-The hot topic of the day is whether or not Kenny Rogers cheated during this postseason? After last night’s first inning, Cards’ skipper Tony LaRussa pointed out to the umpires a dark substance on Rogers’ pitching hand. Was it pinetar? Did he scuff the ball? Who knows? But after the umpires asked the revitalized 41 year-old southpaw to wash it off, he proceeded to shutdown St. Louis to the tune of 1 hit over the next seven innings before giving way to closer Todd Jones. Consider that in that Cards’ first he allowed a hit and a walk with this substance but afterwards, got even better. Too weird for words. You’d have thought the opposite would happen after a Fox camera picked up the dark smudge. But if Rogers doctored up the ball in that opening frame, he didn’t pitch as well as he did the final seven. Are the Cards’ hitters that bad or were they that thrown off by this controversy? Or maybe Rogers knew he had to pitch extremely well or there would be a lot more raised eyebrows. It was also captured on ESPN’s SportsCenter that this wasn’t the only instance that the crafty lefty had this substance on that throwing hand. Supposedly, it was also noticeable during his ALDS win over the Yankees and ALCS victory over Oakland in which he pitched at least seven in baffling both opponents. So, is Rogers a cheater? Hard to say. The evidence doesn’t look promising for his credibility. But if he had done something really illegal, according to MLB umpire supervisor Steve Palermo, he would’ve been kicked out right away and subject to a 10-game suspension. So essentially, he’d have been done for the rest of the World Series. This is what Palermo had to say about the bizarre situation:

“Dirt is not a foreign substance. That’s what we play on. That’s the playing surface.“

Fair enough. Of course, the ball definitely can pickup dirt during the course of a game. It still looks very unusual. Here’s what Rogers had to say about this controversy:

“It was a big clump of dirt, and I wiped it off. I didn’t know it was there, and they told me and I took it off, and it wasn’t a big deal...With any athlete I think the longer you fail at something, the harder it is to turn that corner. Without a doubt I believe going out there and having success against that Yankee team was huge for me, huge for my confidence.“

Okay. So what would you expect him to say here? It’s not like he’s going to come out and confess. There’s a lot riding on the line here. This was a very serious accusation last night. Who knows? I’ll say this. Regardless whether or not he indeed used some substance to get a better grip on the ball, I’ve never seen Kenny Rogers so fired up during his starts. It’s almost like an entirely different person. Where did this intensity come from? I’ll bet that’s what all his former clubs are thinking at this moment.

The Cards Aaron Miles added:

“Somebody said they thought they saw pine tar on him. That’s about it. Whether he got rid of it, or he never had it in the first place, we don’t know. His stuff was good all game.“

And there you have it. Whatever Rogers did or didn’t do, the Cardinal hitters couldn’t figure him out. So now the Series is all even at one with a pivotal Game Three match-up set for tomorrow night in St. Louis between Chris Carpenter and Nate Robertson. Hopefully, this controversy won’t overshadow what now has the potential to be a very good series. But I’ll bet everyone is counting down in anticipation of Game 6 when The Gambler is next slated to pitch. Not to be overlooked as well is the fact that manager Jim Leyland wisely has started him at home for all three starts. Keeping him in Comerica Park and away from any distractions where he could implode on the road was the best decision the brilliant skipper could’ve made. Especially with someone as thin skinned as Rogers. You got to hand it to Leyland.

-So Montreal’s Janne Niinimaa has guaranteed a Canadiens victory over undefeated Buffalo tonight. The Sabres enter a perfect 8-0 having obliterated most of their recent competition. And as I type this, Michael Ryder almost got the first goal of this game on Versus which is a rematch of an entertaining tilt two weeks ago in which Buffalo rallied for a 5-4 shootout win in Game 2 of their new season. They cameback from 4-2 down with about 6:00 left. So maybe Niinimaa has a point. Montreal should’ve won that one. And they’re 4-1-2 and on home ice tonight. We’ll see if Niinimaa’s prediction rings true.

-How soon will we get sick of the TO closeups during tonight’s big Monday Night Showdown between the Giants and Cowboys? He might have some competition from the “retiring” Tiki Barber. It is ESPN after all.