In a matchup of aces, the starters entered with differing October results.Carpenter, the 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner, was 2-0 with a 3.71 ERA and helpedthe wild-card Cardinals avoid first-round elimination with a three-hitter thanbeat Philadelphia 1-0 to win the division series. Wilson, the Rangers’left-hander with the big kick on his follow-through, was 0-2 with 8.04 ERA inthree postseason starts.Pumped up Cardinals fans clad in red and waving white towels filled theballpark for a game with a temperature of 49 degrees at the start, tied for thethird-coldest for a Series opener since Major League Baseball started keepingrecords in 1975. All the Cardinals’ starters wore long-sleeve undershirts, butMichael Young(notes), David Murphy(notes) and Nelson Cruz(notes) of the Rangers were in shortsleeves.The World Series had not been played in St. Louis since 2006, when theCardinals won the title in the first year of new Busch Stadium. Game 1 has beenan indicator of success in recent decades: The winner has captured seven of thelast eight titles, 12 of the last 14 and 19 of the last 23. In addition, theteam hosting Game 1 has won 20 of the last 25 World Series.While the Cardinals were seeking their 11th title—leading to 11 in ’11promotions—Texas was looking for the first championship in the history of thefranchise, which began in 1961 as the expansion Washington Senators and moved toTexas for the 1972 season. The Rangers made it to the World Series for the firsttime last year, losing to San Francisco in five games.It was an uncommon matchup, the first World Series between the NL Centraland AL West since baseball split each league into six divisions for the 1994season. The teams were playing for the first time since St. Louis won two ofthree during their only regular-season meeting, at Texas in June 2004.Ian Kinsler(notes) led off the game with a two-hopper that bounced off the glove ofa diving David Freese(notes) for a single as the third baseman stared at his leather—as if it were the glove’s fault.Kinsler took a big turn but didn’t go for second, and two pitches later hewas caught stealing by catcher Yadier Molina(notes). Elvis Andrus(notes) hit a bouncer betweenfirst and second that Albert Pujols(notes) got to, and he threw low to first base,where Carpenter made a diving grab in the dirt—like a football receiver.Unsure whether he touched first base with his glove as he slid by, Carpenterslapped the bag with his right hand, then tucked in his arm to avoid gettingstepped on.Adrian Beltre(notes) doubled with one out in the second, another two-hopper thatbounced off pretty much the same spot on Freese’s glove. Carpenter pitchedaround Nelson Cruz, walking the ALCS MVP who hit six home runs against Detroit.The strategy was vindicated when Napoli grounded into a 6-4-3 DP.Nick Punto(notes), starting at second instead of Ryan Theriot(notes), singled leading offthe third for the Cardinals’ first hit. But Carpenter struck out when he fouledoff a bunt attempt, Rafael Furcal(notes) fanned at a pitch in the dirt and Jon Jay(notes)grounded to second.NOTES: The NL is seeking first consecutive World Series titles since winningfour in a row from 1979-82 (Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and St.Louis). … The Cardinals moved ahead of the Dodgers with their 106th WorldSeries game, trailing only the Yankees (225). … It was the earliest date theWorld Series started since 2003.