Update [2006-10-25 22:33:45 by Valatan]:: No game tonight. Postponed by rain. I assume this means no travel day on Friday. I can't see Leyland wanting to move up Verlander, and I really can't see Tony wanting to go with anyone but Suppan.
suppan bonderman
12-7, 4.12 14-8, 4.08
Jeremy Bonderman is the type of pitcher that absolutely gives the Cardinals fits--namely a young player that has been historically shaky, but with a history of throwing the occasional gem. The Cardinals have seen him before, and he had quite the good game--seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts. On the plus side, despite being a rookie, he's not of the soft tossing lefty variety. He is a right hander, with a pretty extreme platoon split, too--LH batters hit him significantly harder than righties--his OPS allowed (.822) is 200 points higher against lefties, and there's a general correlation across the rest of his stats, and therefore, La Russa has opted for the following lineup:
| DETROIT | ST. LOUIS |
| Granderson cf | Eckstein ss |
| Monroe lf | Duncan rf |
| Guillen ss | Albert 1b |
| Ordonez rf | Edmonds cf |
| Casey 1b | Rolen 3b |
| Rodriguez c | Wilson lf |
| Polanco 2b | Molina c |
| Inge 3b | Miles 2b |
| Bonderman p | Suppan p |
It's great to see the Albert/Jimmy/Rolen trifecta lined up one after another once again in the lineup. It seems like it's been ages since that has happened. Belliard not getting the start kind of confused me until I realised that, in his career Aaron Miles is three for six with a HR against Bonderman, while Belliard is three for twenty one with no extra base hits. A very Tony decision.
It's still kinda amazing to me to say that this team is up in the World Series. A win tonight means that they have a chance to try and win the whole thing at home, in perhaps the most fashionable way possible of bringing in a new ballpark.
We might still rain out, but myself, I'm ready to see some baseball. Go get 'em, guys. Two more. Please, two more wins.