Winners and losers from a forgettable Fall Classic

	Shortstop David Eckstein joins some elite company by leading a second team to a World Series title. AP
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	Cardinals Tigers Pitches seen 699 588 Pitchers seen per inn. 16.6 13.4 Walks 23 8 Leadoff walks 5 0 Runs from leadoff walks 4 0 Leadoff runners 16 5 Runs from leadoff runners 7 3

I'm thinking of getting a T-shirt: "I Survived the 2006 World Series." I say this after learning after the fact that according to an analysis of 2005 FBI statistics, the most dangerous United States cities are St. Louis and Detroit, finishing in the exact order as their teams did in the World Series. This is not the kind of "We're No. 1" you'll be seeing in the latest St. Louis Chamber of Commerce brochure. And we can only hope Detroit doesn't try harder.

The survival T-shirt would work on another level, too, seeing that the quality of play was at times putrid and otherwise mediocre. What can you say about a series in which its lasting images will be Tigers pitchers heaving the most awkward throws you'll see this side of a Sunday softball beer league? Rumor has it the official World Series DVD is titled "E-1 Pluribus Unum."

But look just a little more closely and you'll see the series really was decided more by the St. Louis pitchers just handcuffing the Detroit hitters than it was the comical fielding of Tigers pitchers. Detroit's hitters simply were retired too easily to mount enough threats, nevermind runs. Check out the telling stats (not provided by the FBI) in the table at right.

Looking for culprits? Curtis Granderson, Magglio Ordonez and Placido Polanco batted .070 combined (4-for-57) with zero RBIs and five total bases.

The poor quality of their at-bats, their poor fielding (not just errors, either; Ordonez's passivity while allowing the St. Louis insurance run in the clincher said it all) and spotty baserunning (Brandon Inge making a Little League mistake by getting caught off second on a ball to the mound) told me there was something more at play here than six days of rust. My theory is that Detroit responded poorly to the first time in which they clearly were expected to win. They played with house money all season, but suddenly were cast as heavy favorites right when the stakes were biggest. They seemed and sounded uncomfortable in that role.

Take nothing away from St. Louis, though. When you don't walk any leadoff hitters in 44 innings, lose one lead the entire series (and that was regained in the very next at-bat) and don't need any home runs over your final 175 plate appearances, you've pitched well enough to be champs.

Now, with all precincts reporting, here are other winners and losers from the World Series.

Winners

Adam Wainwright
It was Lou Piniella who once said, "When the Braves start talking to you about trading one of their young pitchers, run out of the room." Atlanta GM John Schuerholz has been expert at knowing whom to keep and whom to trade. But St. Louis GM Walt Jocketty stole a gem from their system when he took Wainwright, then 22, for J.D. Drew three years ago. Wainwright, never a closer before Sept. 27, was unscored upon in the postseason.

"The biggest difference I notice is the way he carries himself on the mound," said Detroit pitcher Zach Miner, another young pitcher traded by the Braves (for Kyle Farnsworth last year) who was drafted the same year as Wainwright. "He's got a real mound presence now. You can see his confidence."

Wainwright admitted he's a more confident pitcher, especially after getting cut from the Olympic team in 2003.

"I pitched horribly in the qualifiers,'' he said. "That was a major motivation for me in my life. I said, 'You know what? If I'm ever going to be good I've got to step it up and work harder, come in in great physical shape. If not, I'm not going to make it.

"Dave Stewart was the pitching coach. And he was the one who said, 'You have the stuff to be great. Your problem is you don't believe you can be great.' At the time I downplayed that. But in the offseason I said, 'You know what? He's right.' It's one thing to say you can be good, and it's another thing to believe it."

Like Bobby Jenks last year, Wainwright, the second straight rookie who fell out of nowhere to be a world championship closer, confirms my belief that you can find closers a lot easier than you can starting pitchers. Wainwright has four quality pitches, a rarity for closers, and, as the Red Sox will do with Jonathan Papelbon, should be moved into the rotation even if Jason Isringhausen is slow to recover from his hip surgery.