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WORLD CHAMPS!

By Claire Smith, McClatchy-Tribune News

Saturday, October 28, 2006 3:49 PM CDT

ST. LOUIS - The Detroit Tigers entered the 102nd World Series as American League champions and exited as the Keystone Kops.

The St. Louis Cardinals entered the Fall Classic as the postseason's most unexpected participant and exited as champions, thanks to a 4-2 win Friday night at Busch Stadium in the fifth and final game of the best-of-seven Series.

Numbers that were supposed to haunt St. Louis - an 83-78 record, a 12-17 September-October finish - instead seemed to inspire the team most often branded as this postseason's underdogs.

Numbers that forever will haunt the Tigers include eight unearned runs - two Friday night.

The plays not made, balls not fielded, throws not reaching targets marked every game in Detroit's profoundly flawed Series performance. That includes the Tigers' one victory.

Even before the loss - and Detroit's seventh and eighth overall errors - Tigers manager Jim Leyland had said, "I haven't seen anything like it, but I don't believe that's the reason" Detroit trailed the Series.

No, it wasn't just the fumbling and bumbling. To suggest that would overlook what worked tremendously for St. Louis. And who worked professionally, from a smoothly functioning pitcher like Friday night's winner, Jeff Weaver, to hitting heroes David Eckstein - the series most-valuable player - and Scott Rolen.

Of the 41 teams that led a Series by three games to one after four games, 35 won championships. It was heady stuff for St. Louis, but a fact veteran centerfielder Jim Edmonds cautioned against fixating on.

"I think about all the teams that have lost 3-1 leads," Edmonds said. "I think about the Yankees getting beat four games in a row when they were up three games. "I've been thinking about that a lot."

Still, one win would end a St. Louis championship drought that had seen three lost Series.

One win and a storied organization that last won it all in 1982 would join the Yankees as the only teams with double-digit Series titles.

Attempting to halt this city's long-awaited celebration was Justin Verlander, the rookie righthander trying to pitch the Tigers back to Comerica Park. That's where Kenny Rogers, who was 3-0 in this postseason party, would have faced the Cards in Game 6 on Saturday night.

Though a 17-game winner, Verlander's postseason (1-1, 7.47 ERA entering Friday night) has been somewhat of a mystery, as velocity and confidence became issues.