I won’t lie, I do carry somewhat of an east coast bias for baseball. If the Yankees aren’t playing, I lose interest. If the Red Sox aren’t on for me to root against, I’m probably not watching. That’s why, with apologies to the fans in the midwest, I hadn’t watched a single game of the World Series until last night.
Before I go off about that epic game 6 Cardinals victory, lets talk about the first five games. I feel ashamed that I haven’t bothered to watch any of the games, games that included a three home-run night for arguably the greatest player of our generation, a shutout performance by a pitcher whose facial hair looks like mine in the 6th grade, and four games that have been decided by two runs or less. This series has had the greatest manager of the last 25 years make a bullpen phone blunder. The opposing manager has had the most excited reactions to run scoring plays that I’ve ever seen. Yeah, I’m only seeing what ESPN shows me of the games, but still. This has been the best World Series since the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in seven games 10 years ago. Game 6 was the epitome of this series.
The game was going awful for 7 innings. I wasn’t paying much attention, between shouting friends and games of mario cart, but I caught a couple of horrible blunders by the Cardinals. The Rangers seemed to have the game all locked up, Matt Holliday got picked off at third base with the bases loaded by catcher Mike Napoli....from his knees. This was in the inning after Holliday and Rafael Furcal let a fly ball land right in between them in left field. The score was 7-4 going into the eighth inning. After Allen Craig jacked a solo home run, the Cardinals were down two going into the bottom of the ninth, up against fireballer Neftali Feliz. Albert Pujols ripped a double with one out. Lance Berkman was walked on four straight pitches. Craig struck out swinging. Up came David Freese, the Cardinals last chance to (for now) to extend their season. Freese took a 2-2 pitch and lined it deep to right field. Rangers right fielder Nelson Cruz went back for the ball so casually, everyone thought it was going to be caught. As Cruz got closer to the wall, he leaped to make the catch.....and the ball nailed the wall and went rolling back towards the infield. Pujols scored, Berkman scored. Freese into third with a two out, two run triple. Tie ballgame, again.
At this point the Cardinals held all the momentum in the world. A monumental collapse by the Rangers, who were one strike away from winning the first championship in their 50 year history. Nolan Ryan looked like a grandpa who just found out his grandson couldn’t throw a baseball, he was that mad. Then, in the top of the 10th inning, Josh Hamilton who had had an awful series, rocketed a two run home run to give the Rangers a 9-7 lead. The air seemed to be completely sucked out of Busch Stadium. I thought that the game was lost, that the cinderella Cardinals, who needed the very last game of the regular season to get into the playoffs, were finally at the end of the road. Darren Oliver, he who actually played with Nolan Ryan, came in to close the game out for the Rangers. Single to right, single to shallow left. Pitcher Edwin Jackson goes on deck to pinch hit for fellow pitcher Jason Motte, only to be pinch hit for another pitcher, Kyle Lohse. Lohse plays down the best sacrifice bunt I’d ever seen, all the way to the shortstop. Man on second and third, one out. Ryan Theriot comes up against Scot Feldman, grounding out to third but picking up an RBI along the way. 9-8, two outs, bottom of the 10th. Pujols gets intentionally walked for the fourth time in two games, setting the stage for Big Puma, Lance Berkman. The same Berkman who couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn last year with the Yankees. Berkman gets down to his final strike, and lines a single to center. John Jay scores, were all tied up (again).
Jason Westbrook, who I could have sworn had been retired for 12 years, came in for the Cardinals and got the Rangers to go down without giving up a run. Bottom of the 11th, up came Freese again. Freese digged in against Mark Lowe, a pitcher who struck out 42 batters in the regular season. I thought this game was going to go all night, it had already taken over four hours to play. Freese took a Lowe fastball and hit it deep to center field. Hamilton went back to the wall, but it was no use. Freese had just sent the Cardinals into tomorrow, with game 7 awaiting on Friday. As the grassy knoll in centerfield was bull rushed by St. Louis fans, Freese sprinted to home plate and got his jersey ripped by his teammates. The Rangers, 25 years after Bill Buckner, had just committed what may be the second worst collapse in World Series history.
Tonight the Cardinals will send out ace Chris Carpenter, the man who led the team all the way to the series. Holliday is questionable to play with a bum finger, both bullpens are milked from last night. Is there any other way to have a game 7? I may have not watched the first five games of the series, but that’s the beauty of baseball, sometimes you can catch the final game without missing a beat. I’m going to watch game 7, no matter who I’m with or where I am. I suggest you should too.
