Cards get acclimated to quirky Fenway

BOSTON -- Reggie Sanders and the other St. Louis Cardinals outfielders spent a lot of time looking around Fenway Park on Friday. They paid particular attention to the Green Monster in left, the low fence in right and the odd angles in between.

While Scott Rolen and the Cardinals took batting practice, a fungo hitter tattooed the 37-foot wall, letting Sanders get a gauge on how to play the crazy caroms.

With Game 1 of the World Series tonight, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa preferred to focus on Boston.

"Our problem is not Fenway, it's the Red Sox," he said. "Mostly what's about Fenway is the team you're playing against. You go to Camden Yards or you name any of these ballparks that are really fun and special, it has to do with the club you're playing."

Maybe so, but the Red Sox hope the ballpark causes a bunch of trouble for the Cardinals.

"We certainly hope they are at a disadvantage. I think the outfielders first come to mind," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "If the ball is down the right-field line, balls off the left-field wall are quirky."

"One of the first things that comes to mind with me is the hitter in the batter's box because everything is a little different. Our field is not perfectly symmetrical, the batter's view might seem a little different," he said. "It can mess a little with people. I might go over and tell Rolen that it might bother him somewhat."

Center fielder Jim Edmonds played at Fenway while spending seven seasons in the American League, but the rest of the Cardinals' regulars are strictly NL players whose experience in Boston is limited to a few interleague games.

Red Sox closer Keith Foulke grew accustomed to Fenway this year in his first season with Boston. Getting used to the Green Monster, at only 310 feet down the line, on a regular basis took some time.

"There's been a couple of instances where it's kind of come out to bite me a little bit where a lot of fly balls are outs in other ballparks. But then there's also those rockets that would be possible home runs in other parks that has kept a guy to a single," he said. "You just don't want to be banging off the wall all day."

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LOOKING DOUBTFUL: Injured starter Chris Carpenter kept hoping he might have a chance to pitch if the Cardinals reached the World Series. But on the eve of Game 1, it was looking as if the 15-game winner would be left off the roster.

Carpenter, out since Sept. 18 because of nerve damage to his right biceps, threw bullpen sessions on Tuesday and Thursday during the NL championship series.

While St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said Carpenter was feeling better, it might not be well enough to make the staff against Boston.

"We think it's real risky to throw him into a competition like this," La Russa said Friday. "In a World Series, you're going to reach for extra and he isn't prepared for that. But it's an important decision and we want to give it serious consideration."

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HEY, STRANGER: There have been six World Series participants the last three years -- Boston, St. Louis, Florida, the New York Yankees, Anaheim and San Francisco. It's the first time that's happened since 1986-88, when Boston, the New York Mets, St. Louis, Minnesota, Los Angeles and Oakland made it.

Also, baseball has had as many teams play in the last eight World Series (11) as the parity-loving NFL has had in the last eight years.

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NOW SINGING: "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson and disco queen Donna Summer will perform "God Bless America" at the first two games of the World Series. Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler and five-time Grammy Award winner James Taylor will do the national anthem.

Tyler and Summer both have Boston roots. Tyler moved to the city in the late 1960s when Aerosmith was formed and Summer is from the Mission Hill section.

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WILLING TO PAY: Attention World Series scalpers: Paul Zukauskas wants to do business.

The Cleveland Browns offensive lineman is willing to dig deep, real deep to see his beloved Boston Red Sox play the St. Louis Cardinals.

"I'll easily pay five grand for a ticket," Zukauskas said Friday. "I'm willing to go high. This is it. How many more times will I get this chance?"

Zukauskas is from Massachusetts, and the former Boston College star can hardly believe the Red Sox are back in the Series for the first time since 1986.

He was just 6 years old then, and Zukauskas says he has no recollection of Boston's last trip to the World Series when the Red Sox lost in seven games to the New York Mets.

The Browns are off the weekend of Oct. 31 and Zukauskas plans to go home to see his family and hopefully get inside Fenway Park.

If the series goes long enough, Zukauskas, who picks the Red Sox to win their first Series since 1918 in seven games, plans to be there.