Eckstein leads the Cardinals' wild win over the Tigers

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Almost every ball David Eckstein hit was trouble for the Tigers.

Helped by a soggy field, St. Louis' scrappy shortstop delivered two key doubles that gave the Cardinals a firm grip on a World Series that's quickly slipping away from Detroit.

Elias Says

Rodney Tigers reliever Fernando Rodney committed a throwing error on Thursday. Detroit pitchers have now committed an error in each of the first four games of the Series. The Tigers are the first team in major league history to have an error by a pitcher in four straight postseason games. This is a rare feat in the regular season as well. Since 1993, only two teams had an error from a pitcher in four (or more) consecutive games: Minnesota in 2003 and Seattle in 2002. Both streaks were four games in length. • For more Elias Says, Click here.

Eckstein's tiebreaking double to left field glanced off the glove of a diving Craig Monroe in the eighth inning, and the Cardinals capitalized on Detroit's sloppy defense for a 5-4 victory Thursday night in Game 4.

"I just needed to find some holes," Eckstein said. "It's nice to actually have a little luck involved."

But St. Louis manager Tony La Russa says it's much more than that.

"He's the toughest guy I've ever seen in a uniform," La Russa said.

After Curtis Granderson slipped in center trying for an earlier ball hit by Eckstein, rekindling memories of Curt Flood in the 1968 Series between these teams, St. Louis took a 3-1 lead to move within one win of its first championship in 24 years.

Jeff Weaver can wrap it up Friday night at Busch Stadium when he pitches against rookie Justin Verlander. Each lost his first Series start.

One word of caution, Cardinals rooters: St. Louis had a 3-1 lead in '68, too, before Detroit rallied to win behind lefty Mickey Lolich.

The decisive hit that time came when Flood, a Gold Glove center fielder, slipped on Jim Northrup's two-out, two-run triple off Cardinals ace Bob Gibson to break a scoreless tie in the seventh inning of Game 7 -- right across the street, where the old Busch Stadium stood. This time, the 5-foot-7 Eckstein hit three doubles and a single as St. Louis overcame an early 3-0 deficit in a wild comeback and closed in on its 10th World Series title. The last team to squander a 3-1 Series lead, however, was the 1985 Cardinals against Kansas City.

Digging out
Six teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the World Series. The Cardinals have been on the wrong end of that twice, with the Tigers doing it to them in 1968.
Year	Series result
1985	Royals 4, Cardinals 3
1979	Pirates 4, Orioles 3
1968	Tigers 4, Cardinals 3
1958	Yankees 4, Braves 3
1925	Pirates 4, Senators 3
1903	Red Sox 5, Pirates 3

After a rainout Wednesday night, only the second World Series washout in 20 years, showers were expected again Thursday. But the heavy stuff stayed away on a 53-degree night and much of the back-and-forth game was played in a light mist that obscured the Gateway Arch beyond center field.

The mist got heavier in the sixth, though, and the Tigers began to struggle with the elements.

With St. Louis trailing 3-2 in the seventh, Eckstein hit a drive to right-center that Granderson appeared to have in his sights before he slipped to the slick turf, kicking up a huge divot. The ball fell for an easy double.

"I went to plant my feet and they just went out from under me," Granderson said. "It was just a freak thing. If I stand up, I catch it easily.

"It wasn't just wet," he added. "It was wet and soft."

Pinch-hitter So Taguchi dropped down a sacrifice bunt, and reliever Fernando Rodney rushed an off-balance throw over the head of Placido Polanco covering at first base, allowing Eckstein to score the tying run.

"I didn't position myself the right way to pick up the ball and make the perfect throw," Rodney said. "I also didn't want to toss it very strong because the fielder is trying to get to the base. It just went badly out of my hand."

It was the fourth error by a Tigers pitcher in four games, a record for one pitching staff in the World Series.

"Obviously, it was a little bit of a freak inning," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "It's not our best fielding in the world, but that's baseball."

Not short on hits
Eckstein One of the smallest players on the field came up the biggest for the Cardinals. David Eckstein became only the fourth shortstop with four hits in a World Series game.
Hits	World Series game
4	David Eckstein, St. Louis vs. Detroit, Game 4
4	Robin Yount, Milwaukee at St. Louis, Game 5, Oct. 17, 1982
4	Robin Yount, Milwaukee at St. Louis, Game 1, Oct. 12, 1982
4	Kiko Garcia, Baltimore at Pittsburgh, Game 3, Oct. 12, 1979
4	Maury Wills, Los Angeles vs. Minnesota, Game 5, Oct. 11, 1965

After an intentional walk to Albert Pujols and two strikeouts, Preston Wilson singled to left against Rodney to give St. Louis a 4-3 lead.

But Ivan Rodriguez opened the eighth with a double and Brandon Inge tied it with a double off rookie closer Adam Wainwright, who avoided further damage by striking out pinch-hitter Alexis Gomez and Granderson.

That set the stage for St. Louis' final rally. Yadier Molina drew a leadoff walk from Joel Zumaya before Aaron Miles beat out a potential double-play ball.

Miles moved up when strike three to Juan Encarnacion got past Rodriguez for a wild pitch, and Eckstein hit a drive to left-center.

Monroe sprinted to his left and laid out with a desperate dive, but the ball ticked off the tip of his glove. The left fielder lay prone on the grass as Miles scored the go-ahead run.

"Facing Zumaya, you want to make sure you don't try to overswing," Eckstein said. "I got a fastball and was able to get on top just enough, just barely out of the reach of Craig Monroe, who almost made one heck of a catch."

Wainwright set down Detroit in order in the ninth to the delight of another crowd that practically appeared dipped in Cardinal red.

With NL championship series MVP Jeff Suppan on the mound for St. Louis, one sign read: Cold Night. Hot Supp.

The right-hander, sporting his full, dark beard, was quite a contrast to the boyish-looking Jeremy Bonderman, who made his Series debut for Detroit only two days shy of his 24th birthday.

Game 4 Breakdown

Unsung Hero Preston Wilson. His two-out single in the seventh inning tied it at 4. Goat Fernando Rodney. Inexplicably, Detroit's relievers are having trouble throwing strikes to a base. Rodney's seventh-inning throwing error on So Taguchi's bunt led to two runs. Turning Point Eighth inning. Craig Monroe was playing a shallow left field when David Eckstein hit a fly ball to Monroe's left. The ball glanced off the left fielder's glove, allowing Aaron Miles to score the game-winning run. On Deck It's up to Justin Verlander (1-1, 7.47) to send the series back to Detroit. Verlander allowed six earned runs in Game 1, a 7-2 loss. The Cardinals send Jeff Weaver (2-2, 2.91) to the mound instead of Anthony Reyes.

Suppan allowed three runs in six innings. Bonderman, making his first start in 12 days, was staked to a three-run lead and was visibly steamed when he was pulled after 5 1-3 innings with the score 3-2. He slammed his glove and hat on the bench, knocking over a full cup, and kicked the ground.

But Rodney preserved the lead -- for one inning, at least -- when he struck out Miles and pinch-hitter John Rodriguez with runners at the corners.

Rodney whiffed Rodriguez with a 97 mph fastball as catcher Ivan Rodriguez popped out of his crouch and pumped his fist.

In the second, Sean Casey golfed a 1-0 pitch into the Cardinals' bullpen in right field for his first career postseason home run. It also was the first homer off Suppan this postseason. Rodriguez then grounded a single to right, ending an 0-for-23 slump since Game 1 of the ALCS.

Granderson doubled to start the third, his first hit in 15 World Series at-bats, and scored on Casey's two-out single. Rodriguez followed with an RBI single, making it 3-0.

But La Russa stayed aggressive, calling for a hit-and-run with Suppan batting in the third. Suppan swung through a strike as Miles stole second against Rodriguez, an 11-time Gold Glove winner who led major league catchers by throwing out 46 percent of attempted basestealers this season.

The gamble paid off when Eckstein hit a two-out double over a leaping Carlos Guillen at shortstop. La Russa yelled "Yeah!" and did a little spin in the corner of the dugout.

Scott Rolen strained for a one-out double in the fourth, diving headfirst into second and clutching the outside of the bag with a firm-fingered grip after Monroe got twisted around on a slow retrieval of the ball.

With two outs, Molina hit an RBI double past a diving Inge at third, cutting it to 3-2.

Game notes
Eckstein was the 57th player to get four or more hits in a Series game and the first since Larry Walker of the Cardinals in Game 1 in 2004. … Rolen has a nine-game hitting streak in the postseason. … Bonderman entered 0-for-19 with 12 career strikeouts at the plate. He went 0-for-2 and fanned once, but did execute his first sacrifice bunt in the sixth.