Shades of the old Jeff Weaver returned at precisely the wrong time for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Squinting for signs all game but finding few answers, the stringbean righty who revived his career this postseason took a big step backward on a nippy Sunday night.

Weaver was lucky to leave Game 2 of the World Series after five innings trailing by only three runs. The Detroit Tigers, the team that gave him his start in 1999, went on to win 3-1 to even things at one game each.

''He pitched well enough to win,'' Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

Well, maybe not.

The Tigers had Weaver in trouble the whole time. He earned points for escaping dire situations, but his outing illustrated how close the Tigers came to turning it into a rout.