Thursday, July 5, 2007

Got pine tar?

Pine tar

There seems to be quite a discussion on St. Louis sports talk radio about what was on Detroit Tiger pitcher Kenny Rogers’ hand.

What exactly was on Kenny Rogers' left hand? Was Rogers discoloring and/or defacing balls? Why didn't the Cardinals' Tony La Russa, a manager who is always looking for an edge, raise more of a fuss? These are questions FoxSports.com is asking.

If Rogers broke the rules, he gained only a temporary edge — he cleaned his hand after the first inning, then allowed only two hits in eight shutout innings, lifting the Tigers to a 3-1 victory that tied the World Series at one game each.

Still, the episode was, uh, rather odd.

Rule 3.02 states that, "No player shall intentionally discolor or damage the ball by rubbing it with soil, rosin, paraffin, licorice, sand-paper, emery-paper or other foreign substance."

Rule 8.02 states that a pitcher "shall not" even deliver a ball that he defaces with spit or a foreign substance or by rubbing the ball on his glove, person or clothing.

Regardless, he only got better at pitching once whatever it was, was removed.

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