St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers Set To Make History

David Freese didn’t know what to do as he came within 10 feet of home plate. Thirty grown men wearing helmets  (with some of them holding baseball bats)  were waiting for him on the other side as flash bulbs erupted from every corner of Busch stadium trying to capture the moment.   

In a bizarre act of reckless endangerment, Freese slammed his helmet on the ground, plowed forward and was subsequently swallowed by the mob. He let the thumps shower on his back for nearly five minutes as the exhausted crowd of 47,000 saluted their hometown hero, a kid who grew up cheering for the Cardinals during their many memorable postseasons.

The celebration at the plate seemed to go on as long as the game that preceded it. Even after the Cardinals tore apart Freese’s jersey and fed it to the rally squirrels, no one seemed ready to leave for the exits.

Much like Bobby Thompson’s Shot Heard ‘Round the World, or Carlton Fisk waving his arms mightily in the Boston night, this was a moment that would forever be etched in baseball lore. As much as it pains me to say it, Joe Buck summed it up perfectly.  

Just an inning and a half earlier, Josh Hamilton had silenced an entire city with one mighty swing, launching a devastating two-run homer that seemed to suck all the life out of the home-crowd which had been resuscitated by Freese's two-run double off Neftali Feliz in the bottom of the ninth.   

But you know they say baseball is a game of inches. If Nelson Cruz didn’t trim his fingernails the other day, this series is over and the Rangers are spraying each other with Ginger Ale in the visiting lock room. Instead, the Canada Dry remains refrigerated for at least another night, and Tony LaRussa’s miracle crew will do everything they can to make sure that Budweiser (the official beer of the St. Louis Cardinals) will be flowing through the city come Friday.

The Rangers now face one of the most insurmountable tasks in all of sports, which is to win Game 7 of a World Series after a catastrophic "comeback" loss.

Of course, everyone has Bill Buckner and the 1986 Boston Red Sox in the back of their minds, but I’m sure Cardinals fans still haven’t forgotten Denkinger’s blown call in the 1984 World Series. Let’s not forget that the last time a World Series went to seven games, the San Francisco Giants squandered a huge lead in Game 6 and would subsequently fall to the Angels and the Rally Monkeys the next night.

No one is getting any sleep in Texas right now, that's for sure. If I'm a Rangers fan and my team is leading 11-0 by the fifth inning tomorrow, I'd go into cardiac arrest every time the Cardinals put someone on base with David Freese on deck. For some reason, I have a feeling John Jay will hit two homers and drive in six runs.

Maybe not.

You have to tip your hat to Ron Washington's poise throughout the postseason, but he's made more mistakes than a head coach is usually allowed to in October, and it may have finally cost his team.

With their bullpen shredded and their least effective starter on the mound, the Cardinals will be looking to finish the Rangers as early as the first inning. It's more than likely that we'll see Chris Carpenter on the mound tomorrow night, so if Texas has any hopes of survival it'll hinge on scoring first and controlling the tempo of the game.

Or maybe they'll reverse their strategy and score all their runs at the end. Rally Moose anyone?