Texas fans might have felt excited when Game 7 of the World Series began and the Cardinals scratched Matt Holliday(notes) from the lineup. The Rangers also had injuries, including Josh Hamilton(notes) and Nelson Cruz(notes), but both those players played. The Rangers wanted to win their first World Series and made sure everyone was in the lineup. The Cardinals knew Holliday couldn’t go but that turned out not to be a disadvantage.

Holliday hurt himself diving back to third base on Game 6 as Mike Napoli(notes) picked him off. The injury he suffered was a right wrist sprain. It was severe enough to have put Holliday on the disabled list during the regular season. As it was, it just eliminated him from the World Series roster. St. Louis replaced him with rookie Adron Chambers(notes), an outfielder who played in both the NLDS and NLCS.

X-rays on his wrist were negative but the pain was enough to keep him out of action. The injury would have kept him out three weeks if it occurred during the regular season. It was also one of many ailments for Holliday in 2011, who missed time with an appendectomy as well as injuries to his hand, back and legs.

Holliday will have to wear a cast for the next few days, but over time, it will be fine.

With Holliday out, David Freese(notes) moved up in the lineup. Batting fifth in Game 7, Freese had a key double for two RBIs in the first inning. Freese, a local St. Louis player, won the MVP award for the World Series. He also won the MVP for the NLCS. He finished the postseason with a .397 average with eight doubles, a triple, five home runs and 21 RBI. Matt Holliday was not needed in the deciding game.

Plus, St. Louis got all the production they needed from Allen Craig(notes), who hit his fourth home run and drove in his eighth RBI. Compare that to Holliday, who was hitting .158 against Texas with no RBIs. Not to discount his worth to the team, but his absence might have been a positive for the Cardinals.

Source: stltoday.com

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ST. LOUIS — One strike was all that separated the Texas Rangers from clinching their first World Series title.

Twice.

First David Freese swung at a 1-2 fastball from Neftali Feliz in the ninth inning, and the ball sailed over Nelson Cruz for a two-run game-tying triple.

In the 10th, Lance Berkman drilled a single to center on a 2-2 pitch from Scott Feldman to make it 9-9.

Two two-run leads had been blown. And now the Rangers might have blown their chance at becoming world champions.

Freese started the 11th inning with a home run off Mark Lowe, and St. Louis forced a seventh and deciding game in the World Series with a remarkable 10-9 victory.

The Rangers, who have made a living the past two seasons by showing their resiliency, will start Matt Harrison against either Kyle Lohse, Edwin Jackson or Chris Carpenter at 8:05 EDT Friday night.

“It’s not that easy to win a world championship, as we found out tonight,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “We had the right people in the right spots, and they beat us.

“We’ll bounce back tomorrow. We’ve been in some tough spots before, and we’ve responded. I expect us to respond tomorrow.”

The Cardinals were within an arm’s reach throughout the game, even after a three-run seventh that included back-to-back homers from Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz appeared to put them away.

But St. Louis didn’t go away. That included in the ninth, when Albert Pujols and Berkman reached, and Freese delivered with two outs.

But Josh Hamilton appeared to have saved the Rangers in the 10th inning. His first homer of the postseason and first since Sept. 23 came after Elvis Andrus’ one-out single against Jason Motte.

Hamilton swung at the first pitch, a 98-mph fastball, and it got over the wall in right-center field.

The Rangers chose Darren Oliver to start the 10th against two left-handed hitters, but both of them singled. After a sacrifice bunt, Scott Feldman got Ryan Theriot to ground out to third as a run scored.

Pujols was walked intentionally, and Berkman evened the game for a fifth time as Jon Jay sprinted home from second base.

The Rangers got a one-out single in the 11th from Mike Napoli, but he didn’t advance. Lowe entered from the bullpen, and Freese hit the sixth pitch of the at-bat out to straightaway center field.

“I’ve been saying that it’s not over until you get that last out, and I was just sitting there praying that we’d get that last out,” Washington said.

“We didn’t get it. You have to tip your hat to the Cardinals.”

Neither starter opened the game particularly well, with the first three Rangers reaching in the first inning against Jaime Garcia. A Hamilton singled scored Ian Kinsler for a 1-0 lead before Garcia got the next three hitters without a ball leaving the infield.

Skip Schumaker notched a one-out single off Colby Lewis in the Cardinals’ first and scored two batters later as Berkman crushed the first pitch he saw for a two-run homer.

Garcia surrendered a two-out ground-rule double in the second to score Craig Gentry and tie the game at 2-2 after Lewis had bunted into a double play.

Garcia was gone by the fourth, when the game got sloppy. The next four runs were all unearned as Matt Holliday and Freese allowed popups to fall to start the fourth and fifth.

Michael Young committed two errors at first base, including one in the sixth that allowed the Cardinals to forge a 4-4 tie.

Lewis got the first hitter, Pujols, in the sixth. St. Louis, though, saw its next five hitters reach without a ball leaving the infield. Berkman beat out an infield hit, but Holliday appeared to be out as he sent a chopper to first base.

Young turned to throw to second, and the ball popped out of his hand. He couldn’t recover, and Holliday was safe on Young’s second error of the game.

Lewis walked Freese to load the bases before giving way to Alexi Ogando, who walked Yadier Molina to force in the tying run. Napoli, though, changed the inning when he picked off Holliday at third for the second out.

Ogando walked Punto to load the bases, Derek Holland entered and got Jon Jay on a tapper to the mound to end the inning.

Then Beltre struck with a 410-foot shot to start the seventh. Cruz followed with a 419-footer that reached the third deck. With two outs, Kinsler delivered, singling home Holland for a 7-4 lead.

Allen Craig hit a solo homer in the eighth off Holland to make it a little more interesting. It turned out to be a run that helped the Cardinals survive for a seventh game and might have crushed the Rangers’ chance at a world title.

“I understand that it’s not over until you get that last out, and we didn’t get that last out,” Washington said. “It just wasn’t meant to happen tonight.”

Times wires

In Print: Friday, October 28, 2011

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The Cardinals’ Matt Holliday upends Rangers infielder Elvis Andrus in the fourth inning on Thursday night in Game 6.
	[Getty Images]

ST. LOUIS — Twice down to their last strike, the Cardinals kept rallying to win one of baseball’s greatest thrillers.

David Freese completed a startling night of comebacks with a home run leading off the bottom of the 11th to beat Texas 10-9 Thursday night, and suddenly fans all over got something they have waited a long time to see: Game 7 in the World Series.

“Man, that was incredible,” Freese said. “But we fought back, we made some mistakes early on, but the way we have been playing lately, you expect to come back like this. This is just a good feeling, and I’m pumped we’re playing (tonight).

“Just an incredible feeling, seeing all my teammates at the dish waiting for me.”

Freese, the hometown boy who made good, had already written himself into St. Louis lore in Game 6 with a two-strike, two-out, two-run triple in the ninth off Rangers closer Neftali Feliz that made tied the score at 7.

“Initially I was like ‘Are you kidding me? My first (at-bat) off Feliz in this situation ever,’ ” Freese said. “I just beared down, got a pitch to hit. Initially I thought I hit it pretty good, I thought (rightfielder Nelson Cruz) was going to grab it, so just a lot of emotions on that one.”

After banged-up Josh Hamilton hit a two-run homer in the Texas 10th, St. Louis again tied it when Lance Berkman hit a two-out single on a 2-and-2 pitch from Scott Feldman.

Busch Stadium was still in frenzy when Freese opened the 11th with a leadoff shot over the centerfield wall off Mark Lowe. Freese thrust his arm in the air as he rounded first base, and the crowd was delirious.

“You had to be here to believe it,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

The collapse was unprecedented. No team had ever come from behind twice in the ninth inning and later to tie a World Series game or take the lead.

“I understand it’s not over till you get that last out,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “I was just sitting there praying we got that last out. We didn’t get it.”

A night that started off terribly for both teams turned terrific for everyone watching.

After it was over, La Russa, a Tampa native, wasn’t willing to announce his starter for Game 7 — many believe it will be ace Chris Carpenter on three days’ rest. Matt Harrison is set to start for Texas.

Home teams have won the last eight Game 7s in the World Series, a streak that started with the Cardinals beating Milwaukee in 1982.

Texas trudged off the field as Freese circled the bases after connecting off Lowe, having been so close to that elusive title.

Much earlier, team president Nolan Ryan was high-fiving friends in the stands as Adrian Beltre and Cruz opened the seventh inning with home runs that helped Texas take a 7-4 lead.

Allen Craig’s solo homer in the eighth began the Cardinals’ comeback. Jake Westbrook wound up with the victory.

Hardly the ending anyone imagined in a game that started out with a bevy of errors and bobbles — none more surprising than the routine popup that Freese simply dropped at third base.

“I’m just glad I had a chance after I looked like an idiot on that popup,” Freese said.

The Cardinals made it 4-all in the sixth when Alexi Ogando relieved starter Colby Lewis and walked Yadier Molina with the bases loaded.

Then came a key play — catcher Mike Napoli and Beltre teamed up to pick off Matt Holliday at third with the bases loaded.

With one out, Napoli zipped a throw to Beltre, who neatly used his cleat to block the diving Holliday from reaching the base. That also ended Holliday’s night with a severely bruised right pinkie.

Texas wasn’t quite out of trouble as Nick Punto walked to reload the bases. But Derek Holland, the star of Game 4 with shutout ball into the ninth inning, trotted in from the bullpen and retired Jon Jay on a comebacker.

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In the top of the fourth inning Saturday night, St. Louis was leading only 1-0 when Matt Holliday hit a grounder to shortstop Elvis Andrus that normally would start a double play. Andrus got the force out at second base with a throw to Ian Kinsler, but Kinsler’s throw pulled first baseman Mike Napoli off the bag and into Holliday’s path. Napoli caught the ball and slapped a tag across Holliday’s left shoulder a step before he reached first base.

Kulpa was in decent position to make the correct call — but didn’t. The Cardinals took advantage, scoring four runs that inning on their way to a 16-7 victory and a 2-1 lead in the series.

Kulpa acknowledged he blew it. He told a pool reporter the same thing he told Napoli at the time: he thought Holliday already had stepped on the bag when the tag was made.

“I saw a replay when I walked off the field and the tag was applied before his foot hit the bag,” Kulpa said. “I called what I saw.”

Crew chief Jerry Layne defended Kulpa, noting that the wide throw made it “a very tough call.” He also cut off questions to Kulpa before he could be asked about the Denkinger comparison, a subject he certainly knows well.

Kulpa is a St. Louis native and lifelong Cardinals fan who was 17 when Denkinger made the mistake that triggered a collapse by the Cardinals that cost them the 1985 World Series to the neighboring Kansas City Royals. Asked about his St. Louis ties, Kulpa said, “It has nothing to do with it.”

Kulpa is in his 13th year in the majors and this is his first World Series. He was picked before it was known the team he grew up dreaming of playing for would be involved.

While conspiracy theories are sure to abound, it’s important to note that Kulpa made the correct call on perhaps the most difficult play yet of the World Series, a steal of second base by Kinsler in the ninth inning of Game 2, with St. Louis trying to protect a 1-0 lead. Kulpa called him safe and Kinsler went on to score the tying run and Texas went on to win 2-1.

If there’s any backlash against Kulpa, it probably won’t be traced to the Texas clubhouse — certainly not Napoli, Kinsler or Rangers manager Ron Washington, who briefly argued the play at the time.

“I knew he missed the play when I went out there,” Washington said. “We still had an opportunity to get off that field with maybe them just pushing one run across the plate. We just didn’t make the plays. I mean, I don’t think you can just start all of a sudden making excuses about things. We had a chance to get off the field with them scoring one run in that inning right there, and we just threw the ball around.”

Napoli repeatedly emphasized that the Rangers “had a chance to minimize that inning and we didn’t really do that.” He said he didn’t know the Denkinger story and, when told about it, dismissed any similarity with Kulpa’s gaffe.

ST. LOUIS — All those clutch hits by Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals disappeared Thursday night.

Randy Wolf flummoxed the Cardinals with pitches that were slow, slower and slowest, leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-2 victory that tied the NL championship series 2-all.

St. Louis scored 22 runs in the first 19 innings of the playoff series, including four in the first inning Wednesday. Though shut out through the rest of the way, the Cardinals held on to win 4-3 in Game 3.

But after solo homers put St. Louis up 2-0 through three innings Thursday, the Cardinals couldn’t put anything together. They went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and failed twice to get a man home from third with less than two outs.

Wolf baffled them with a changeup clocked consistently around 65 mph.

“We had a couple of chances to add a run and Wolf made outstanding pitches,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “These are productive guys. He just made reallygood pitches.”

Milwaukee ended an eight-game road losing streak in the postseason dating to the 1982 World Series opener at St. Louis.

Cardinals lefty Jaime Garcia faces Zack Greinke for the second time in the series in Game 5 on tonight. Either way, the best-of-seven NLCS will be decided back at Miller Park.

“It feels good to know that we’re at least going to get to go back home,” said Ryan Braun, who singled home the go-ahead run in the fifth.

Pujols, who was 6 for 7 with two intentional walks the previous two games, went 1 for 4 with a harmless single in the fifth.

Yadier Molina came up three times with runners in scoring position and made outs each time, grounding out with two on in the third, lining out to center with a man on second for the first out in the sixth and striking out with a runner on second to end the eighth.

Since the first inning of Wednesday’s game, the Cardinals are 0 for 15 with runners in scoring position.

Another so-so starting pitching performance didn’t help. After solo homers by Matt Holliday in the second and Allen Craig in the third gave St. Louis the lead, Kyle Lohse couldn’t hold it, allowing three runs in 4 1-3 innings to take the loss.

Wolf went seven innings for his first postseason win at age 35. He allowed six hits, struck out six and walked one.

The Cardinals couldn’t capitalize on their few opportunities. After Holliday’s homer they had runners on first and third with one out in the second, but Jon Jay’s chopper to first failed to score the run and Lohse struck out.

In the sixth, Holliday led off with a double and went to third on Molina’s liner. But Ryan Theriot struck out and Jay flied out to center.

Francisco Rodriguez allowed a hit in the eighth and John Axford finished for his second save of the series and third this postseason.

Jerry Hairston Jr. doubled twice with an RBI and Wolf hit one of the Brewers’ five doubles. Braun is batting .471 (16 for 34) in the postseason with two homers and nine RBIs.

Brewers 4, Cardinals 2 Milw. ab r h bi St. Louis ab r h bi

Morgan cf-rf 4 1 2 0 Furcal ss 5 0 0 0

Kotsay rf 4 0 0 0 Craig rf 4 1 1 1

CGomz cf 1 0 0 0 Pujols 1b 4 0 1 0

Braun lf 5 0 2 1 Freese 3b 4 0 2 0

Fielder 1b 3 1 1 0 Hollidy lf 3 1 2 1

RWeks 2b 4 1 1 0 YMolin c 4 0 1 0

Counsll 2b 0 0 0 0 Theriot 2b 4 0 0 0

HrstnJr 3b 4 1 2 1 Jay cf 4 0 0 0

YBtncr ss 4 0 1 1 Lohse p 2 0 0 0

Kottars c 4 0 0 1 MBggs p 0 0 0 0

FrRdrg p 0 0 0 0 Rhodes p 0 0 0 0

Axford p 0 0 0 0 Dotel p 0 0 0 0

Wolf p 2 0 1 0 Punto ph 1 0 0 0

Lucroy c 1 0 0 0 Salas p 0 0 0 0

Brkmn ph 1 0 1 0

Totals 36 4 10 4 Totals 36 2 8 2

Milwaukee 000 211 000 — 4

St. Louis 011 000 000 — 2

E — R.Weeks (2), Theriot (1). DP — St. Louis 1. LOB — Milwaukee 8, St. Louis 8. 2B — Morgan (1), Fielder (2), Hairston Jr. 2 (3), Wolf (1), Holliday (1), Y.Molina (2). HR — Craig (1), Holliday (1). S — Wolf.

Milwaukee IP H R ER BB SO

Wolf W,1-0 7 6 2 2 1 6

Fr.Rodriguez H,2 1 1 0 0 0 1

Axford S,2-2 1 1 0 0 0 0

St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO

Lohse L,0-1 41/3 6 3 3 0 3

M.Boggs 1 3 1 1 0 0

Rhodes 2/3 0 0 0 0 1

Dotel 1 0 0 0 1 2

Salas 2 1 0 0 0 2

HBP — by Lohse (Morgan). T — 3:25. A — 45,606 (43,975).

By moving third baseman David Freese into the cleanup spot for Thursday night’s Game 4 of the NLCS, St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa has highlighted one of the new realities for his team: Freese has become as indispensible a part of the Cardinals’ lineup as anyone not named Albert Pujols.

(SARAH CONARD – REUTERS)
It was a fairly significant lineup change La Russa made Thursday, benching veteran Lance Berkman against Milwaukee Brewers lefty Randy Wolf, and sliding Matt Holliday down to No. 5.

“He’s our best guy against a left-handed pitcher,” La Russa said, “which is what we’re facing — so he’s hitting fourth.”

Freese’s breakout this month has included a .367/.387/.800 batting line through the Cardinals’ first eight games of the postseason, including two homers, two doubles and six RBI in Games 1, 2 and 3 of the NLCS.

Freese, 28, is a late-bloomer who didn’t break into the majors until the age of 26, and still hasn’t played more than 97 games in a season, thanks to major injuries in both 2010 and 2011. One reason for his late arrival is the fact he walked away from baseball for a time after high school, as described in this excellent piece by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.The Cardinals acquired him in a December 2007 trade from San Diego for veteran outfielder Jim Edmonds (who, coincidentally, is throwing out Thursday night’s ceremonial first pitch).

When the Cardinals’ lineup is going well, with Berkman and Holliday (in whichever order) filling the No. 4 and No. 5 spots in the lineup behind Pujols, and with Freese at No. 6, it gives the Cardinals an extremely deep, AL-style lineup.

Even now, with Berkman struggling and Holliday slowed by a wrist injury, having Freese available to slide seamlessly into the cleanup spot is a huge luxury for the Cardinals. And having Freese there may force the Brewers to think twice about pitching around Pujols.

“I can’t keep walking Albert,” Brewers Manager Ron Roenicke conceded Thursday. “They have too good hitters behind him.”