Detroit ? Craig Monroe looked down, flipped his bat and prepared for another trot around the bases.

He’s getting this routine down pat.

Monroe hit his fifth home run of this postseason, connecting for the second straight day against the St. Louis Cardinals and helping the Detroit Tigers to a 3-1 victory Sunday night that evened the World Series at one game each.

“Not being in this situation before, I’m shocked sometimes at myself,” he said. “I’m relaxed and having fun. That’s the big thing. I’m not getting caught up in all the things that are going on around me.”

Like the company he joined.

Monroe matched the franchise record for career homers in the postseason set by Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg.

“Wow,” Monroe said before he stepped in front of a sea of reporters and cameras at the postgame news conference. “That’s something I’ll have to really reflect on down the road, not now, because I can’t even process that kind of stuff right now.”

Greenberg hit his five postseason homers for the Tigers in 85 at-bats during the 1934 World Series – which they lost to St. Louis – and when they played for the title in 1935, 1940 and 1945. Monroe has matched the total in just 37 at-bats.

The free-swinging slugger also became the first player to hit homers in his first two World Series games since Barry Bonds did it for San Francisco in 2002 against Anaheim.

“I’m not here to talk about me,” Monroe said. “This team has done an outstanding job of sticking by each other and persevering.

detroit's craig monroe points to the crowd after smashing a first-inning home run off Jeff Weaver on Sunday in Game Two of the World Series in Detroit. The Tigers won, 3-1, to even the series at a game apiece.

“Yeah, that’s great. But I’m focused on one thing and that’s to help us win games.”

Tigers manager Jim Leyland often has said that Monroe finally believed he was good this season after merely thinking he was good in the past.

That belief had to be cemented this month with a .324 batting average in the playoffs – perhaps making him Detroit’s most consistent hitter – with plenty of power.

“I’m focused on one thing and that’s trying to be a good player,” he said after hitting safely in his fifth straight playoff game.

Monroe hit two homers in the division series against the New York Yankees, tying a team record for home runs in a postseason series. He had another home run in the AL championship series against Oakland, and equaled his own mark with this two-homer series against St. Louis.

While the Tigers had trouble with Anthony Reyes in Game 1, Jeff Weaver was just another pitcher for Monroe to homer off during his stellar postseason.

Monroe’s solo homer in the first inning sailed 421 feet into the seats in left field, a no-doubt shot that allowed Monroe to react – head down, bat flipped – as few can at spacious Comerica Park.

“To see him jump-start us like that obviously made me feel pretty good,” Leyland said.

Meanwhile, Weaver looked like the old Jeff Weaver at precisely the wrong time for the Cardinals.

Weaver did not consider this a setback, nor did manager Tony La Russa or pitching coach Dave Duncan. Duncan said the Tigers made solid contact only a handful of times.

“They managed to get some miss-hit balls over the infield and through the infield, and sometimes that happens,” Duncan said. “He threw the ball very good, he had good stuff, pretty good command.

“You don’t miss-hit balls unless they’re balls that are hard to hit,” he said.

Still, the Tigers had Weaver in trouble the whole time. “They were aggressive and swinging early and made it tough all night,” Weaver said. “But it’s a team that can be pitched to and we feel good about our chances.”

It certainly wasn’t the same Weaver that the Cardinals had seen lately. In the opener of the NLCS, he pitched well in losing 2-0 to the New York Mets. He then worked six strong innings to win Game 5 in St. Louis.

But against the Tigers he reverted to early-season form – when he struggled for the Angels.