 (Elsa/Getty Images) St. Louis survived the regular season and got rolling in the playoffs.
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Friday, Oct. 27 - Crasnick: Series mistakes sully Tigers' breakthrough season
- Jim Leyland and the Tigers will spend the winter pondering the lapses that killed their World Series hopes, writes Jerry Crasnick.
- Stark: The best 83-win team in baseball history
- The Cardinals are world champions for the first time since 1982 -- and the best 83-win team in history.
- Wojciechowski: La Russa pushed all the right buttons
- Tony La Russa calls it "a player's game," but even he might admit that the 2006 Cardinals represented his best work yet.
- Nelson: Weaver always had his believers
- After all that's happened to Jeff Weaver this season, no one could have scripted a better ending.
- Neyer: Meet the little shortstop who could
 - Just a few years ago, a lot of important people thought David Eckstein wouldn't ever do anything at all.
- Little big man: Eckstein named World Series MVP
- David Eckstein, the Cardinals' 5-foot-7, 160-pound shortstop, stands tall as the World Series MVP.
- Cards clinch first title since '82 despite little from Pujols
- Everyone knows the key to the Cardinals' offense is Albert Pujols.
- From bench to throne: Rolen rebounds with huge Series
- Scott Rolen's playoffs started miserably, but he made up for it in the World Series.
- Error-prone pitchers throw away Tigers' chances
- Pitchers weren't the only ones who threw away
Detroit's chances to win its first World Series since 1984.
- Castoff Weaver finally wins the big one with Cardinals
- Cast off by one team this summer, Jeff Weaver pitched the St. Louis
Cardinals to a World Series title Friday night against the Detroit
Tigers -- one of his former clubs.
- Cardinals fans soak up Series win after 24-year drought
- Cardinals fans celebrate after a 24-year World Series drought.
- Rogers to start for Tigers, Reyes for Cards in Game 6
- If there's a Game 6, Kenny Rogers will start for the Tigers and Anthony Reyes will start for the Cards.
Thursday, Oct. 26 - Stark: Cardinals winning game of inches
- An untimely slip, a routine throw gone awry, a ball hit slightly out of reach. There's only a fine line separating the unfortunate Tigers from a tied series.
- Crasnick: Eckstein has the heart of a champion
- Cardinals shortstop David Eckstein is playing like a guy with World Series MVP aspirations.
- Wojciechowski: Only a matter of time for Cardinals
- The Cardinals will soon be showering in champagne. And without Kenny Rogers pitching Game 5, it's likely to come Friday.
- Nelson: Tigers lose footing at critical juncture
- Due to a series of unfortunate events in the outfield, the Tigers now face elimination.
- Law: Costly miscues doom Tigers
- The Tigers lost Game 4 because they made too many mental and physical errors in the field.
End text ------------------------- - Tigers roll out rotation; Cards tab Weaver for Game 5
- Jeff Weaver will start Game 5 of the World Series for the Cardinals ahead of Game 1 hero Anthony Reyes.
- Inside Edge: Should the Tigers swing earlier?
- Inside Edge takes a closer look at whether the Tigers should swing early in the count.
Wednesday, Oct. 25 - Stark: The rainfall classic
- With rain in the forecast through Friday in St. Louis, the World Series currently waits on standby to play Game 4.
- Crasnick: Hold the Series at a hot spot?
- Is there any interest in having the World Series at a neutral site, where weather conditions are comfortable for all? Jerry Crasnick surveys eight major leaguers.
- Thompson: The man who discovered Albert Pujols
- Dave Karaff works at Wal-Mart and roots for the Cardinals, with good reason. He once scouted and signed their premier player, Albert Pujols.
- Beyond Series, Gold Glove is Pujols' desire
- Albert Pujols' offensive exploits are well-known, but his main individual goal is to win a Gold Glove award.
- Inside Edge: Bonderman vs. Suppan
- Inside Edge takes a closer look at the Game 4 pitching matchup between Jeremy Bonderman and Jeff Suppan.
- Caple: Should I vote for McGwire?
- Jim Caple took to the streets of St. Louis to ask Cardinals fans if he should vote for Mark McGwire for the Hall of Fame.
Tuesday, October 24 - Neyer: A lot has changed since 1968
- Things were a lot different in 1968 -- the last time the Tigers and Cardinals met in the World Series.
- Wojciechowski: Cardinals have everyone fooled
- While the Tigers have been missing in action, the underdog Cardinals are playing like a team planning a victory parade.
- Stark: Carpenter shows off his amazing stuff
- In an outing befitting a true ace, Chris Carpenter tossed eight dominant innings in the Cardinals' victory in Game 3.
- Crasnick: Pudge, Tigers swinging dead wood
- Pudge Rodriguez and the Tigers have brought their bats. Whether they've used them is another story.
- Nelson: Zumaya unravels, Tigers pay the price
- In his first outing in two weeks, Joel Zumaya's bad throwing error proved costly in the Tigers' Game 3 loss.
- Law: Tigers make it easy for Carpenter
- Chris Carpenter was the clear star of Game 3, and America got to see why he won the Cy Young Award in the National League last year.
- Olney: Sticky situation gets stickier
- Dirtgate lives. So now where do umpires draw the line after mishandling the Kenny Rogers controversy?
- Inside Edge: The matchup against Carpenter, Robertson
- Inside Edge takes a closer look at how each team matches up against the Game 3 starters, Chris Carpenter and Nate Robertson.
Monday, October 23 - Stark: Thanks to La Russa, Dirtgate takes on new life
- A day later, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa opened up and shed new light on the developing mystery known as Dirtgate.
- Crasnick: Cards excited to have home-field advantage again
- The Cardinals hope and expect to derive an edge from a return to Busch Stadium.
- Olney: Top 10 explanations
- Here are the top 10 ways Kenny Rogers could've better explained the brown splotch on his pitching hand.
- Rojas: Pujols, Polanco are compadres off the field
- Albert Pujols and Placido Polanco's friendship has created close ties between the two players and their families.
- World Series ratings hit record low for Game 1
- Television ratings for the World Series hit a record low for the opener, then rebounded for Sunday's Game 2.
- Inside Edge: What has and hasn't worked in World Series
- Inside Edge takes a closer look at what has and what hasn't worked so far in the World Series.
- Caple: Requiem for Tiger Stadium
- While the Tigers play in the shiny and new Comerica Park, Jim Caple asks what do you do with an old ballpark?
- Thompson: Perfect game still impacting Larsen's life
- Don Larsen achieved perfection one day 50 years ago. And since then, he's enjoyed several days that have come pretty close.
- Uni Watch: Hat trick
- From Kenny Rogers' cap to all the World Series logos, there's plenty of Uni Watch material in this Fall Classic.
Sunday, October 22 - Stark: Rogers was throwing some filthy stuff in Game 2
- Somewhere in the midst of the Kenny Rogers Dirtgate saga, the Tigers beat the Cardinals 3-1 to even the World Series at a game apiece.
- Wojciechowski: TV cameras catch Rogers brown-handed
- What we know: Kenny Rogers continued his postseason brilliance. What we don't know: What was that brown gunk on his hand?
- Crasnick: Monroe provides early exclamation point for Tigers
- Craig Monroe gave the Tigers an early lead with a solo homer, and they never looked back in winning Game 2, writes Jerry Crasnick.
- Law: Rogers' stuff too good for Cards
- Kenny Rogers' amazing October continues, with a little help from the Heisenberg Strike Zone and some very predictable Cardinals hitters.
- Questions linger over substance on Rogers' left hand
- Early in the Tigers' 3-1 over the Cardinals that evened the Series at two games apiece, there appeared to be a dispute about
something on Kenny Rogers' pitching hand.
- Stark: Cards enjoying Octoberfest
- The Cardinals are now in position to pull off an all-time October feat.
- Inside Edge: How Weaver, Rogers have succeeded
- Inside Edge takes a closer look at the starters for Game 2 of the World Series -- Jeff Weaver and Kenny Rogers.
- Nelson: Rogers part ace, part team leader
- Both Kenny Rogers and Jeff Weaver, Sunday's Game 2 starters, have undergone a metamorphosis of sorts.
- Olney: Cards adapt, grab Game 1
- Anthony Reyes and Scott Rolen were among the players who made adjustments and excelled in the opener.
Saturday, October 21 - Caple: Rookie Reyes hurls an unexpected gem
- Rookie Anthony Reyes turned in a masterful performance, lifting the Cardinals to an easy win in Game 1.
- Crasnick: Tigers go from juggernaut to just plain not
- In a span of two hours and 54 minutes in Game 1, the Tigers went from prohibitive World Series favorites to looking flatter than the bill of Anthony Reyes' cap.
- Stark: Leyland chooses, and loses, to Pujols
- Walk him or challenge him? Jim Leyland chose the latter against Albert Pujols -- and lost.
- Wojciechowski: Cards toss predictions out the window
- The only thing Game 1 proved was that the underdog Cardinals shouldn't be disregarded so quickly.
- Law: Cards pounce on Tigers in Game 1
- Anthony Reyes pitches the game of his life (so far, at least), and the Tigers show their inexperience as the Cardinals win a laugher.
- Gammons: Rogers, Weaver alter their image
- There was a negative perception about Kenny Rogers and Jeff Weaver in the postseason, but not anymore.
- Inside Edge: Verlander vs. Reyes
- Inside Edge takes a closer look at the starters for Game 1 of the World Series -- Justin Verlander and Anthony Reyes.
- Olney: Top 10 Series matchups
- Hours before the first pitch of the World Series, Buster Olney lists the top 10 matchups.
- Adelson: Comerica Park had tough act to follow
- The Tigers' playoff run has given Comerica Park the type of lasting memories that can help it escape Tiger Stadium's historic shadow.
Friday, October 20 - Stark: Why Tigers and Cardinals can win it all
- Jayson Stark presents five reasons why the Tigers and Cardinals can win the World Series.
- Lengthy layoff helps Tigers get healthy, set up rotation
- The Tigers couldn't have been any looser when they arrived for their pre-World Series workout Friday.
- Law: Cardinals vs. Tigers
- The Cardinals will have a lot of trouble against the superior pitching and offense of the Tigers.
- Rookies Verlander, Reyes get Game 1 starts
- Detroit Tigers rookie right-hander Justin Verlander will face off with St. Louis Cardinals rookie right-hander Anthony Reyes in Game 1 of the World Series.
- Neel: And the winner is ...
- Who will win the World Series? Eric Neel makes an argument for both the Tigers and the Cards -- and then a final decision.
- Granderson: Life in the D
- LZ Granderson was born and raised in Detroit and knows more than anyone why this forgotten town needs the Tigers.
- Crasnick: Trammell proud of Tigers' accomplishments
- Even though Tigers icon Alan Trammell was fired as manager a year ago, he's immensely proud of what his former team has done.
- Inside Edge: Several players peaking in October for Cards, Tigers
- Inside Edge's Five Things for Watch for Game 1 of the World Series.
Thursday, October 19 - Bob Seger, Anita Baker to sing at Detroit Series games
- Michigan natives Bob Seger and Anita Baker will sing before the first two games of the World Series at Comerica Park.
- Crasnick: How the 2006 Tigers were built
- How did the 2006 Tigers come together? Dave Dombrowski and company used patience, risk, luck and more to build a winner in three years.
- History on Tigers' side as wait for Series foe rolls on
- As if the Detroit Tigers don't have enough going
for them, consider this: The last six teams that started the World
Series with five or more days of rest all went on to win.
CARDINALS LOCAL HEADLINES
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MLB Playoffs:
CARDINALS WON 4-1
GAME 5 NOTES
ELIAS SAYS
• St. Louis is the seventh different team to win the World Series in the last seven years. Although no team has won the Series twice over that span, four players on this year's Cardinals have. David Eckstein and Scott Spiezio were winners with the 2002 Angels, as were Juan Encarnacion and Braden Looper with the 2003 Marlins.
• Yadier Molina led all players with 19 hits (in 53 at-bats) during the 2006 postseason, batting .358 in the playoffs after compiling a .216 batting average in the regular season.
• Placido Polanco batted .471 (16-for-34) in the Division Series and League Championship Series, hitting safely in all eight games, but he went hitless in 17 at-bats in the World Series.
• Detroit was the first team to commit errors in each of the first five games of a World Series since the 1979 Pirates. Tigers pitchers were charged with an error in each game of the 2006 World Series.
• Jeff Weaver was the fifth pitcher to win the clinching game of a World Series against a former team.
• David Eckstein, who played shortstop on the Angels when they won the World Series in 2002, is the third player to start at shortstop for two different championship teams.
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