ST. LOUIS — Chris Carpenter presented his right hand for inspection. The manager and umpire looked, and everyone was satisfied.

The St. Louis ace had a cramp, that's all, and he stayed on the mound. He'd waited a long time to make this start and clearly nothing was going to blemish this outing.

Carpenter kept the Detroit Tigers in their hitting funk and put the World Series focus back on the field, pitching the Cardinals to a 5-0 victory Tuesday night for a 2-1 edge.

"He's so strong between the ears that nothing fazes him," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "He's got a good head, good heart, good guts."

Gone were any reminders of the squabbling, accusations and denials Kenny Rogers caused with his smudged left hand in Game 2.

Oh, Rogers heard plenty from the sellout crowd at Busch Stadium during pregame introductions, as chants of "Cheat-er!" echoed throughout the ballpark. But that was about the only noise the Tigers caused in this game.

Staring at catcher Yadier Molina's mitt, Carpenter's concentration was unshakable.

"Go one pitch at a time," Carpenter said. "All that stuff around you that's going on doesn't get in your head, so you're not even thinking about it."

Carpenter threw big curves to spin three-hit ball for eight innings. Jim Edmonds delivered a two-run double and St. Louis took advantage of sloppy play to score its three other runs.

Pitching usually rules the postseason, and that's been the case so far. The Cardinals hope to present even more in Game 4 Wednesday night when NL championship series MVP Jeff Suppan starts against Jeremy Bonderman.

That is, if the heavy rain in the forecast holds off. The weather is supposed to turn bad for a couple of days, in fact.

Surely, the Cardinals would like to keep playing. They're ready while the Tigers look rusty — remember, they had a week off after winning the ALCS.

The Tigers' trio of leadoff man Curtis Granderson, ALCS MVP Placido Polanco and postseason veteran Ivan Rodriguez is combined 0-for-34 after three games. Manager Jim Leyland said he's considering lineup changes.