves sought their first championship in 22 years; in 2005 the Chicago White Sox ended an 88-year drought after defeating the Houston Astros who were competing in their first World Series. The Tigers have not appeared in the World Series since winning it in 1984.

The Tigers are the eighth wild card team to compete in the World Series since MLB introduced the wild card in 1994. A wild card team has been a Series participant each year since 2002.

Regardless of the outcome, the winning team's manager will make history; either Detroit's Jim Leyland or St. Louis' Tony La Russa will join Sparky Anderson as only the second manager to win the World Series with teams in both leagues. La Russa won in 1989 with the Athletics, while Leyland won in 1997 with the Florida Marlins. Coincidentally, Anderson accomplished the feat by managing the Tigers to their last championship in 1984; he was chosen to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 2. In addition, the opposing managers are close friends; Leyland got his first major league experience as a member of La Russa's coaching staff with the Chicago White Sox from 1982-85, and worked as a scout for the Cardinals for six years before joining Detroit.

Matchup

Game times are in Eastern Time. (Games starting after October 28 will occur during Eastern Standard Time; all other games are Eastern Daylight.) All games are broadcast on FOX.

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Score	Record (StL-Det)	Time	Attendance
1	October 21	St. Louis	7	Detroit	2	1-0	8:03 pm	42,479
2	October 22	St. Louis	1	Detroit	3	1-1	8:26 pm	42,533
3	October 24	Detroit	0	St. Louis	5	2-1	8:33 pm	46,513
4	October 26 ‡	Detroit	4	St. Louis	5	3-1	8:29 pm	46,470
5	October 27 ‡	Detroit	0	St. Louis	0	0-0	8:29 pm	-
6†	October 28	St. Louis	0	Detroit	0	0-0	7:59 pm	-
7†	October 29	St. Louis	0	Detroit	0	0-0	8:01 pm	-
St. Louis leads 3-1

† If necessary.
‡ Game 4 was initially scheduled for October 25, but was postponed due to rain. Subsequently Game 5 scheduled for October 26 has been pushed back a day as well.

Game 1, October 21

Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan

Two rookies faced off in Game One for the first time in history: Anthony Reyes for St. Louis and Justin Verlander for Detroit. It looked like the Tigers were going to get to Reyes early in the bottom of the first, when Craig Monroe doubled and Magglio Ordóñez walked. Carlos Guillén singled Monroe in, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead. However in the top of the second, Scott Rolen led off and hit a long home run to left field, tying the score at 1-1. Rolen was 0-for-15 in his career in the World Series before hitting the home run. The previous mark had been 0-13 set by Benny Kauff of the New York Giants in the 1917 World Series. In the third inning the Cards broke through, first when Chris Duncan's RBI double scored Yadier Molina to give the Cardinals the lead. On Verlander's next pitch, the 2005 National League MVP, Albert Pujols, banged a 2-run home run, punishing the rookie who elected to pitch to the dangerous Pujols, rather than walk him with first base open and 2 outs and pitch to Juan Encarnación. Meanwhile, Anthony Reyes was the story. The pitcher who had the fewest wins of a Game One World Series starter (5) at one point retired 17 in a row from the 1st inning to the 6th inning, a World Series record for a rookie. The previous record being 13 (John Stuper, STL, 1982, and Dickie Kerr, CHW, 1919). Reyes' final line was 8+ innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, and 4 strikeouts. The Cards took advantage of Detroit's mistakes again in the 6th, when Brandon Inge made 2 errors in one play. With second and third, Inge threw to home wild to score a run and then interfered with Scott Rolen, who was running home, to score another run. Craig Monroe hit a solo home run off Reyes in the bottom of the 9th, which led to Reyes being pulled from the game, as Braden Looper came in to finish the game. The final score was 7-2 Cardinals, marking the first time since 2003 that the National League has won a World Series game, and the first World Series game won by St. Louis since Game 5 of the 1987 World Series.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis	0	1	3	0	0	3	0	0	0	7	8	2
Detroit	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	4	3
WP: Anthony Reyes (1-0)   LP: Justin Verlander (0-1) Home runs: STL: Scott Rolen (1), Albert Pujols (1) DET: Craig Monroe (1)

Game 2, October 22

Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan

With a starting temperature of 40° F, controversy surrounded the start of Game 2 when Tigers starting pitcher Kenny Rogers was found to have an unknown substance on a patch of the palm of his pitching hand during the first inning. Although Cardinals hitters claimed that the ball was doing "weird things" in the first inning, Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa did not request an inspection of Rogers' hand to determine what the substance was. Rogers said it was dirt, and complied with a request from the umpires to wash his hands before the second inning.[2]

Rogers would go on to pitch eight shutout innings, running his postseason streak to 23 straight shutout innings, giving up only two hits. Craig Monroe hit his second home run in the series, and Carlos Guillen, who was a home run away from the cycle, and Sean Casey each drove in runs to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead going into the ninth. Todd Jones then came into the game to close it out but got into a heavy jam, with Scott Rolen being driven in by Jim Edmonds before a force-out at second with the bases loaded won the game for the Tigers. Craig Monroe became the fifth player to hit a home run in each of his first two World Series games. The others were Barry Bonds for the Giants in 2002, Ted Simmons for the Brewers in 1982, Dusty Rhodes for the New York Giants in 1954, and Jimmie Foxx for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1929.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	1
Detroit	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	X	3	10	1
WP: Kenny Rogers (1-0)   LP: Jeff Weaver (0-1)   Sv: Todd Jones (1) Home runs: STL: None DET: Craig Monroe (2)

Game 3, October 24

Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri

The Cardinals became the first team since the Cincinnati Reds in 1970 to host a World Series game in their first season in a new ballpark. After being shut out by Detroit pitcher Kenny Rogers for eight innings in Game 2, St. Louis starter Chris Carpenter answered with eight shut out innings of his own in a 5-0 Cardinal victory in Game 3. Carpenter, making his World Series debut (he missed the entire 2004 World Series due to injury) gave up only three hits, striking out six and did not issue a walk, while throwing only 82 pitches.

St. Louis began the scoring in the fourth inning on a bases loaded double by center fielder Jim Edmonds which scored two runs. Two more runs would score in the bottom of the seventh on an error by Detroit pitcher Joel Zumaya, who overthrew a routine ground ball to third baseman Brandon Inge. St. Louis would add another run in the eighth on a wild pitch.

Reliever Braden Looper would pitch a perfect ninth to close out the game and give St. Louis a two-games-to-one advantage in the Series.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
St. Louis	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	1	X	5	7	0
WP: Chris Carpenter (1-0)   LP: Nate Robertson (0-1)

Game 4, October 26

Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri

Pushed back a day because of rain, the Cardinals won the game, taking a 3-1 series lead. The Tigers took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the 3rd, after Sean Casey had 2 RBIs, including a home run, Casey ended the night 3-4. The other RBI came from Detroit's Ivan Rodriguez who singled in Carlos Guillen. Rodriguez who had been hitless in the previous 3 games also went 3-4. In the bottom of the 3rd the Cardinals struck back with a run scoring double by David Eckstein, scoring Aaron Miles who had the first stolen base of the series by either team, to put himself in scoring position. Yadier Molina doubled in Scott Rolen in the 4th to cut the Tiger lead to 3-2. The score remained that way, until the bottom of the 7th, when Eckstein led off with a double over the head of Curtis Granderson, who had slipped on the wet Busch Stadium outfield. Eckstein then scored on a sacrifice bunt by So Taguchi that was thrown over the head of Placido Polanco covering first, by Fernando Rodney, and tied the score 3-3. Later that same inning, Preston Wilson hit a single to left with 2 out that scored Taguchi from 3rd. The Tigers tied it up in the 8th on a Brandon Inge double that plated Ivan Rodriguez. The Cardinals would answer back in the bottom of the 8th, when Molina led off with a walk from Joel Zumaya, was forced at 2nd on a ground ball by Miles. Miles then went to 2nd on a wild pitch by Zumaya, while striking out Juan Encarnacion. Eckstein then hit a double to left on a ball that hit the webbing of Craig Monroe's glove, but was out of reach. Eckstein ended the game 4-5 with 3 doubles and was definitely St. Louis's MVP of the game. Adam Wainwright who recorded the final 2 outs of inning 8, came back in the 9th and got the Tigers 1-2-3 to close it out. Scott Rolen also went 2-4 in the game and extended his post season hitting streak to 9 games.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	10	1
St. Louis	0	0	1	1	0	0	2	1	X	5	9	0
WP: Adam Wainwright (1-0)   LP: Joel Zumaya (0-1) Home runs: DET: Sean Casey (1) STL: None

Game 5, October 27

Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri

The Cardinals have the opportunity to close out their first Series victory since 1982. Jeff Weaver starts for the Cardinals opposite Justin Verlander of the Tigers. If they win, they will be the first team to clinch the title at home since the 2002 Anaheim Angels.

Team	R	H	E
Detroit	0	0	0
St. Louis	0	0	0
Starting pitchers: DET: Justin Verlander (0-1) STL: Jeff Weaver (0-1)

Alternative 2006 World Series logos

• Secondary logo
  Secondary logo
• Tertiary logo
  Tertiary logo
• Quaternary logo
  Quaternary logo

File:MLB-WS06-5.gif

2006 World Series Wordmark.

Trivia

• Game 4 rain out was the first since game 1 of the 1996 World Series
• Jim Leyland is the seventh manager to win pennants in both leagues. The previous six are Joe McCarthy (1929 Cubs and the Yankee teams of 1932, 1936-39 and 1941-43), Yogi Berra (1964 Yankees, 1973 Mets), Alvin Dark (1962 Giants, 1974 A's), Sparky Anderson (1970, 1972, 1975-76 Reds, 1984 Tigers), Dick Williams (1967 Red Sox, 1972-73 A's, 1984 Padres), and Tony La Russa (1988-90 A's, 2004, 2006 Cardinals)
• La Russa became the first manager to win multiple pennants in both leagues.
• Leyland was La Russa's third base coach for the Chicago White Sox in the early 1980s. He also served as a Pittsburgh-based advance scout for the Cardinals before he was hired by the Tigers.
• This is the first World Series in 22 years to have two previous World Series winning managers facing each other, both with new teams. Leyland previously won the 1997 World Series with the Florida Marlins, and La Russa won the 1989 World Series with the Oakland Athletics. Overall, it is the first World Series since 1999 to have two previous Series-winning managers facing each other.
• For the second year in a row, a team from the Central Division is guaranteed to win the World Series. Before 2005, the World Series champion had never come from the Central Division since it was created in 1994.
• For only the second time since 1975 (previously in 2004), both of the World Series teams have remained in the same city since the AL was established in 1901.
• The Series is guaranteed to result in the seventh different champion in seven years.
• St. Louis finished the year 83-78. This is the second-worst record ever for a league champion (the 1973 New York Mets finished 82-79). The Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim all finished with better records, yet failed to make the postseason.
• If the Cardinals win the World Series, it will mean that every division will have produced exactly one champion in the years 2001 to 2006 (2001 NL West-Arizona Diamondbacks, 2002 AL West-Anaheim Angels, 2003 NL East-Florida Marlins, 2004 AL East-Boston Red Sox, 2005 AL Central-Chicago White Sox and 2006 NL Central-St. Louis Cardinals).
• If the Cardinals win they will be the second team (the 2003 Florida Marlins being the first) since the creation of the Division Series to win the World Series without ever having home-field advantage during their entire post-season.
• Curtis Granderson (0-for-13), Ivan Rodriguez (0-for-11) and Placido Polanco (0-for-10) are the first group of three teammates, each with 10-or-more at-bats, to go hitless through the first three games of a World Series.
• Fernando Rodney's one-run throwing error gave the Cardinals a tie in the seventh inning of Game 4. Coupled with errors by Justin Verlander in Game 1, Todd Jones in Game 2, and Joel Zumaya in Game 3, Rodney's error left the Tigers with the dubious distinction of being the only team whose pitchers made errors in each of the first four games of a World Series. The Tigers also set the record for errors by pitchers in a World Series with 4.