Finally.

Well, we finally get a World Series. After a pretty good game in what has been one of the least interesting LCS in recent memory, the Tigers finally get to gear up to completely squash the Cardinals. Jeff Suppan pitched extremely well, which again for me just reinforces the differences between AL and NL hitting. Or maybe the difference between pitching at Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park and in anywhere else in the league. And, as predicted, Oliver Perez pitched well. The game came down to a (predictably) improbable homer by Yadier Molina and a high-wire save by Adam Wainright.

Wainright really impressed me. He's a young guy, 25, I think, and pitching in this role for really the first time this year. He did give up a couple of solid hits, but what struck me in that ninth inning was the way he mixed his pitches. The old adage, attributed to Warren Spahn, I believe, is that "hitting is timing. Pitching is disrupting a hitter's timing." The way that Wainright pumped a couple of fastballs (93-95 mph) to Cliff Floyd and and just completely froze him with a wicked curve- that was what pitching is all about. You have to give Dave Duncan credit on that- that is a good way to pick your closer. Two very good pitches, and the knowledge and ability to throw them when you want- that's nice.

All the same, I found myself rooting for the Mets. I didn't really have a horse in that race, except that I find myself disliking the Cardinals. That probably started way back in 1982 when those guys beat my Brewers in the Brew Crew's first (and only) World Series appearance. It also continued into 2004 when they were the (unworthy) adversaries against the Red Sox. Also, it's hard for me to root against a team in a game seven in their own ballpark. It's no fun to watch a team celebrate amid all that silence. At least in St. Louis, when the Sox won, the crowd was generous with their tribute to the Sox. So the fans aren't so bad, I just don't like the team.

So to Detroit we go. All of the conventional wisdom says Detroit will make rather short work of the Cardinals. Of course, this is conventional wisdom from the same people who told you that Detroit had no chance of getting past the Yankees in the first round- so it's grain of salt time. Personally, I just think that Detroit's pitching is both better and rested, their bullpen is incredible, and they have more than enough hitting to pull this improbable season to an epic level. Tigers in five.