The St. Louis Cardinals failed to put themselves ahead in the World Series with a frustrating Game 2 loss to the Texas Rangers. It was a tense 2-1 victory for the Rangers, but the series is still tied 1-1.
The game was a pitcher's dual in every way, which is clear due to fact only one total run was scored before the ninth-inning.
Cardinals' starter Jaime Garcia went seven shutout innings with only three hits and one walk, as well seven strikeouts before being replaced by a string of relievers after the seventh-inning.
Rangers' starter Colby Lewis had a solid outing himself. He went six scoreless innings with four strikeouts and only four hits and two walks. However, his luck ran out in the seventh-inning after giving up singles to David Freese and Nick Punto.
With the pitcher's spot in lineup coming up for the Cardinals' after Punto's single, Tony LaRussa opted to pinch hit for Garcia with Allen Craig, which brought forth a familiar situation. The Rangers replaced Lewis with Alexi Ogando to face Craig, which is exactly what happened in Game 1.
And just like in Game 1, where Craig hit a pinch hit single off of Ogando to score Freese and give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead, he singled again tonight off Ogando... to score Freese and give the Cardinals the lead (1-0).
With a perfect eight-inning by Fernando Salas and Marc Rzepczynski, Jason Motte was set up with a ninth-inning opportunity to close the game, but that's when the momentum shifted.
Motte led off the inning by giving up back-to-back hits to Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus. LaRussa then pulled Motte from the game and replaced him with Arthur Rhodes, who gave up a sacrifice fly to score Kinsler. Lance Lynn then replaced Rhodes. Lynn gave up another sacrifice fly that put the Rangers ahead ahead 2-1.
There was some hope in the bottom of the ninth after Texas closer Neftali Feliz gave up a lead-off walk to Yadier Molina, but Feliz managed to strike out the next two batters (Nick Punto, Skip Schumaker). Rafael Furcal made the final out with a pop fly to right-field.
The Cardinals will have Friday off and the series will continue with Game 3 on Saturday in Arlington, Texas. The series will not return the Busch Stadium until Game 6.
After being 10.5 games out of the wild card as late as August 26th, the St. Louis Cardinals have put together maybe the most impressive and historic drive towards an NL Pennant in baseball history.
The Cardinals won a wild card berth on the very last game of the regular season, which put them into post-season play.
They faced the Philadelphia Phillies, who won 102 regular season games, in the NLDS, winning in Game 5 with the score of 1-0 after ace Chris Carpenter put together a historic three-hit complete game shutout.
The Cards then entered the NLCS to face their Central Division rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Brewers took the first game, but the Redbirds took a win before the series headed back to Busch Stadium. The Cardinals took a Game 3 victory, but lost the Game 4. The final game in St. Louis was a convincing 7-1 victory for the Cardinals, but they were forced to head back to Miller Park for Game 6.
The Brewers are known for their power in Miller Park, and it showed in Game 6.
The Cardinals' Game 6 starter Edmond Jackson gave up three homers and four runs in the first two innings, which is certainly not an ideal start.
Unfortunately for the Brewers, the Cardinals had some offense as well.
A four-run first-inning, the result of a Lance Berkman RBI and a three-run home run by David Freese, forced the Brewers to play catch-up from the start.
Rafael Furcal had a solo shot in the second-inning. The third-inning was another four-run inning highlighted by a two-run shot by Albert Pujols.
At that point the Cardinals were winning 9-4 and the Brewers were overwhelmed ever since, but that didn't stop the Redbirds from scoring two in the fifth and one more in the eighth.
Despite limping to the barn with the bullpen due to a short lived game by the starter for a sixth consecutive time, the Cardinals finished with 13 hits and beat the Brewers by the score of 12-6.
The Cardinals won the NLCS four games to two. It is their third NL Pennant since 2004. It is the team's 18th NL Pennant, and they have won more Pennants than any other National League team in the last 15 years.
The Cardinals will face the Texas Rangers in the World Series. Ace Chris Carpenter is set to be the Game 1 starter.
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