crawls, squeaks, stinks like one, it’s gottta be one
So Kenny sez it was dirt; he also said he didn’t speak to an umpire, yet he was obviously approached by home plate umpire Marquez after the first.
(As a side note; isn’t it a little late for La Russa to be saying he doesn’t think it was dirt?)
Here’s the evidence.
The above collage captures the following:
A. World Series, Game two against the Cards. B. American League Championship Series, Game three against the A’s. C and D, American League Division Series, Game two against the Yankees
Below you’ll find, left, against the Texas Rangers, September 12 ; middle, August 12, against the White Sox, and right, against the Indians, April 14.
What you see is the same consistent beige spot on the bottom of Rogers’ thumb on his pitching hand. Now, if applying a foreign substance to the ball is illegal, then why is Rogers allowed to pitch with that crap all over his hand (see note C on top image)?
For whatever reason, Rogers seemed to be pitching extremely well towards the end of the regular season. He went 6-4 in his last 10 starts with an ERA close to 0.24.
In his August 12 start against the Sox, he pitched 7 innings, he took the loss, but no earned runs (4 unearned).
In his September 12 start against the Rangers, he pitched 7, allowed 2 runs (10 hits) and took the win.
In his April 14 start against the Indians, he pitched 8 innings, allowed 1 run, (7 hits) and took the win.
The White Sox game was played in Chicago, while the Cleveland and Texas games were played in Detroit; same as all of his starts in the post season.
I don’t know if it’s too late, but I sure smell one stinking rat.
October 24th, 2006 at 12:53 am
Alejandro, I have to say, only in Exhibit A does it really look like Rogers has anything on his hand other than a shadow or a blur. In the story you linked to on LaRussa, there’s a clearer picture of the substance. In that photo, it does look too shiny to be mere dirt. And it was too cold that night for it to have been sweat, I think. But I do think this is making a mountain out of a molehill. The evidence, such as it is, is hardly conclusive, and Rogers washed his hands after the first inning and was still insanely good. So you can hardly say that his dominance recently is because of some blurry little smear on his hand, which may or may not be in the photos above. In other words, I don’t smell no stinking rat. I might have noticed a whiff of dormouse, though.
And for anyone who’s confused, Slate’s Explainer explains: http://www.slate.com/id/2152037/
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October 24th, 2006 at 10:55 am
So ok, he washed his hands after the first inning, that just means he put the stuff on the inside part of his glove, although the pictures posted here are not very clear, if you watched the game, and the analysis on espn afterwards it is very clear that there was a shiny dark substance on the heel of his left thumb, but not only did they show pics of WS game 2 but they also showed pics of games against the yankees and against the A’s of the same similar looking stuff. K Rogers is a cheater and the league needs to do something about it even though LaRussa didn’t. as stated above, dirt is not that shiny and does not have the pine tar looking color to it. i think we have all played with wet dirt as you kids and we all know what dirt looks like, and its certainly not that.
i hope the series goes to game 6 just so that rogers pitches again, this time sans the tar, and i am sure that we will see the rogers of years past that posted a 8. something era and prove that he has been cheating this whole post-season
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October 24th, 2006 at 11:24 am
Inconclusive????? It seems to me those images show discoloring on his hand of the beige kind. You can sit there and say he didn’t have it, or that he was lights out for the rest of the game, but here’s something you didn’t realize. Thanks to ESPN.COM’s Page 2, we now know that Rogers pitches with a batting practice cap on, not the regular game cap. This means the underbill of his cap is black, perfect to rub some ointment or tar. Conspiracy theory? No, just a lying stinking Rat.
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October 24th, 2006 at 11:30 am
[...] More evidence for my theory that Rogers cheats during home games. Share us:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
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October 26th, 2006 at 2:20 pm
[...] So, I was talking with Nick about this whole saga, and thinking about Alejandro’s post (s), and it became today’s Boston Metro column. And just so he doesn’t feel left out, I’m sure I chatted about it with Coley too! [...]
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February 17th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
[...] ready for Kenny Rogers ERA Watch! Considering the mysterious brown mark was found on his hand throughout the season, I’d expect opposing managers to order inspections several times this year. • Gender [...]
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