Detroit ? Justin Verlander handed the ball to Jim Leyland, walked off the mound, looked at the scoreboard and kicked dirt along the third-base line.

It was a walk of shame for Detroit’s rookie after getting roughed up by the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series opener Saturday night.

“I was thinking, ‘I got Game One, and I let my guys down,'” Verlander said. “Obviously, I wanted to give my guys a chance to win, and I didn’t.”

Verlander gave up seven runs – six earned – and six hits over five-plus innings in St. Louis’ 7-2 victory.

The hard-throwing right-hander threw some unhittable pitches that made the Cardinals look silly, striking out eight – including five in the third and fourth innings alone. But he also made some mistakes that prevented Detroit from having a chance to get off to a good start in its first World Series appearance since 1984.

“It was odd because it was there one minute, gone the next,” Verlander said. “A lot of times this year, I got myself in trouble, but got out of it. That wasn’t the case tonight.”

Scott Rolen and Albert Pujols hit homers off Verlander, and an errant pick-off throw in the sixth inning, when he didn’t get an out, led to an ugly line that ballooned his postseason earned-run average to 10.80 after three starts.

“He’s a great pitcher. He throws hard,” Rolen said. “Balls that were out over the plate, we got good swings.”

Verlander and St. Louis’ Anthony Reyes were the first rookies to start an opening game of a World Series since Livan Hernandez was sent to the mound in 1997 by Leyland, who was managing the Florida Marlins back then.

“We made a decision that if we played the Cardinals, Justin would start it, Kenny (Rogers) would be in spot two,” Leyland said. “And the reason, we want Kenny to pitch both games at home.

“Had we played the Mets, we were going to start (Nate) Robertson and follow him with Rogers and throw Verlander the third game.”

Leyland’s slightly surprising move to have Verlander open the series seemed like a good call early on.

Verlander got off to a solid start, retiring the side in the first on two groundouts and by striking out Pujols.

“After the first inning, it felt good, getting rid of some nerves by getting three quick outs,” he said.

Rolen’s solo shot was the only mistake in the second inning.

St. Louis pounced on Verlander’s mid-90s fastball and wicked, offspeed stuff in the third inning, scoring three runs and getting three more in the sixth.