Rogers unhittable with and without discoloration

	Kenny Rogers has proved that perhaps you can teach an old dog some new tricks. Jimmy DeFlippo/US PRESSWIRE
	RELATED • Tigers even Series 1-1 behind Rogers • DONOVAN: Series is exceeding expectations • BP: Is Rogers' home success legit?

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DETROIT -- Maybe now we can understand why Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers has such an aversion to cameramen. The lens doesn't lie (although it doesn't always reveal everything, either).

A FOX cameraman caught a glimpse of a discoloration on Rogers' left palm in the first inning Sunday night, and the controversial left-hander who's been dominating this October like Orel Hershiser in 1988 and Christy Mathewson in 1905 was ordered to clean a smudge off his hand between the first and second innings.

Umpire supervisor Steve Palermo said they found no wrongdoing on Rogers' part. But Rogers' amazing October after poor postseasons past -- he now has 23 consecutive scoreless innings after eight more in Game 2, and that's just four short of the record by Mathewson -- is looking slightly suspicious from here.

Someone who used to be on one of Rogers' teams told me late Sunday night that Rogers preferred to wear dark uniforms at home to camouflage any substances of interest (though he was in Tigers white during his masterful eight shutout innings). And someone from FOX said tape from previous games this postseason showed a similar discoloration on his hand.

Tony La Russa made the inquiry to the umpires between the first and second inning after the Cardinals observed Rogers' pitches. "Tony went out and said a couple of his players said the ball was acting funny, and they made Kenny wash his hands, and he washed his hands, and he was pretty clean the rest of the way," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. But La Russa said afterward, "it's not important to talk about," adding "a guy pitches like that, as a team we don't take a thing away from anybody."

And no one did -- though Leyland's account of La Russa's remark to the umpire wasn't disputed. Asked whether Rogers' ball was acting "funny," Scott Rolen said, "I haven't touched that question all night."

After his 3-1 victory brought the Tigers even in the World Series, Rogers said the substance on his left palm was dirt and possibly rosin, and claimed he didn't even realize it was on his hand. Had the smudge been found to have been pine tar -- or another "foreign'' substance -- Rogers would have been subject to ejection from the game. "It's dirt and rosin and all that stuff put together,'' Rogers said. "When it's moist, you're going to rub up the baseball, and it was left on my hand when I rubbed them up."

Palermo said the umpires could tell the substance was only dirt. When someone in the media questioned whether the umpires knew for sure, Palermo said, "This is not their first summer away from home." Dirt isn't considered an illegal substance unless it's purposely used to discolor baseballs -- and that wasn't proven to be the case here.