When Buck Rodgers managed the Montreal Expos he used to say “I had a hunch” whenever he was asked a question about a tactical move he’d screwed up because, as he said, “nobody can ever really question a manager’s hunch.”
  In the immediate aftermath of his teams 7-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals Saturday night in Game 1 of the World Series, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland was less interested in defending hunches than he was launching some pre-emptive second-guessing about his decision to pitch to Albert Pujols in the third inning with first base open, two out and two on. Pujols slugged a two-run home run on the first pitch from Justin Verlander. Verlander said later he missed his spot “a couple of inches up and a couple of inches over the plate.’
  "The manager's decision is either to pitch him or walk him," said Leyland, who could have ordered Verlander to walk Pujols and instead pitch to Jim Edmonds. "I pitched to him and obviously he burned us. I'm not going to get into a lot of explanation about what the thinking was. But I take the bullet there. And if somebody gives criticism you accept it, because it's ultimately my decision."
Second-guessing is fine, but some of Leyland's players said they thought the third inning of Game 1 of a best-of-seven series was a little early to start looking for turning points. They're right. Tigers closer Todd Jones, I thought, made a salient point when he said that:  "If we want to win this series, we're going to have to contain him. None of us fear him, we're not scared of him. But we know what we're dealing with when it's Albert Pujols. He's a special player." Now, all they have to do is figure out whether avoidance is the best method of containment.
(*)Bob Seger sang ‘America The Beautiful’ before Game 1 instead of the national anthem, after saying earlier in the week that he considered the Star Spangled Banner to be a “death trap” for singers (not to mention that ‘America The Beautiful’ is, simple, a better song.) Unfortunately, his decision won’t set a trend. Anita Baker was scheduled to sing the anthem Sunday. National anthems have no place being played before sports events – it isn’t a political gathering, for pete’s sake – just as it’s time to deep-six the playing of ‘God Bless America’ during the seventh-inning stretch. It’s been five years since Sept.  11, 2001. Time to move on.
(*)One of the most anticipated moments of this series, locally, will take place before Game 2 Sunday night when Alan Trammell and Sparky Anderson are expected to take the field for the ceremonial first pitch. Trammell, hugely popular as a player, was fired as manager of the Tigers last year after it was generally perceived he’d lost the clubhouse. Not surprisingly, Trammell, who played on the 1984 Tigers World Series team, has been unfailingly gracious in the days leading up to the World Series when discussing the job Jim Leyland has done turning around the team. ``I've been trying to stay out of the way," he is quoted as saying. ``I'm just really happy for the fans, who have stuck with this team for many, rough years.  It's also a great time for the franchise, which is no longer a laughingstock but is now regarded as an up-and-coming organization.'' But this is expected to be a moment of some healing, nonetheless. Trammell is a candidate to be Lou Piniella's bench coach with the Chicago Cubs and could also be added to Clint Hurdle's coaching staff with the Colorado Rockies, where some think he would assume the role of manager in waiting;
(*)Peter Gammons of ESPN (http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=2634916&name=gammons_peter&univLogin02=stateChanged) reports that players and owners are going to finish off a new collective agreement by the end of the series and that one of the alterations will be the disappearance of compensatory draft picks for teams that lose free agents. The New York Times reported the sides might have a deal done by the weekend.