Inside Pitch

ST. LOUIS -- Brrrr. Greetings from Section 313 here at Busch Stadium for tonight's World Series opener between the Cards and Rangers. I like the setup here. They have us in a bunch of suites down the right-field line (I'm in the Stan Musial Room. ... cool). You can go inside to watch the game on TV, where the Internet isn't really working, or sit outside where there's ethernet cables and they work perfectly (memo to the Sabres and all teams -- hard-wire your press areas, please).

I'll be providing plenty of thoughts as the night goes on but please understand we're also working on the print product on some tight deadlines. It's an intriguing matchup but you wonder how both teams are going to deal with this weather. It's freezing and the wind is blowing hard. Looks like it's swirling all over the place and not really heading in one direction.

We're going to have the anthems shortly (check the pic). Here's tonight's lineups:

Rangers: Kinsler,  2b: Andrus, ss; Hamilton, cf; Young, 1b; Beltre, 3b; Cruz, rf; Napoli, c; Murphy, lf; Wilson, p
Cardinals: Furcal, ss; Jay, cf; Pujols, 1b; Holliday, lf; Berkman, rf; Freese, 3b; Molina, c; Punto, 2b; Carpenter, p.

Keep it here for updates from the opener. The coldest Game One was 41 degrees in Baltimore in 1979. We're going to be close. Yeesh.

---Mike Harrrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Top-1st: The first pitch from Carpenter to Kinsler, a ball, came at 7:06 CT and the temperature is a frosty 48 degrees. The Rangers are retired thanks to some great defense, something that was not a Cardinal hallmark for much of the season. Kinsler opened with a single that hopped past Freese at third (should have been scored an error), but Molina threw him out trying to steal. Andrus was then retired on a great play by Carpenter, who bellyflopped to catch Pujols' throw while covering the bag and had the presence of mind to pull in his pitching hand to his body so Andrus wouldn't step on it on the way by. Hamilton then grounded to short.

Mid-2nd: We stay scoreless as Carpenter makes another great pitch in the clutch, a 93-mph sinker to Napoli that turns into a routine 6-4-3 double play that kills a first-and-second rally. Beltre got it started with a double past Freese at third, who looks like he's stuck in the mud. A guy with name should be able to play fine in the cold, right? 

Bottom-2nd: Earlier today, it seemed MLB had nixed the idea of Dirk Nowitzki throwing a first pitch in Texas due to the NBA lockout. Come on, that's silly. He's the FIRST guy I would think should be doing that in Dallas this year. Well, it seems Bud Selig stepped in and Dirk will be throwing this weekend according to this ESPNDallas.com story. Good call, Commish. The game remains scoreless.

End-3rd: I accept the best wishes from a good friend of the blog, longtime Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Bill Livingston. Our man Livy penned this piece that gives you a good idea of what it's like for columnists at the World Series. I saw Sully have a few of these meltdowns in his day (think Game One in 2000, when the Mets blew a ninth-inning lead at Yankee Stadium and lost in the 12th. Sully was apoplectic). We're scoreless through three, the Rangers have two hits and Punto's third-inning single was the Cardinals' first. Carpenter has thrown 42 pitches Wilson has thrown 40. Both have thrown 23 strikes.

End-4th: The Cardinals make the first breakthrough and it makes sense since Wilson has been living on the edge far more than Carpenter, who has retired seven straight. Wilson hit Pujols with a bouncing slider in the dirt and Holliday drove a double to the corner in right that sent the obviously hobbled Pujols into third (barely). Berkman then drove a fastball to right (right) for a two-run single to give St. Louis the lead. What a season Berkman has had as the NL Comeback Player of the Year. He looked done last year with the Yankees. Now he has a $12 million deal for 2012. Cards lead, 2-0.

Mid-5th: The Rangers come right back as Beltre leads off with a single and, one out later, Napoli pummels an outside sinker that tailed back over the plate deep into the seats in right. A no-doubter. Looked like about a dozen rows up. Big momentum boost for the Rangers to answer the Cardinals' run and big downer for Carpenter to give his lead right back. Game tied, 2-2.

End-6th: My fingers are frozen. I had to relocate inside. Didn't pack gloves for this trip. Never figured they'd be needed. My bad. Anyway, both starting pitchers are out. The Cardinals pinch hit for Carpenter with two out and man on the corners, sending Allen Craig to the plate. Rangers manager Ron Washington immediately yanked Wilson for Alexi Ogando but Craig lined one past the glove of Cruz for an RBI single. Good thing Cruz blocked it with his leg on a dive or it would have rolled all the way to the wall. Furcal then took Cruz to the wall in right for the final out that was nearly a three-run homer. Cards lead, 3-2.
Final lines: Wilson 5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 4 K, 94 pitches, 50 strikes
                 Carpenter  6-5-2-2-1-4-87/49

End-7th: Still 3-2. Love the Clydesdale video with the Budweiser ditty they play here on the board. A signature like "Deep in the Heart of Texas" is in Arlington. 

It's over: Like I said earlier,  print work has to come first and the game got over so quickly that I got way behind on my story. Blame the St. Louis bullpen, which retired the final eight Texas hitters in order to finish up a 3-2 win. Cardinals lead the series, 1-0.

Game Two is Thursday night at 8:05.

ST. LOUIS -- Tonight will be the opener of my 14th World Series for The Buffalo News -- including every pitch in this century (a cool stat I like).

It's a lot of travel, a lot of hotels and a lot of long, late nights. And, as you probably guessed, I would not trade it one iota. You don't have a lot of time to do much but go to the games, but I try to carve a couple hours at least one day in each place and I've been pretty fortunate in that regard.

I've taken a boat out into San Francisco Bay and escaped from Alcatraz with colleague Bob DiCesare after visiting the famed prison in 2002, walked Miami's South Beach in 2003 and to the end of St. Petersburg Pier in 2008, talked about ex-Bison and Angel Bartolo Colon during a chance lunch meeting with former Angels owner and honorary AL President Jackie Autry at the famous food counters of Boston's Faneuil Hall in 2007.

I got a tour of the humidor and climbed to the mile-high row of seats at Coors Field in 2007 (OK, so that was at the park, but it was still cool), watched the bleachers at Wrigley Field get quietly rebuilt as Chicago was crazy over the White Sox in 2005. There was also a haunting trip to the smoldering ruins of Ground Zero in 2001, just a month after the planes downed the Twin Towers.

Last year was a good one, as I strolled a quiet McCovey Cove in San Francisco and then found time in Texas for a Dallas Cowboys game and a media/sponsor party at a Texas ranch, complete with armadillo races.

Today's side trip -- the ride up the famous Gateway Arch on the banks of the mighty Mississippi.

Before you head inside though comes the requisite photos from directly underneath the thing (above left), which is 630-feet high at its apex. How in the world does it stay up?

You ride up to the observation deck in these tiny capsules (left), five people to a car and eight cars to a ride. There's no room for claustrophobia here. It's tight. When the door shuts, you can see out to the steel innards of the Arch and the emergency stairs (hope we don't need those!). It's a jerky, over-and-up ride for a bit and then the final part of the four-minute jaunt is straight up to the observation deck.

Once you get up there, it's really a set of portholes looking out on either side. It's not a large deck like you'd have atop a tall buliding like the CN Tower in Toronto for instance. It's only about three people wide! Again, claustrophobics need not apply. And it's not flat either. The floor is curved so you kind of hold on to the wall as you walk up and down.

They tell me you can see 30 miles on a clear day. I still got great views of downtown at least today even though it was cloudy. Busch Stadium (tarp on today at right), the famous old court house and the Edward Jones Dome, home of the Rams, on one side. The river on the other, with the casinos of Illinois and a large barge being pushed by a riverboat. Pretty cool.

When it's time to go, you head down a few stairs and line up again for the same tram back. At the base (it's all underground between the two legs) is a large Museum of Westward Expansion, movie theaters,  gift shops and the like.

It's a must-do in St. Louis, akin to riding the Maid of the Mist if you're in Niagara Falls. 

Add it to the list. And enough talking. It's time to play ball soon. Stay tuned for more on the pregame press conferences and our live blog from Game One, which begins at 8:05.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals sure know how to preserve their legacy for future generations. All around Busch Stadium are statues of their greats, as well as a fabulous display on late broadcaster Jack Buck (right).

I made reference to all this in my story today about Albert Pujols, who will certainly join them one day and might get a likeness bigger than everybody except Stan Musial (above) if he stays and doesn't leave in free agency.

Check out the displays (remember to click on the pix). Awesome.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

ST. LOUIS -- Click below to hear my thoughts on Media Day and the opening of the 2011 World Series and then make your pick in our poll below. I got the Rangers in six but five wouldn't surprise me either.

Mike Harrington on Media Day

ST. LOUIS -- Media Day at the World Series is great. You have tremendous access and don't have a lot of people who don't belong there getting in the way. One negative: You have a lot of notes and tape recordings to transcribe.

Still have a lot of print edition work I'm in the midst of and we're an hour behind here, of course. So here's some quick updates on what the teams said:

---Rangers manager Ron Washington goes with C.J. Wilson in Game One and Colby Lewis in Game Two. Tony LaRussa counters with Chris Carpenter and Jaime Garcia, the first Mexican starter in a series since Fernando Valenzuela. Neither team has announced starters for the games in Texas. There were a lot of questions about Carpenter having a sore elbow. Said Carpenter: "Everybody has got soreness and everybody has got aches. {LaRussa and pitching coach Dave Duncan) would not throw me out there if it wasn't good and neither would the trainers or doctors. ... I'm fine to go Wednesday. I wouldn't go out there if I wasn't."

---Look for the Rangers to move Nelson Cruz up out of the No. 7 hole in the lineup, at least for the games here where pitchers will hit. Six homers and 13 RBIs in the ALCS probably warrant a boost up the card, don't you think?

---The teams haven't met in interleague play since 2004, quite a scheduling quirk. So there's plenty of video work and poring over advance scouting reports.

---Albert Pujols again pushed away questions about his impending free agent status as he has all season. I was in a small group that had a great chat with hitting coach and former home run king Mark McGwire about Pujols. Cheap Plug Alert: Be sure to read McGwire's comments in my story about Pujols in Wednesday's paper.

---The Rangers feel their offense will be ready this time. Remember, they hit just .190 last year against the Giants and Josh Hamilton (above) was 2 for 20.  The whole experience of going to the Series last year for the first time really helped them. They were a confident group today.

"When you play for an organization that's never been that far, never got into that kind of territory, you think you're making history and it all becomes bigger than it should be," second baseman Ian Kinsler told me when I asked about the club's swagger. "To be able to experience that is huge for us coming into this year. We didn't panic or got out of our element but there was a little lack of focus."

---Lots of questions to the Rangers about president Nolan Ryan, who predicted his team would win its first title in six games during an interview earlier in the day on a Dallas radio station. Ryan's predictions the last two years have all been pretty good, other than last year's World Series.

"If he says it, trust him," said Cruz. "He's good at that."

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Photo: Hamilton gives an answer to, lo and behold, the Buffalo News! The shot is from the MLB PR department's Twitter account. Also there is MLB Network reporter Matt Yallof, who formerly worked at Ch. 7.

ST. LOUIS -- MLB just announced a change in the Media Day schedule, shifting the Rangers' time from 1:45 Central to 4 p.m. Central. Later dinner for all of us tonight. So now things don't start until C.J. Wilson and Ron Washington hit the podium at 2:15 CT.

So while we wait to mine some nuggets at Media Day, here's some reading material for you to peruse:

---Today is the 25th anniversary of Game One of the 1986 World Series,  a 1-0 win for the Red Sox over the Mets in Shea Stadium. The only run scored in the seventh inning on an error by Mets second baseman Tim Teufel, who let a routine groundball go through his legs. ESPN has a look back at that game and also provides a fascinating link to a career retrospective on Teufel, who managed the Bisons last season and will be Terry Collins' third-base coach in New York in 2012.

Interesting to note the child that Teufel was celebrating the berth of when he and teammates were arrested in a celebrated 1986 bar fight in Houston was Shawn, the Toledo Mud Hens pitcher who threw against Teufel's Bisons this season in Coca-Cola Field.

---Buffalo Baseball Hall of Famer Jeff Manto and ex-Bisons catcher Tim Laker appear to be the candidates for the White Sox vacant hitting coach job. Manto was the team's roving instructor last year while Laker was at Triple-A Charlotte under manager Joe McEwing, who has been hired as Robin Ventura's third-base coach. But remember this: McEwing is regarded as one of Manto's best friends in the game and another is Sox minor-league director and former big-league manager Buddy Bell. Interesting.

Then there's this: Owner Jerry Reinsdorf is apparently gauging Jim Thome's interest.

---The Fallout at Fenway continues. The Boston Globe got a hold of fried-chicken-eating and beer-drinking pitcher Jon Lester and he admitted to doing just that in the clubhouse during games as the paper reported last week. Columnist Dan Shaugnessy says it's time for Josh Beckett and John Lackey to issue similar mea culpas. Wrote Shaughnessy: "Time for the rest of the beer-swillin’, biscuit-eatin’, fried-chicken munchin’ Red Sox starting pitchers to fess up. The 1919 Chicago White Sox had Eight Men Out. The 2011 Red Sox have Three Men and a Bucket of Popeye’s."

---Speaking of the Red Sox, if they don't make a deal today with the Cubs for compensation for GM Theo Epstein, it's got to be put off until after the World Series. Alex Rodriguez circa 2007 aside, you're not supposed to make any announcements during the Fall Classic.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

ST. LOUIS -- Greetings from the Gateway to the West as we're under the shadows of the famed Arch at Busch Stadium for Media Day of the 107th World Series. The Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals will both hold Super Bowl-style sessions today with reporters -- minus the usual freeks and geeks and alleged "media" that show up at the NFL's event a few days before the game. The managers and Game One starters (C.J. Wilson and Chris Carpenter) will hold separate sessions in an adjacent interview room.

The National League won the All-Star Game so that's why we're here but let's just assume that no one figured we would be in this town. Not with the Cardinals 10 1/2 games out of the wild-card on August 24. Not when they faced the Phillies in the division series. And not when they faced the Brewers in the NLCS. But lo and behold, here we are in The House that Albert Built. One of the best managerial jobs of Tony LaRussa's career.

And Albert Pujols figures to be a major center of attention today. He's spent most of the season not talking about his impending free agency but good luck to him on that front today. There are statues of famous Cardinals all around the park and Pujols would get one for sure someday -- if he stayed and finished his career. He's almost the kind of free agent that it seems the team can't possibly let go but we'll  see how that goes.

It's chilly and dank here today. But the weather is supposed to be fine for Game Two on Thursday night and likely fine (only a 20 percent chance of rain for Game One tomorrow). Well, fine provided you like the cold. We're talking lows dipping into the 30s. Brrrr. Look for plenty of FOX shots of fans bundled up in red hats and scarves.

Keep it here all day for updates. Here's today's schedule, with the times listed as Eastern:

2:45-3:30 -- Rangers team availability
3:15 -- C.J. Wilson news conference
3:30 -- Ron Washington news conference
3:30-5:00 -- Rangers workout
4:00-4:45 -- Cardinals team availability
4:45-5:15 -- Tony LaRussa and Chris Carpenter news conferences
5:00-7:00 -- Cardinals workout 

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

(Photo reminder: Any pictures I post on the blog during the series will be clickable for a bigger view.)

After a summer of talk that was basically all Yankees and Red Sox all the time, after a September marked by the dominance of the Tigers, the rise of the Rays and the colossal fall of the Sox, we are left with this:

The Texas Rangers are the best team in the American League. Again.

No AL club has gone to the World Series in back-to-back years since the Yankees went to four straight from 1998-2001. No AL West team, in either the two- or three-division setup, has been a repeat pennant winner since the A's took three straight from 1988-1990.

That all changed Saturday night as the Rangers pounded the Detroit Tigers, 15-5, to win the ALCS in six games. Texas will open the World Series Wednesday night in either Milwaukee or St. Louis. Pretty awesome accomplishment.

I'll admit I slept on the Rangers as a team that could get back to the Fall Classic. I picked them to lose against both the Rays and the Tigers. Yikes. Still, it is hard to gauge a team that played 38 games against the Mariners and A's and has the Astros as a chief interleague rival. They were clearly the best in the AL West but how far could they go after that?

But the Rangers are so balanced offensively with speed, for-average hitters and power numbers, and have such a deep bullpen that they've been by far the best team in the playoffs in either league. They're the favorite no matter who the NL produces.

No one gives manager Ron Washington much credit either but he's been terrific. You have to love, for instance, what he did with Alexei Ogando. A reliever with a 1.30 ERA last year, Ogando started 29 games this year and went 13-8, 3.51 with 126 strikeouts in 169 innings. With fewer starters needed in the postseason, he's back in the pen. He made three scoreless appearances in the division series against the Rays, and pitched to a 1.17 ERA with two wins against the Tigers.

In a bizarre regular season, the Rangers survived the discord about whether to bring back the beloved Michael Young, some of the worst heat in Dallas' history and even the trauma of seeing the fatal fall from the bleachers of one of their fans. They won their division, took out the Rays and got a postseason all-time record six home runs in a series from Nelson Cruz (above). Now they're four wins away from their first title.

The Mavericks. TCU in the Rose Bowl. And now the Rangers. Pretty good run for Big D.

Cheap plug alert: I'll be somewhere (either Milwaukee or St. Louis) for Media Day on Tuesday. Follow all our World Series coverage in print and online. Game One is Wednesday night.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

AP Photo: The celebration is on for ALCS MVP Nelson Cruz in the Rangers' clubhouse.

Tigers-Rangers and Cardinals-Brewers. Did you have that LCS combo in March? Heck, did you have it two weeks ago? This has become one bizarro October.

The Red Sox and Braves, who looked solid all summer, went bellyup before we even got out of September. The Cinderella Rays were gonzo. Then the Yankees went down -- and you'll note I picked that one. But the biggest shocker of all was the Phillies losing to St. Louis.

They were the best team in baseball all year but their offense failed them. That eight-game losing streak after they clinched the NL East was, in fact, a bad omen. And Cliff Lee blowing a 4-0 lead in Game Two when they were in complete control of the NLDS was another major issue.

Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer correctly says this is the lowest point for the Phillies since they won the World Series in 2008. And it appears Ryan Howard may have a torn Achilles tendon after making the last out.

So while the Phillies and Yankees try to figure out what's next (Cheap plug: Read more on the Yankees in Sunday's Inside Baseball column),  the final four play on. The ALCS opens tonight in Texas with the NLCS opening Sunday in Milwaukee. Here's my thoughts:

Tigers vs. Rangers -- Big loss for the Tigers came out today with Delmon Young being taken off the roster with a strained oblique. He's been huge since he was acquired at the trade deadline. Still, I like the roll this team is on.  I like Justin Verlander in Game One and potentially going three times.  Doug Fister and Max Scherzer provide great help in the rotation and the bullpen has been solid led by Jose Valverde. The Rangers looked terrific against the Rays, like they completely expect to go back to the World Series. Think the Red Sox still wish they had Adrian Beltre? FOX may wish this was Yankees-Red Sox but they will still get a great series. Tigers in seven.

Cardinals vs. Brewers -- All the momentum in the world has me wanting to pick the Cardinals but I have questions about their rotation after Chris Carpenter. The Brewers, meanwhile, are just about unbeatable at Miller Park. Great offense,  great bullpen,  solid rotation. Plus they know this is their one chance with Prince Fielder having one foot out of the door en route to free agency. Prince and old man Cecil have long been estranged so it will be interesting to see how he deals with all the questions about his father if he meets the Tigers, Cecil's old team, in a World Series. The Cardinals have been a great story but the road ends here. Brewers in five.

Now you make your picks.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

The New York Mets announced major changes in their coaching staff for 2012 Wednesday afternoon and it means the Buffalo Bisons are going to have a new field staff for their 25th anniversary season in Coca-Cola Field.

Bisons manager Tim Teufel has been promoted to third-base coach in New York and pitching coach Ricky Bones,  who has directed the Buffalo mound staff for all three years the Mets have been here, will be heading to Citi Field as the bullpen coach.

4:15 p.m. update: Just got off a Mets conference call where GM Sandy Alderson said Double-A Binghamton manager and Teufel's 1986 Mets platoon partner Wally Backman is "a very strong candidate" to be named Bisons manager.

The Mets announced that bench coach Ken Oberkfell -- who managed the Bisons in 2009 and 2010 -- first-base coach and longtime former Met Mookie Wilson, third-base coach Chip Hale and bullpen coach Jon Debus will not return to Terry Collins' staff next season.

Hale has signed a two-year contract to be the third-base coach in Oakland. Wilson and Debus will be offered other positions in the organization. Oberkfell's status remains uncertain. Hitting coach Dave Hudgens and pitching coach Dan Warthen will retain their roles in New York.

So what does this mean for the Bisons? Maybe Oberkfell returns as manager. Or maybe, the Mets now have it set up to promote Wally Backman, Teufel's 1986 platoon mate, as the manager in Buffalo after he spent last year at Double-A Binghamton. 

Stay tuned. The Mets are having a conference call at 4 and I'll be listening in.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Quick hits on the division series:

---Remember when I said that Game One suspension hurt the Tigers? Never mind. The Tigers survived the Bronx downpours for a huge 5-3 win in Game Two. And ponder this one: If Justin Verlander beats CC Sabathia tonight at 8:30 -- which I think he will do -- the Yankees' season will rest of the shabby, erratic arm of A.J. Burnett. Yeesh. Advantage, Tigers.

---Seemed like we should have just been able to cue up that Phillies-Brewers NLCS. The Diamondbacks and Cardinals have been outclassed. At least that's what I was thinking when the Phillies had a 4-0 lead last night and were heading to a 2-0 series lead of their own. And then Cliff Lee blew the lead and the Cardinals came back to win, 5-4. I still think the Phillies win the series but it's a lot dicier now with the next two in St. Loo.

---No clue about the Rays and Rangers. Texas' 8-6 win Saturday broke the six-game losing streak home teams had in the division series between these clubs the last two years in the ALDS. Let's see what happens in today's key swing game with the series at 1-1.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Mother Nature has really spun the American League division series in the Bronx in favor of the Yankees. The rain poured down Friday suspending the game and now Justin Verlander will only pitch Game Three. A whole different scenario than having him pitch Games One and Five.

I hate the suspended games rule in this situation for the postseason. It should only apply to games that are already official, which was the case in Game Five of the 2008 World Series in Philadelphia. In the case of Game One, they should have just started over. 

As it was, they finished Saturday night and as the Daily News puts it, "Here's to you, Mr. Robinson". And the Yankees certainly have rookie Ivan Nova to thank. What a job by a guy who hasn't lost since June.

The Bisons, it should be noted, dealt poorly with the two rookie mound studs of the postseason thus far during their season.

Nova went 7 2/3 innings and fanned 10 in a 6-2 win over Buffalo July 7 in Scranton. Nova gave up a two-run homer to Fernando Martinez in the first inning and wasn't touched after that. Tampa Bay's Matt Moore, the Game One winner Friday at Texas, threw six shutout innings of two-hit ball and also fanned 10 for Durham Aug. 12 at Coca-Cola Field. He left with a 2-0 lead but got a no-decision as the Bisons rallied to win,3 -2.

Courtesy of Bisons PR director Brad Bisbing, here's the list of former Herd men in the MLB postseason:

Yankees: Freddy Garcia, CC Sabathia (rehab only)
Tigers: Jhonny Peralta, Victor Martinez, Omir Santos
Rays: Kelly Shoppach
Rangers: Mike Adams
Phillies: Cliff Lee, Ben Francisco, Wilson Valdez
Cardinals: Jake Westbrook
Brewers: None
Diamondbacks: John McDonald 

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)