Like the New York Mets in 1986, the St. Louis Cardinals were one strike away from losing it all in 2011. In each case, it was game six. They both rallied to win the game, then won game seven. Furthermore, game six and seven were both at home. You don't want to lose it in your park, right? The poor Texas Rangers had to contend with back-to-back near misses, despite getting to within one strike in 2011, having also had their share of strikeouts the previous year.
So game six of 2011 was a back-and-forth affair, just like it had been in 1986. Meet Me In St. Louis, Louie! The Cards put a "2" on the board in the bottom of the first, after the Rangers had touched home in the top of the frame. Texas then tied it up in the top of the second. The teams traded single tallies in the fourth. Texas scored again in the top of the fifth, but St. Louis came back with one the next inning. 4-4. That is, until Texas plated three more in the top of the seventh. The Cards got one run back the next inning, but trailed by two going into the bottom of the ninth. 7-5, Texas, for those keeping track.
St. Louis put two on with one out, but then a strikeout seemed to doom them. Neftali Feliz needed just one more out and had a two-run lead. Hmmmm, just like Calvin Schiraldi did! And there were two batters out. Then, the count went to 2-2 on the next hitter, David Freese. But Freese, did what Ray Knight did, only he did Ray two bases better! He stroked a triple to right that Nelson Cruz leaped for and just missed. That scored both runners. Unlike 1986, however, the next batter was retired and the inning was over. This thing was tied at seven!
The Rangers, however, were not about to go quietly, either. Josh Hamilton plated two runners of his own with a two-run home run in the top of the tenth. 9-7, Texas. Three more outs!
Darren Oliver was on the hill for the Rangers to try and nail it down, but was greeted the hard way. Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay singled. The tying run was again an extra base hit away from scoring. And this time, no outs!
Kyle Lohse was sent up as a pinch hitter. He did his job and moved both runners over with a sac bunt. Now, all the Cards needed was a single! It did not happen with the next batter. Ryan Theriot was up and grounded out to third off new pitcher Scott Feldman. Descalso scored, Jay held at second, but there was now two outs, and Texas was still ahead, 9-8.
Albert Pujols was the batter. The Rangers decided to walk him and pitch to Lance Berkman. But Berkman was the wrong guy to pitch to. Feldman, still on the hill, was a right-handed pitcher. There was no one to bring in to face Berkman, though. Berkman was a switch hitter!
Berkman fouled one off, then took a ball. When he fouled off another one, the Cards were down to their last strike again. The next pitch was a ball, so it was 2-2. Where had we seen this all before?
Berkamn smacked a single to centre to tie it at nine! Wow! He wasn't done yet. The winning run, Pujols, made it to third on the play. What better player to score the winning run than Pujols? Berkman then took off to second on the first pitch to Allen Craig. Second and third. Craig grounded out to third as this thing headed towards the eleventh hour and eleventh inning.
Texas put a runner on, as they tried to take the lead again. They failed to score. Then, in the bottom of the frame, Freese led off against new pitcher Mark Lowe. Lowe fell behind 3-0, then battled back to a full count. But Freese crushed this one to centre, over the wall, and a bunch of jubilant fans crossed over to the big green gap in centre to retrieve the ball. It was all over, and St. Louis was ecstatic!
The feeling carried over to game seven, which St. Louis won, 6-2. It was a tough one, obviously, for Texas. So close. I'd always wondered as a child how the Red Sox could come up empty when they were just a strike away, but it ended up happening to Texas in back-to-back innings. So close and yet so far. Baseball, can be a cruel game, indeed!
References
Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.
Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.
Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. Print.
“The Official Site Of Major League Baseball.” MLB.com, Major League Baseball. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. www.mlb.com/.
Snyder, John S. World Series!: Great Moments and Dubious Achievements. San Francisco: Chronicle, 1995. Print.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org>.
Youtube. Youtube. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/>.
So game six of 2011 was a back-and-forth affair, just like it had been in 1986. Meet Me In St. Louis, Louie! The Cards put a "2" on the board in the bottom of the first, after the Rangers had touched home in the top of the frame. Texas then tied it up in the top of the second. The teams traded single tallies in the fourth. Texas scored again in the top of the fifth, but St. Louis came back with one the next inning. 4-4. That is, until Texas plated three more in the top of the seventh. The Cards got one run back the next inning, but trailed by two going into the bottom of the ninth. 7-5, Texas, for those keeping track.
St. Louis put two on with one out, but then a strikeout seemed to doom them. Neftali Feliz needed just one more out and had a two-run lead. Hmmmm, just like Calvin Schiraldi did! And there were two batters out. Then, the count went to 2-2 on the next hitter, David Freese. But Freese, did what Ray Knight did, only he did Ray two bases better! He stroked a triple to right that Nelson Cruz leaped for and just missed. That scored both runners. Unlike 1986, however, the next batter was retired and the inning was over. This thing was tied at seven!
The Rangers, however, were not about to go quietly, either. Josh Hamilton plated two runners of his own with a two-run home run in the top of the tenth. 9-7, Texas. Three more outs!
Darren Oliver was on the hill for the Rangers to try and nail it down, but was greeted the hard way. Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay singled. The tying run was again an extra base hit away from scoring. And this time, no outs!
Kyle Lohse was sent up as a pinch hitter. He did his job and moved both runners over with a sac bunt. Now, all the Cards needed was a single! It did not happen with the next batter. Ryan Theriot was up and grounded out to third off new pitcher Scott Feldman. Descalso scored, Jay held at second, but there was now two outs, and Texas was still ahead, 9-8.
Albert Pujols was the batter. The Rangers decided to walk him and pitch to Lance Berkman. But Berkman was the wrong guy to pitch to. Feldman, still on the hill, was a right-handed pitcher. There was no one to bring in to face Berkman, though. Berkman was a switch hitter!
Berkman fouled one off, then took a ball. When he fouled off another one, the Cards were down to their last strike again. The next pitch was a ball, so it was 2-2. Where had we seen this all before?
Berkamn smacked a single to centre to tie it at nine! Wow! He wasn't done yet. The winning run, Pujols, made it to third on the play. What better player to score the winning run than Pujols? Berkman then took off to second on the first pitch to Allen Craig. Second and third. Craig grounded out to third as this thing headed towards the eleventh hour and eleventh inning.
Texas put a runner on, as they tried to take the lead again. They failed to score. Then, in the bottom of the frame, Freese led off against new pitcher Mark Lowe. Lowe fell behind 3-0, then battled back to a full count. But Freese crushed this one to centre, over the wall, and a bunch of jubilant fans crossed over to the big green gap in centre to retrieve the ball. It was all over, and St. Louis was ecstatic!
The feeling carried over to game seven, which St. Louis won, 6-2. It was a tough one, obviously, for Texas. So close. I'd always wondered as a child how the Red Sox could come up empty when they were just a strike away, but it ended up happening to Texas in back-to-back innings. So close and yet so far. Baseball, can be a cruel game, indeed!
References
Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.
Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.
Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. Print.
Snyder, John S. World Series!: Great Moments and Dubious Achievements. San Francisco: Chronicle, 1995. Print.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org>.
Youtube. Youtube. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/>.
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