World Series Schedule 2011: Texas Rangers Will Own St. Louis Cardinals at Home

A couple of bloop singles, a steal, an error and two sacrifice flies. That's all it took for the Texas Rangers to upend the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 2 and take firm control of the 2011 World Series, which now moves to the Ballpark in Arlington for the next three games.

The Rangers tied with the Yankees for the best home record in the American League this season and trailed only the Milwaukee Brewers for the top mark in MLB. Ron Washington's ballclub has carried that success into the postseason, with four wins in five games in Texas.

But it's not just that the Rangers are good at home so much as why they're good at home. Texas sports one of the heaviest-hitting lineups in all of baseball, with five players who posted 25 or more home runs—Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Adrian Beltre and Mike Napoli—among eight who managed double-digit dingers this season.

Much of the credit belongs to The Ballpark, where the Rangers hit 27 points better with 60 percent of their home runs and 58.2 percent of their runs during the regular season. The Ballpark in Arlington was the most offensively friendly stadium in all of baseball this season, with the highest park factor score in runs and home runs.

On the flip side, home field has been anything but an advantage for Texas' pitchers, whose collective earned run average was more than two-thirds of a run higher at home than on the road. That difference would be disconcerting, especially in the World Series, where pitching typically carries the day.

Disconcerting for whom, though? The Cardinals staff saw its ERA jump a third of a run and its batting average against rise 37 points away from Busch Stadium this season, thanks in part to their home park being among the most pitcher-friendly in baseball.

The difference here, of course, is that the Rangers are used to pitching in a hitters' park on a daily basis, while the Redbirds draw their strength from the more spacious dimensions and less hitter-friendly weather conditions in St. Louis.

So while Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman will enjoy the favorable hitting conditions in the Metroplex, it will be the the Rangers' big boppers who benefit the most.

Perhaps not enough to close out the series in five games, but certainly enough for Texas to take the series back to St. Louis with a 3-2 lead in the Fall Classic.