After pulling off one of the most improbable runs during a pennant race and squeaking passed the Atlanta Braves by a mere one game in the wild card on the final day of the regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals continued their late season dominance into the postseason and beyond. Facing a highly favored Texas Rangers ball club that was making its second World Series appearance in as many years, the Cardinals' miraculous run coming to an end was almost inevitable. One win away from winning their first ever World Series title and sending the Red Birds packing, the Rangers went into the final frame of game 6 needing only one out as Texas' closer Neftali Feliz stood on the mound with a 7-5 lead to face a kid raised in St. Louis by the name of David Freese. Little did he know he'd go from hometown kid to hometown hero in a matter of seconds for his late-game heroics.
Down to his final strike in a 1-2 count with two men on and two outs in the 9th inning, Freese hit a game-tying 2-run triple just out of Nelson Cruz's reach in right field to force the game into extra innings. With some breathing room for the first time since the games early going, the Cardinals appeared to have stolen all the momentum as the game went into the 10th inning. That was until the Rangers' All-Star sluggerstepped up to the plate. Josh Hamilton who was stuck in a homer-less drought in his last 82 at-bats picked the perfect time to connect for his first when he hit a 2-run home run off St. Louis' closer Ryan Motte to once again give Texas the lead and a shot at slamming the door for good. Former Rangers great and now owner of the ball club Nolan Ryan thought that would for sure be the outcome as he and his wife began celebrating in the stands as Hamilton rounded the bases. But even that lead would be evaporated by yet another St. Louis rally.
An RBI ground out by Ryan Theriot and an RBI single by Lance Berkman in the bottom half of the inning would tie the game at 9,eventually setting up the hometown kid for an encore. In the 11th inning, Freese, the 28 year old kid who started it all by tying the game up in the 9th would come up big yet again this time winning it with a walk-off home run to deep center field. It was then that you almost knew the Cardinals winning it all was destiny. And with a former Cy Young Award winner on the mound at home in game 7, the Rangers didn't stand a punchers chance as skipper Ron Washington decided to stick to his guns and counter with the less experienced Matt Harrison. In a less thrilling final game that lacked the back and forth excitement and late-game heroics that game 6 had to offer, the Cardinals eventually went on to defeat the Rangers in route to a 6-2 win, giving St. Louis their NL leading 11th World Series title second to only the New York Yankees (27). Meanwhile the Rangers became only the 8th team in MLB history to lose back-to-back World Series'.
For the casual fan of baseball there's no way you could've scripted a better outcome coming into the year than the one that transpired before our very eyes. Not only were the Cardinals long shots to win it all, but the fashion they did it in is just mind boggling. Not to mention a legend would be born in October by the name of David Freese who so fittingly was named World Series MVP after taking home NLCS MVP honors and setting a record for the most RBI's in a single postseason by driving in 21 runs.
Though nobody saw the Cardinals reigning supreme or Freese's out of the blue success prior to the season, the biggest shocker of them all has gotta be the decision of one Tony LaRussa. Having been at the helm for 16 years in St. Louis where he won two of his three World Series rings, the 67 year old LaRussa stunned the baseball world on Monday by announcing his sudden retirement only three days after winning it all. What makes his decision to hang em up so surprising is that he's never expressed a possible retirement in the past. In addition, no Major League manager has ever walked away from the game after winning a World Series in the same year making LaRussa the first. Currently third on the all-time list of winningest managers with 2,728 wins, LaRussa being inducted into Cooperstown in a no-brainer. The biggest question mark regarding LaRussa's departure, however, is if it'll have any lasting impact on Albert Pujols' decision as the 9-time All-Star gets set to hit the free-agent market. After all, LaRussa is the only manager Pujols has played under in his entire career.
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