Josh Hamilton can suggest that God said that he would hit a homerun in Game 6, but in the end the Cardinals were the team of destiny. Completing an impressive run that saw them take advantage of the Braves September collapse to make the playoffs on the final day of the season, the Cardinals came back from a 3-2 deficit to win their second World Series in the past six years.
While it took the Cardinals seven games to clinch the title, everyone will remember Game 6 when the Rangers were one strike/pitch away from winning their first Championship in franchise history but couldn’t close the game out.
Heading into the bottom of the ninth inning in St. Louis, the Cardinals were down by two runs. Series MVP David Freese came up with two out and runners on first and second. Despite the Rangers outfielder playing extremely deep to take away extra base hits, Freese rocketed a ball past Nelson Cruz for a triple which tied the game.
In the 10th inning, the Cardinals were faced with more of the same. After the Rangers took a 9-7 lead on Josh Hamilton’s homerun, the Cardinals cut the deficit to one while making the second out of the inning. Lance Berkman singled to centerfield to tie the game and extend it into the 11th inning.
After the Rangers were retired by Jake Westbrook, David Freese came up against Mark Lowe in the bottom of the 11th and deposited a 3-2 pitch over the wall to win the game for the Cardinals and extend the series.
Game 7 wasn’t nearly as climatic, but it got off to a hot start as both teams scored a pair of runs in the first inning. The Rangers threatened to add more in the second, but were shut down by Chris Carpenter with two men on base.
Allan Craig hit a blast to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead in the third inning and the pitching staff took care of the rest. Carpenter worked six strong innings (completing a terrific series in which he made three starts, never allowing more than two runs) and the Rangers never got a runner past second base after the second inning. In the end, the Cards coasted to a 6-2 win and Freese took home the extra piece of hardware.
The Cardinals bullpen shut down all nine batters they faced and Jason Motte retired David Murphy on a flyball to left field to clinch for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals pitching staff did a terrific job against the Rangers after struggling through the NLCS. Mike Napoli, Ian Kinsler and Adrian Beltre had great series but the Rangers lineup scored just over 4 runs a game, much lower than in the ALCS.
After surviving the regular season and coming back from a 2-1 hole to beat the Phillies in the first round. The St. Louis Cardinals are the 2011 World Series Champions; have to wonder what God has told Josh Hamilton about that.
Used with permission of the author.
Brett is the editor and a contributor for www.BravesFTW.com. He has covered MLB and the Braves for numerous websites and is a regular contributor to Sports Climax. Follow Brett on Twitter.
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