Cards take 2-1 Series lead

YES! - St. Louis relief pitcher Braden Looper celebrates the final out against the Detroit Tigers in Game 3 of the World Series on Tuesday. St. Louis won, 5-0. ST. LOUIS (AP) - Chris Carpenter presented his right hand for inspection. The manager and umpire looked, and everyone was satisfied.

The St. Louis ace had a cramp, that's all, and he stayed on the mound. He'd waited a long time to make this start and clearly nothing was going to blemish this outing.

Carpenter kept the Detroit Tigers in their hitting funk and put the World Series focus back on the field, pitching the Cardinals to a 5-0 victory Tuesday night for a 2-1 edge.

"He's so strong between the ears that nothing fazes him," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "He's got a good head, good heart, good guts."

Carpenter threw big curves to spin threehit ball for eight innings. Jim Edmonds delivered a two-run double and St. Louis took advantage of sloppy play to score its three other runs.

Pitching usually rules the postseason, and that's been the case so far. The Cardinals hope to present even more in Game 4 tonight when NL championship series MVP Jeff Suppan starts against Jeremy Bonderman.

That is, if the heavy rain in the forecast holds off. The weather is supposed to turn bad for a couple of days, in fact.

Surely, the Cardinals would like to keep playing. They're ready while the Tigers look rusty - remember, they had a week off after winning the ALCS.

The Tigers' trio of leadoff man Curtis Granderson, ALCS MVP Placido Polanco and postseason veteran Ivan Rodriguez is combined 0-for-34 after three games. Manager Jim Leyland said he's considering lineup changes.

"They'll get going," Tigers teammate Sean Casey said. "I think it takes that one hit to get that confidence and it'll probably snowball from there."

Carpenter showed why he won the NL Cy Young Award last year and is a top contender this season. He struck out six, walked none and permitted only one runner past first base.

Carpenter's lone problem came in the seventh inning. As Polanco led off by lining out to good friend Albert Pujols, Carpenter hopped off the mound and looked at his hand.

La Russa, a trainer and the entire St. Louis infield converged on the mound, studying Carpenter's pitching hand. Plate umpire Wally Bell also went out to check as reliever Josh Kinney began warming up.

The problem: Jammed when he batted in the fourth inning, his hand was a bit balky.

"It felt kind of funny from that point on," Carpenter said.

"They think I might have just bruised it in there or something like that," he said. "We'll deal with it tonight, but I think it will be fine."

He certainly drew a lot more attention than Rogers attracted after a yellowishbrown mark was spotted on his hand - he said it was a mix of dirt, spit and resin, while others claimed it was illegal pine tar.

Carpenter drew his biggest roar when he got a standing ovation as he came to bat in the eighth. The bottom of the eighth took a while, though, and Braden Looper relieved in the ninth and finished the combined three-hitter.

"We need to swing the bats better, obviously," Leyland said.

The Tigers had homered in all 10 postseason games before Carpenter stopped them. A Detroit team that averaged 5 1/2 runs per game throughout the AL playoffs has scored a total of five in the World Series.