St. Louis Cardinals win World Series, beat Texas Rangers 6-2 in Game 7
The St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series in Game 7
A day after an epic Game 6 that saw them twice within one strike of elimination, the St. Louis Cardinals captured their 11th World Series crown. After a whole fall on the edge, Tony La Russa’s team didn’t dare mess with Texas, or any more drama.
Freese’s two-run double tied it in the first inning against loser Matt Harrison and Allen Craig hit a go-ahead homer in the third.
Pitching on short rest, Carpenter improved to 2-0 in the Series and 4-0 in the postseason. St. Louis Cardinals coach La Russa won his third Series title.
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RIVAL NEWSPAPER: Reasons are many for loathing the Dallas Cowboys
It’s nice that the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys typically play on Sundays. That way if I want to light a votive candle and pray that Miles Austin develops scurvy, I don’t have to make a special trip to church.
Wish I understood my Dallas Cowboys aversion. All I know is that as a real Philadelphian, they inspire the same kind of animus as Super Pretzels. And for exactly the same reason: They’re both tasteless.
People often ask me why I dislike the Cowboys so. As Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a Dallas cheerleader until pantaloons above the ankle prompted her resignation, once wrote, let me count the ways:
Tom Landry’s hat. Did he think he was hiding his baldness? The Cowboys first coach wore fedoras right through the Age of Aquarius, shielding his head while the rest of us were expanding ours. I could maybe see the need for one on a December Sunday in Green Bay. But indoors in New Orleans? Or Miami? It was an affectation of the arrogant.
DALLAS COWBOY LIVING LEGEND: Roger Staubach shares who would be on his Dallas-area Mount Rushmore of sports
Roger Staubach - First pitch - World Series 2011 - Texas Rangers vs St. Louis Cardinals
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ARLINGTON — After throwing out the first pitch before Game 5 of the World Series on Monday night, Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach chatted with media members about several topics, including who would be on his Dallas area Mount Rushmore of sports figures.
One criteria, he could not name himself.
The Dallas Cowboys legend stayed with his former team for his first answer, naming fellow former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman.
“You’ve got Troy up there, you’ve got to have Dirk Nowitzki up there, and if you’re a hockey fan you’ve got [Mike] Modano,” Staubach said. “Nolan Ryan is up there, and Kenny Rogers [who caught Staubach’s pitch before the game] pitched his perfect game here with us. There’s a good list. There’s only four people up there on Mount Rushmore, isn’t there?”
Not a bad list.
Roger ‘The Dodger’ Staubach said it was a thrill to be asked to throw out the first pitch. He was in Washington D.C. for a Naval Academy Foundation meeting when he got the invite from Nolan Ryan.
Staubach, who has never thrown out a first pitch before a World Series game, responded to Ryan by saying: “Gee, yeah, that would be great.”
And of course, before Roger Staubach exited the interview room at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, he fielded a question about the Dallas Cowboys.
Staubach was asked if rookie running back DeMarco Murray, who rushed for 253 yards on Sunday, could possibly be the missing piece for the current Dallas Cowboys team.
“I think Tony [Romo] has got the receivers. They do need a running game, and I’m hoping that this is a good sign,” he said. “They’ve got a young offensive line, but they need a running game. And there’s definitely hope that they have it now.”
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WORLD SERIES: Rangers beat Cardinals in Game 5, one win from title
- Texas Rangers lead series 3-2
(Reuters) – The Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Monday to move within one win of claiming their first World Series title since the franchise was born in 1961.
The victory gave Texas a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
A two-run double by Mike Napoli in the bottom of the eighth inning snapped a 2-2 tie to lift the Rangers over a Cardinals team that squandered a multitude of chances, leaving 12 men on base while hitting 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
The series shifts to St. Louis for Game Six on Wednesday, with the Rangers starting Colby Lewis against Jaime Garcia.
RELATED: Napoli, Rangers move 1 win from World Series crown
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — A long drive by Mike Napoli, a lucky bounce near the mound and suddenly the Texas Rangers were on the brink of their first World Series championship.
Napoli delivered the biggest hit of his charmed season, lining a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning that sent the Rangers past the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Monday night for a 3-2 edge.
The slugging catcher then capped off his night of double duty, throwing out a would-be base stealer in the ninth as Albert Pujols struck out.
“Pujols is going to put it in play, he’s a good contact hitter,” Napoli said, “and they were just starting the runner, 3-2. As soon as I got it, I just got rid of it and put it on the bag.”
Texas will try to wrap it up in Game 6 on Wednesday night in St. Louis.
If the Rangers eventually do win that elusive crown, the Texas fans who stood and chanted Napoli’s name may forever remember his two-run hit.
“Just trying to get something to the outfield, you know, get a sac fly, get that run across the board,” Napoli said. “I was trying to stay short and I got a pitch I could handle over the middle of the plate and put it in the gap.”
If the Cardinals lose, there’s no doubt which play will stick with manager Tony La Russa for a long, long time.
It was 2-all when Texas put runners on first and second with one out in the eighth, and reliever Marc Rzepczynski was summoned. David Murphy followed with a bouncer back to the mound, a possible inning-ending double play in the making.
But the ball appeared to glance off Rzepczynski’s knee and trickled harmlessly away for a single that loaded the bases. In the dugout, La Russa immediately threw his hands to his head, a true “Oh, no!” moment.
Napoli, who came close to a three-run homer in his previous at-bat, sent a drive up the alley against the pitcher with the nickname “Scrabble.” The double off Rzepczynski sure spelled good things for Texas, with excitable manager Ron Washington waving the runners around from the dugout.
Darren Oliver earned the win and Neftali Feliz closed for his second save of the Series and sixth of the postseason.
After a travel day, the Series will resume at Busch Stadium with Colby Lewis facing Cardinals lefty Jaime Garcia. The weather forecast in St. Louis is daunting, calling for rain and temperatures around 50.
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Rival Newspaper: Fans from Cardinal Nation find themselves in football country
Nick Benbrook (left), a Cardinals fan, and Will Head, a Rangers fan, keep an eye on the Rams game while watching batting practice before Game 4 of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers Sunday, October 23, 2011 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas. Photo by Laurie Skrivan
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ARLINGTON, Texas • The hulking Cowboys Stadium casts a Texas-sized shadow over Rangers Ballpark.
As the lesser-known brick-face ballpark next door prepared to host the Cardinals in the World Series on Sunday, Cowboys Stadium welcomed the St. Louis Rams.
St. Louis fans in town on Sunday clamored to get tickets to see both of their hometown teams collide in the same city, but the reaction here to the coincidental contests punctuated what everyone already knows: This is football country.
Star outfielders Lance Berkman of the Cardinals and Josh Hamilton of the Rangers were on the football field as guests for the ceremonial coin-toss. They represented cities who are as different as the two sides of the coin: Dallas loves the Cowboys like St. Louis loves the Cardinals.
STL HOMERS: Rams coach, players attend World Series game Saturday night
With help from the Cardinals, Spagnuolo along with his wife and all the players on the trip attended Game 3 of the World Series on Saturday night. The team was staying at a hotel a short drive away for their game Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, whose stadium is a few hundred yards from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
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“We would normally have meetings right now,” Spagnuolo said a few minutes before the first pitch just outside Section 317 in the top deck of the ballpark, ‘so this is our meeting for tonight. It worked out good because we have a 3 o’clock game tomorrow, so we have time to do the meetings (in the morning). I thought it would be a good thing for team bonding. … I thought it would be a great experience for the guys. How often are you going to get a chance to go to a World Series game?”
Spagnuolo said he’d been to one World Series game before, in 2004 at Fenway Park when the Cardinals played the Red Sox. Then, Spagnuolo was an assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles who went because he was a native of Massachusetts and didn’t personally know the people involved. But now, because of his friendship with Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, this game feels different.
“This is special,” said Spagnuolo, wearing a red shirt for the occasion. “I’m close friends with Tony. I think the world of their team and what they’ve done this year. I think it’s a great reflection of what you can do when you persevere and hang in there. They fought their way back there, so we’re proud of them.”
And for a Rams team that is off to an 0-5 start, a team that came back from 10½ down is a good role model.
“It’s early yet for us,” Spagnuolo said, ‘so we’ll see what happens.”
TOM TIMMERMANN | St. Louis Post Dispatch | Posted: Sunday, October 23, 2011
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WORLD SERIES 2011: Cardinals outduel Rangers in Game 1
WORLD SERIES 2011 - GAME 1 - CARDS 3 RANGERS 2
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ST. LOUIS (AP)
Texas manager Ron Washington joked about not being able to match wits with Tony La Russa.
No joke.
Who can, these days?
The St. Louis boss looked like a genius once again in Game 1, especially when Allen Craig pinch-hit for ace Chris Carpenter and delivered a go-ahead single that sent the Cardinals past the Texas Rangers 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Craig’s slicing hit with two outs in the sixth inning fell inches in front of sliding right fielder Nelson Cruz. Game 1 was just that tight throughout a cold, damp evening.
It was a game perfectly suited for La Russa – lots of bunts, intentional walks and pitching changes. And in a postseason in which he’s made all the right moves, the 67-year-old manager was at the top of his game.
”It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out,” Cardinals outfielder Lance Berkman said. ”But I feel like we have to win the National League-style games if we’re going to win this thing and tonight was a National League-style game — 3-2, good pitching, good defense, timely hitting.
”I don’t think that we want to get into a gorilla ball-type series with these guys. We’ll see what happens when we add the DH and go to the American League ballpark, but I think when we have the National League style and we have the advantage we have to capitalize.”
The Cardinals did, barely. A sliding stop by first baseman Albert Pujols helped prevent Texas from taking the lead on Carpenter’s final pitch in the sixth.
St. Louis even won without its Rally Squirrel. There were no sightings of the elusive critter still roaming Busch Stadium — good thing for the rodent, too, because La Russa probably would’ve devised a way to catch him.
Game 2 is Thursday night, with Jaime Garcia starting for the Cards against Colby Lewis. Texas has not lost two straight games since Aug. 23 to 25.
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