As every Fall usually goes, all of the focus of the sporting world is on Football. Questions such as: “How far will Wisconsin drop in the BCS standings?” and “Will the Bills Make the playoffs?” are incredibly common. ESPN never fails to show me how much this wonderful country loves its football. Every year it is very surprising to me that the World Series is sometimes drowned out. Our National pastime’s greatest moment is being over shadowed by the NFL Sunday. I guess I can see the logic. World Series games not airing until 8:00, a very slow game, and uninteresting match ups were all a buzz kill to the Series. This year was completely different.
I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like this series when a first looked at it. Slowly but surely I saw the true potential of it. Albert Pujols looking for a second ring verses a young Rangers team looking to avenge last year’s loss to the Giants, sounds like a great Series! I saw the potential of it going to seven games and my mind really started to race. I couldn’t wait for the Series now! I wanted to see which bull pen could hold the explosive line of the opposition and whether the hitters could capitalize on the chances they would be given. Then on October 19th, all my energy for the Series could finally be let out as I watched maybe one of the most unforgettable World Series ever.
The Cardinals were not to supposed to get into the playoffs. Many people wrote them out when they trailed Atlanta in the wild card standings by double digits with only a few weeks left in the season. Even if they made it all the way back, there was no way they would be able to beat the Phillies right? Well, we were all wrong. Carpenter and the Cards went on an amazing streak and accompanied by the Braves meltdown, they made it in. Once in they didn’t stop there. They thrashed the Phills in five, then took the Brewers down in six. On the AL side, it was supposed to be all about the Red Sox and the Yankees. No one was talking about the reigning champs. The Rangers took care of business out west by handing the Angels down the stretch, taking down the Rays in four, and throttling the Tigers in six. Two teams that weren’t in the conversation at the beginning of the year were now in a series for all the marbles.
As the World Series started, I was sure of a Rangers win in seven and one of the best series in recent memory. All but a Rangers win was proven to me over the next seven games. I was thrilled by Carpenters gem in the first game. All the passion and drama was seeping out of the field. A one run game was the icing on the cake of this World Series opener. The Rangers responded with a one run game of their own in game two. At this point, I was hooked by this series. There were so many story lines to follow now. Would Ron Washington get his first ring? Would Larussa finally call it quits after this series? And where in the hell was Pujols going if they lost? Well, he did his best to make sure that they wouldn’t. Albert caught fire in game three to give us one of the all time greatest games in World Series history. Not only was his 5-6 night with three home runs going to be remembered forever, but I was sure that this series was over now. There was no way the Rangers could come back after a loss like this. Their bullpen was shot, they would have to walk Pujols every time he came to the plate, and their fans looked to be losing hope. Oh how naïve I was. Behind a great outing from Derek Holland and a MVP showing from Napoli, the Rangers made a 4-0 statement game and breathed life back into the series.
By this time I was nearly exploding with excitement; a best of three to decide everything in the 2011 baseball season. I don’t know too many fans that wouldn’t get excited about that. Game five lived up to all the hype. I know it’s cliché, but this was a must win game. Napoli wouldn’t disappoint and Feliz would record his second save of the series. With a little help from a bullpen phone (trust me, I could do a whole blog post on that fiasco), the Rangers were now a game away from closing out the Cardinals and winning their first series in franchise history, but then came game six. To me, the first six innings of this game were ugly. I hadn’t seen such an ugly game since the Phillies took on the Rays in the rain. Then, just before I was going to change the channel (I thought it was that bad!), Beltre and Cruz hit back-to-back home runs. Now the series was over. It looked as if the luck had run out on the Red Birds. Just as every good sports fan should do, I decided to keep watching. I am so glad I did. The Cardinals worked their way down to their final strike. David Freese was up to bat and I was sure I was about to witness a happy Nolan Ryan and a celebration from the Rangers. As the pitch was released I got ready to put one of the first “Congratulations Rangers” tweets on Twitter, but he lined it out toward the wall. Nelson Cruz was there for the out, but it was lined off the wall. It was a big triple from the home town kid when his team needed it the most. I went crazy as the tying run crossed the plate. Never before had a seen a clutch hit such as that one. Now I know a lot of people coin football as a game of inches, but the truth is all sports are a game of inches. If the ball would have hit that pitch just a quarter inch higher, we could be looking at a Rangers championship. The best part is that the game wasn’t over. It once again looked very grim for the Cardinals as they were down to their final strike again. This time it was Lance Berkman with the big play. I was in disbelief as the tying runs came around again. The game would end on a walk off home run from Freese and ensured a game seven.
Now I was all smiles. I had gotten the game seven I wanted and a great series that had been played before it. I was positive now that the Cardinals would win the series because it would be so hard for the Rangers to swallow the bitter pill they took the night before. Sure enough, I was right. The party in St. Louis was much deserved. A team that looked like they were dead in September was now on top of the Baseball world. I was so happy to see quality people like Larussa and Pujols get their second ring. Now that the dust has settled, we can really look back at the 2011 World Series and say wow. Almost in story book fashion, Tony Larussa retired on top and rightfully so. Now the questions turn to next season. Who are the teams to beat? Will the Cardinals repeat? And were in the hell is Pujols going? I say let’s not even focus on 2012. Let’s give the Cardinals all the respect that World Series Champions deserve. Congrats Cardinals, you really deserved it.
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