cheater cheater

Tipsheet didn’t see a whole lot of controversy with Kenny Rogers’ left hand. The Fox TV crew did a nice job spotting gunk on the base of his thumb in the first inning and showing the world the smudge.

Not coincidentally, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa then chatted with the umps, the umps chatted with Rogers . . . and the hand remained clean for seven innings.

Since Rogers pitched as well clean as he did dirty, there didn’t seem to be much of a story here. La Russa did his best to downplay it, dismissing Fox’s in-game inquiry and then blowing off the question at his post-game news conference as well.

But the media won’t let it drop. ESPN.com produced comparative close-up photos of the Sunday smudge and a similar mark on Rogers’ hand during the ALCS. Hmmmm . . .



After looking at the two photos (above, ALCS game on the left, Sunday night’s game on the right) on the front page of that site, you don’t have to belong to a CSI unit to become highly suspicious. In fact, the photos offered compelling evidence that Rogers was clearly cheating until the Fox cameras busted him.

Which makes you wonder who tipped off Fox.

ESPN.com’s Gene Wojciechowski wrote: “Rogers said it was dirt on his inner palm. Of course, Rogers said a lot of things, some of which made sense, some of which sounded like a guy with a very selective memory. All I know is that by the time Rogers, MLB umpire supervisor Steve Palermo, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland were done ‘explaining’ what happened … nobody still knew what happened.”

Wojo’s cohort Jayson Stark poked around the clubhouses for more info. Naturally, glib Tigers reliever Todd Jones weighed in on the topic.

“It could have been anything on his hand,” Jones said. “It could have been chocolate cake.”

So, Stark asked, was chocolate cake really part of the team’s pre-game meal?

“Well, no,” Jones confessed. “But there was steak and gravy. So the gravy could have been on there.”

Stark’s take? “Yeah, sure. And probably a few mashed potato shreds, too. No way Rogers would have noticed that, either, of course.”