World Series 2011: 7 Reasons the Cardinals Will Win Game 7

The St. Louis Cardinals are destiny's team.  Left for dead on the side of the road too many times to count, this team refuses to die.

Last night was just one more chapter in an amazing story that these Cardinals are writing before our very eyes.  They found every way imaginable to beat themselves early in the game.  They made the kind of errors you wouldn't expect to see out of a good little league team.  Their potent lineup couldn't hit the ball out of the infield. 

To top it off, their manager, "La Genius" himself, Tony La Russa, was stumbling and bumbling his way through using every position player he had.  It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.  Cardinals' fans everywhere had to be thinking, "Is this really happening?"

I know that's what I was thinking.

Then "The Magic" happened, in the form of hometown hero David Freese pulling the Cardinals' fat out of the fire.  The rest, as they say, is history.

The Cardinals will win Game 7 tonight.  Here's how they'll do it...

Texas Is Reeling After Last Night

You have a two-run lead going into the bottom of the 9th.  You give the ball to your All Star closer, Neftali Feliz, who throws like 1,000 miles per hour.

He blows it.  Tie ballgame.

That's okay, because in the next inning, Josh Hamilton jacks a two-run homer.  You have the lead.

Now send Feliz back out there, and slam the door shut, right?

Nope, they send out Darren Oliver.  Yes the Darren Oliver. 

Of course he blew it.  Of course the Cardinals came from behind to win.  Of course the Rangers have to feel like they sky is falling on them right now. 

The managing at the end of Game 6 was so bad that I half expected Nolan Ryan to start warming up.  I thought the Ryan Express had a better chance to close that game down than the guys that Ron Washington was running out there.

Not that I'm complaining or anything.  I'd much rather have our pitcher bat against Darren Oliver than Neftali Feliz. 

Speaking of our pitcher batting in the bottom of the 10th inning...

The Return of "La Genius"

La Russa has pushed all the right buttons down the stretch.  The Cardinals wouldn't be here without him.  His job during the NLCS, where he used his bullpen in the most unconventional way I've ever seen, was brilliant.

In the World Series, TLR hasn't looked quite as smart.

In Game 2, he took out his closer, Jason Motte, with a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 9th.  Never mind the fact that Motte hadn't allowed a run in the playoffs.  The Rangers came from behind to win.

In Game 4, he brought in Mitchell Boggs as a reliever.  First pitch, Boggs gave up a home run that landed somewhere in Northern Mexico.  Game over.

In Game 5, we had "phone gate," where La Russa so mismanaged the bullpen that there has to be a cell phone commercial in the works. 

In Game 6, the Cardinals won, but La Russa used all of his position players before the 9th inning was over!  In one bizarre sequence, he sent Gerald Laird up to pinch hit for the pitcher, then called Laird back in favor of Daniel Descalso. 

So he used two players as one pinch hitter!

Things backfired on TLR so badly that in the bottom of the 10th, with the Cards once again trailing by two runs, we had to let the pitcher bat!  In another "this-is-too-crazy-to-be-true" sequence, TLR sent Edwin Jackson up to bat, then called him back in favor of Kyle Lohse.

So once again, he used two players as one pinch hitter!

In defense of TLR, both moves worked.  Descalso got a base hit.  Lohse got the bunt down.  The Cards lived to fight another day.  I think TLR will be on his game tonight, and in a battle of wits with Ron Washington, it's just not a fair fight.

No offense to Washington, it's just that TLR has "been here, done this" before.

The Cards Are Going to Jump on Matt Harrison

Matt Harrison hasn't been all that great in the post season.  Remember that 16-7 game the Cards had when Albert Pujols went all Reggie Jackson on the Rangers?

Yep, that was Matt Harrison's start.

The Cardinals jumped on Harrison for five runs (two of them unearned) in only three-and-two-thirds innings pitched.  If that happens again tonight, the Cardinals will put the Rangers away. 

There is no way the Rangers will be able to handle a rockin' Busch Stadium.  There is no way the Rangers' depleted bullpen, after last night's slugfest, will be able to support a starter who is shaky early in the ballgame.

So Texas fans, your season is riding on Matt Harrison.  Good luck with that one.

Chris Carpenter...Enough Said

He pitched a complete game shutout on the last day of the season to get the Cards into the playoffs.  He pitched a complete game shutout, a gem, in Game 5 of the Division Series.  It was a "win-or-go-home" ballgame, on the road, against Roy Halladay.

Cardinals' fans, who would you rather have on the mound than Chris Carpenter?  Bob Gibson?  Maybe?

Chris Carpenter is going to take the ball, and he is going to go deep into this game.  He is a warrior, a gamer and he knows that the hopes and dreams of Cardinals Nation are riding on his right arm.

Carp won't lose this game.

Albert Pujols: Is This His Last Stand?

Everybody knows that Pujols will be a free agent after the season is over.  There have been many, many "this might be the last one" moments during the last month.

This time, there really is no tomorrow.

So with all the hoopla of a Game 7, we have the possibility that we could be watching the greatest hitter of this generation, one of the greatest Cardinals ever (maybe the best?), take his final swing wearing the Birds on the Bat.

Outside of Game 3, Pujols has been very quiet during this World Series.  Pujols lives for moments like this.  I see him having a big impact on this game. 

Pujols also knows, with Carp on the mound, the Cards won't need to score 16 runs again.  One at bat could change this entire ballgame.  Having the best hitter on either team is a huge advantage.

For at least one more night, I'm glad this guy is on our side.

History Is on the Cardinals' Side

A lot of times in sports, we only remember the winners.  So if the Cardinals lose tonight, then Pujols' amazing Game 3 performance will become a footnote.  If the Cardinals lose tonight, the story of David Freese, the hometown kid that won the game for the Cardinals, will become an afterthought.

That's not going to happen.

The Cardinals are going to win this game.  All of the amazing stories we're going to tell our kids one day will be about how all of this happened, and that is how the Cardinals won the World Series.

This Is Destiny's Team

The Cardinals were 10.5 games out of the playoffs in late August.  They had virtually no shot at catching the Braves, a team that might have been the second-best team in the NL.  The Cards were so far back that there was talk about playing the young guys like Tyler Greene.  There was talk about the Cards trading their star players (Berkman to Texas was even discussed).

The Cardinals are still standing.

The Cardinals trailed the Phillies, the best team in baseball, 2-1.  They had to beat the Phillies back-to-back, including a decisive Game 5 in Philly, against the best pitcher alive, Roy Halladay. 

The Cardinals are still standing. 

The Cardinals had to knock off the Brewers, the Central Division Champions.  The Brewers had the best home record in baseball.  The Brewers had a potent lineup.

The Cardinals are still standing.

The Cardinals trailed the Texas Rangers 3-2 heading back to Busch Stadium.  Throughout most of the game, the Cardinals had more errors than hits.  Every time the Rangers would let the Cardinals rally, the bullpen would give the lead right back to the Rangers. 

The Cards ran out of position players in the 9th inning!  Things got so bad, our pitcher had to bat in the bottom of the 10th!  We were down to our last strike twice!

The Cardinals are still standing.  After tonight, they'll be standing on top of the mountain as the 2011 World Series Champions.