Ah, controversy!

During Game 2 of the World Series last night, Fox showed closeup video stills of Detroit pitcher Kenny Rogers’ hand that seemed to show that he had a dark, slick looking substance on the base of his left thumb. According to the official rules of baseball, section 8.02, a pticher shall not “apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball”. The penalty for violating that rule is immediate ejection and a 10 game suspension.

Interestingly, now their are pictures coming out which show a similar smudge on Rogers hand in the ALCS against the A’s.

After the first inning, Rogers washed his hands and then continued his postgame scoreless streak, extending it to 23 innings pitched without a run scored.

It’s easy to cry conspiracy (particularly if you’re a Yankee fan). Frankly, I am pretty convinced that he was doctoring the ball, and should have been ejected, but it seems pointless to whine on about it if you are a Yankee or an A’s fan. Your team did, after all, lose all the other games in that series as well. And, as was pointed out below, the law of averages might have suggested that if you give Kenny Rogers a few more starts, he might have evened out his post season record.

Double Play Depth: Kenny Rogers’ Thumb Not the Reason for Scoreless Streak Archives

[tags]Baseball,Detroit,Kenny Rogers,Cheating[/tags]