while he only had a clump for 1 inning, you still saw a stain on his hand, that looked moist. It can effect the speed of the pitch, as the ball can be extended on the fingers, allowing for a better snap of the ball. IE, a offspeed pitch is usually tucked in between the thumb and forefinger. I can't imagine you would need much to get you threw a game. That being said, imo, it is done a lot by the players. Most are stupid enough to have it so obvious.
The only person at fault here is tony larussa. Unlike other pitchers, that hide the shit a hell of a lot better, if the substance was pine tar, and it was seen by the st louis bench, larussa should of dressed him down on the mound. It would have accomplished 2 things. First if it was an illegal substance, ie pine tar, it would have gotten rid of the best pitcher in baseball currently in the playoffs in the first ip of game 2. It may have led to them being up 2 - 0, and it would prevent kenny from pitching again. If it wasn't an illegal substance, yes larussa could have looked like a jerk, but he would have shaken up kenny rogers, in the middle of the game. Either way, it would have been somewhat positive for the cardinals. The biggest problem I have with this, is the way tony is acting. He says he doesn't want to make a big deal about it, but yet talks about it for 10min. He said he didn't want to interupt the game, yet he went out and had the umps do his dirty work. He is trying to have it both ways. IMO, he should have gone to the mound with the umps. I personally don't have a problem with pine tar, as allegedly it is wildly used. (same way I feel about steroids, if 3/4th the league is doing it, who care...made up number there) but if a player, rogers, is that

ing stupid to have it so noticable then tony should have stuck up for his players, the organization and there fans.