Rangers vs. Cardinals: Game 4 Loss Would Signal End of World Series for Texas

It may only take three wins for the St. Louis Cardinals to clinch the 2011 World Series.

St. Louis has all the momentum coming off a 16-7 beat down of Texas in the Rangers’ house.  With a 2-1 series lead, they are in position to put the dagger in Texas.  In a seven-game series, a 3-1 lead is incredibly hard to come back from, but it would be nearly impossible against the Cardinals.

Winning three games in a row is difficult enough.  In the first of the trio of contests, though, the Rangers would have to come up big against the Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter.  After that, Texas would have to win two straight away games to steal the World Series.  And yes, that’s harder than it sounds.

Going into the championship series, the majority of America believed that the Rangers' overall talent would be too much to overcome for the upset-happy Cards.  Everyone knew who had the best player on the diamond, though, and that player is the reason the Cardinals are on top. 

Albert Pujols is on fire after going 5-6 with three homeruns and six RBIs on Saturday.  If he continues to put up numbers that even resemble his Oct. 22 outing, the Cardinals are well on their way to hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy.

Of course, Pujols may not be given too many more opportunities to blow up this series.  According to ESPN, Texas manager Ron Washington talked about the National League slugger to the media, saying: “I just hope that we can make him chase some stuff, not put stuff in the wrong spot.  When the opportunity presents itself to put him on the bag, I'm not going to let him swing the bat.”

If the Rangers do indeed start pitching around Pujols, other Cardinals will be forced to step up.  They managed to win Game 1 without a hit from the three-time MVP, so their offense won’t go stale with him taking intentional walks.

Texas has played over 170 baseball games this season, and it’ll all come down to one to keep their hopes alive: Game 4.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.  Follow  him on Twitter.