More than once, it looked like the Cardinals were done. Their season was over and their magical run was done. But they’ve been there before. Their season looked over on August 25 when they trailed by 10.5 games in the Wild Card chase. All of the experts on TV and the Internet declared them dead. But they rallied by essentially winning elimination games for the entire last month of the season. On Thursday night, they had to do it again.
Trailing 7-4 in the eighth inning of game six, it looked like the Texas Rangers were going to claim their first World Series title. The Cardinals relievers had just been blasted for 3 runs in the seventh off of a huge Ian Kinsler double and the Rangers had all of the momentum. The ballpark was quiet as a cemetery. The Cardinals never quit, though.
Allen Craig homered to left in the eighth to make it a 7-5 game. The Cardinals then loaded the bases, threatening to tie the game, but Rafael Furcal tapped out to the pitcher. The air again went out of the ballpark and the Cardinals seemed dead.
In the ninth, St. Louis had to score twice against flame-throwing closer Neftali Feliz, a seemingly impossible task. Yet they did. Albert Pujols started the rally by doubling into left-center. The red hot Lance Berkman followed it with a single, moving Pujols to third. With two outs and the Cardinals down to their last strike, though, it was David Freese who came up big, tripling off the right field wall to score both runs and tie the game.
The game went to extra innings, but the Cardinals momentum was immediately snuffed out. In the top of the tenth, Josh Hamilton hit a two-run homer to give the Ranges a 9-7 lead. Again, it was the sort of deflating, morale-killing moment that would do in most teams. The Cardinals, however, responded in the bottom half. With runners on second and third and one out, Ryan Theriot grounded to third, scoring Daniel Descalso. With the Cardinals again down to their final strike, Lance Berkman’s RBI single tied the game, sending it to the eleventh inning.
In the bottom of the eleventh, Freese struck with a solo home run to straightaway center field. It was the first walk-off home run in Game 6 or 7 of the World Series since Joe Carter for the Blue Jays in 1993. Game 7 will be tonight and though the Rangers are still favored in the series, the Cardinals now have the momentum. Be sure to watch the game so you don’t have to hear about the final game of this classic World Series by reading news.google.com.
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