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[RAYMOND]

card

If they get this Game 5 played, then it will be the Cardinals closing things out against this Detroit team that has really been its own worst enemy in this series. The Tigers didn't hit much in Games 2 and 3, and when they did in Game 4, bad luck and yet another throwing error from a relief pitcher did them in. The Cards want to close this thing out tonight and home and they will.



It's a tough spot for Detroit's tiring Justin Verlander, who is only 1-1 with a 7.47 ERA in three postseason starts. In Game 1, the Cards scored seven runs on six hits in five innings against the Tiger rookie, who has now thrown 201 2/3 innings this season. If he can't get some pop on that fastball in this crisp, soggy weather, then David Eckstein and the Cards on going to be on base a lot and scoring runs.



Jeff Weaver (what a turnaround season!) is off his worst postseason start in taking the loss in Detroit's 3-1 Game 2 victory. But he was solid down the September stretch and has been very effective overall in posting a 2.91 ERA in four postseason starts. He's a veteran and he'll step up and then turn things over to that suddenly fantastic Cardinal pen. While the Tiger releivers have been tossing the ball away on routine plays, the Cardinal rookie trio of Adam Wainwright, Josh Kinney and Tyler Johnson have been dominant. In the postseason, the three have allowed just one run in 22 1/3 innings. Whoa! Wainwright, who got the win last night, will pick up his fourth playoff save tonight and it will clinch the World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals.

 

[Missy]

I have faith they will get it done:SIB plus have them for the series:142smilie

 

[88fj62]

Rain is suppose to change over to just showers by 6:00PM and be gone by 9:00PM. However it will remain windy at about 20mph. Does anyone know how the wind effects the ball at New Busch Stadium?

Looks like an over play if it is blowing out.

 

[88fj62]

I found this on the red birds site. Wind is expected to be from the North which will be a blowing in from Left and Center Field.

ST. LOUIS -- With the local team on the brink of clinching its first World Series championship since 1982, St. Louis meteorologists anticipate that there will be a Game 5 of the World Series on Friday, but potentially delayed a bit due to steady showers that should linger right up until the scheduled 8:27 ET/7:27 CT first pitch.
"This rain we have now is at times heavy but mostly moderate to light, and that moves out of here between 6 and 8, probably right in the middle," said Mike Roberts, meteorologist at NBC affiliate KSDK-TV Ch. 5, referring to local times. "It's a tight edge, but I think they'll get the game in tonight, and the rain will be ending about game time. There may be a few showers at pregame festivities, but for all intents and purposes, the rain will be over by the time the game starts."

This is consistent with what forecasters and Cardinals head groundskeeper Bill Findley had told MLB.com before the start of Thursday's Game 4, although the hope had been that the band of showers would move across the Mississippi River into Illinois a bit earlier, giving Findley's crew an hour or two to prepare the field.

"Bill may not get a couple of hours," Roberts said, "but hopefully, we can get him 15 or 20 minutes."

If Major League Baseball can sneak in games between this weather system, it would be the second time in a week. Last weekend in Detroit, that happened during the conclusion of Saturday night's Game 1 and the following night's blustery Game 2. There was a rainout here on Wednesday, bringing the postponement total to four in this 2006 postseason, but a fifth seems likely to be avoided tonight.

"Cardinal fans, there will be a Game 5 on Friday night," Dave Murray, chief meteorologist at local FOX affiliate KTVI-TV Ch. 2, told his viewers after Thursday night's 5-4 St. Louis victory over Detroit.

Roberts said that the bigger issue on Friday "is going to be the wind -- winds out of the north, which will bring [baseballs] in from left field and center field, so that's a big deal. That will be an issue. It could gust about 25 miles per hour. Temperatures will be falling through the 40s, probably about 47 at the scheduled game time start and then drop to about 45. You will have wind chills in the lower 30s, which will be better than what it will be tomorrow night in Detroit, where they will have stronger winds with likely snow showers and wind chills in the 20s."

That is what players will face if the Tigers should win on Friday and force the World Series to go back to Detroit for one or two games this weekend. Wednesday's rainout wiped out the normal travel day, so a Game 6 would be on Saturday night at Comerica Park. The Cardinals have a 3-1 lead, and they will send Jeff Weaver to the mound against Justin Verlander in Friday's Game 5.

Fans who had tickets to the originally scheduled Game 4 that was rained out on Wednesday must use those for Friday's game. One can only imagine what is going through their minds now. They had been looking at the threat of more rain wiping out yet another chance tonight to see their Cardinals, but now they have a chance to see what could be a World Series clincher.


Complete World Series coverage >

News | Video | Audio | PhotosFindley said that the main challenge with Friday's all-day soaker would be keeping the field at new Busch Stadium dry. "You're fighting what's going on with the weather and keeping it playable," he said.

There will be a lot of discussion tonight about drainage because of this soaker, so it's not unlikely that there could be some footing issues in the outfield like the one Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson experienced during a fateful seventh inning on Thursday night.

Findley, who is in his 11th year with the Cardinals, said that a heavy soaker presents more problems than Thursday's type of patchy rains, simply because "these all-day soakers get in the soil and they stay there." Nevertheless, he seemed optimistic that the conditions will be playable for Friday.

 

[RAYMOND]

Rain is suppose to change over to just showers by 6:00PM and be gone by 9:00PM. However it will remain windy at about 20mph. Does anyone know how the wind effects the ball at New Busch Stadium?

Looks like an over play if it is blowing out.

like to know myself

 

[RAYMOND]

so the winds will be blowing in ! right