This was going to be an item about how well the starting pitchers have performed in the World Series, at least relative to what each team's starters did in their League Championship Series.

But then C.J. Wilson walked Matt Holliday, and Lance Berkman too. He threw a bunch of curves to Berkman, none of which fooled Berkman, which shouldn't be a big surprise if you've seen Wilson's PaintoMatic ...

Wilson's curveball was his third-best pitch this season. Which doesn't mean he shouldn't throw it. But all those curveballs to Berkman seemed, at least in retrospect, a bit excessive.

And of course the walks came back to haunt Wilson and the Rangers, as both Holliday and Berkman wound up scoring. After David Freese flied out, Yadier Molina grounded a single into left field; Holliday scored and Berkman went to third when David Murphy let the ball get past him. And Berkman scored a moment later on Skip Schumaker's grounder to first baseman Mitch Moreland (which Moreland fumbled, but probably to little effect).

Wilson finally escaped the inning when Murphy laid out to catch Nick Punto's looping liner. But plenty of damage had been done, and in the middle of the second it's Cardinals 2, Rangers 0.