The game itself started somewhat uneventfully through four innings, with the most drama being provided by Lance Berkman's two-run home run. Berkman was imported that year to St. Louis, a town that used to hate him when he played for division rival Houston. But with St. Louis grudges are erased the second the red cap is worn, and Berkman himself was more than ready to oblige for a chance at a ring. The game entered the Bottom of the 6th leading 4-3, when the first of oh so many questionable decisions were made by one of the central figures, the man who would most emulate a clown in this Greek tragedy of a night, Ron Washington.
Despite having a visibly tiring Colby Lewis pitching, Washington waited until he walked the bases loaded before pulling him for Alexi Ogando, a far cry from a great relief pitcher. The rest of the inning played out with two more walks (the first scoring the tying run), a wild pitch and Matt Holliday getting picked off. Somehow this was not even close to the craziest inning in this incredible game.
The Rangers had lost the 2010 World Series, a quick five-game affair to the San Francisco Giants that was not really close at any point. They showed great resolve by having a better season than the year before and going right back into the World Series. They stood one game away from winning it, and after walking and wild-pitching their way to blowing a lead, they led off the Top of the 7th the only way they knew how, with back-to-back home runs by Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz. They added a third run in the inning for good measure, to take a 7-4 lead with nine outs to go. That should have been enough. It wasn't close.
Ron Washington next called on starter Derek Holland, who quickly went through the 7th, but then gave up a home run to Allen Craig in the 8th to cut it to 7-5. Still, no need to panic. Everything was going according to plan. The Cardinals had the meat of the order in the 9th, but the Rangers could counter with flamethrower Neftali Feliz. The first batter struck out, and Albert Pujols came to the plate. From that moment on, the game would enter all-time crazy territory, something not matched until the late innings of Game 7 of last year's series.
Pujols doubled (his last hit as a Cardinal). Berkman walked. Feliz got Craig with a strikeout, and the Cardinals were down two, down to their last out, with David Freese batting. They got down to their last strike. The last time a team was one-strike away from winning the world series and ended up losing was the Buckner game. This would be nearly as harrowing. Freese got a pitch outside and lofted a well-hit fly ball to right field. Nelson Cruz is not a good fielder, and his circuitous route to the ball was a step too slow. The ball bounced off the base of the wall. Pujols scored easily. Berkman, not the fleetest of foot, got right behind him. The game was tied. New Busch stadium was rocking. The Cardinals 'magic' did it once again.
Again, this game wasn't close to over and at this point it already was a genuine classic. The Cardinals have long been known as the Yankees of the NL, a hateable blue-blood of a team way to full of itself. They still had Tony LaRussa as manager, a hagiographic figure who got his DUI swept under the rug as a leader of men. But at this moment, it wasn't too crazy to believe it. Sure, Cardinals magic didn't help them in the 2004 World Series, wouldn't help them in their 2012 & 2014 NLCS losses, but just like it made the Tigers pitchers field like little leaguers in 2006, it made Nelson Cruz inhibit his worst quality (defense) at the worst time. But still, a half-inning later, the Cardinals were right back where they were before - down 2, because for a moment, it seemed God had different plans.
Josh Hamilton had a bad playoffs in 2011. He was still a good player at this point, but he embodied his craziest, high-swing tendencies in that series. Most of the time it didn't work. In his at-bat in the Top of the 10th, it did. Hamilton took Jason Motte's first delivery and launched it. Hamilton more than maybe any player in recent times, was a true Greek tragic figure. A prospect with more natural talent than anyone ever, who saw his career derailed in a never-ending spiral of drugs and alcohol. He was spared, somehow, given a second chance by the Reds in 2007, and then really by the Rangers in 2008. He, a good 9 years after being drafted, finally showed that promise, that Mickey Mantle-like talent. He was the league's MVP in 2010, leading the AL in BA, OBP and SLG. He was a udonis like figure but also the phoenix rising from the ashes. This was his moment. You felt then the Cardinals were allowed to tie the game just so Hamilton could have this moment.
But no, Cardinals magic and Ron Washington's mismanagement conspired to lose another two-run lead, and the Cardinals tied the game again after being down to their last strike again. The Rangers had never won a World Series, and were on two separate occasions down to their last strike. First it was Freese's double. Next it was Lance Berkman's game tying single.
This all led up to the Bottom of the 11th, in what had become a 9-9 game. Mark Lowe, the Rangers 8th pitcher of the game, took the mound against David Freese, the man who what seemed like a century ago brought the game to extra innings in the first place. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Freese rocked the pitch to the deepest part of the ballpark, but from the instant it left his bat, everyone knew it was deep enough. It landed softly in the grass beyond the centerfield wall. Joe Buck, a man who grew up in the Cardinals program with his dad being their long-time commentator, saved his best for that moment. With no delay, he let out a perfect 'we will see you tomorrow night!' - the same line his dad used 20 years earlier during the last great Game 6, when the Twins and Kirby Puckett forced the World Series to a final game.
It was a perfect, storybook, dramatic coda to a brilliant moment in baseball history. The Cardinals would win a close, if uneventful, Game 7, but if anything that amplified the importance and drama of this game. Game 6 was the series, it was baseball at its finest. None of those events made sense, but put together it was something only baseball could deliver. That it happened on one of the the sports great stages, with tragic and dramatic figures like Josh Hamilton, Ron Washington, Lance Berkman, Tony LaRussa and David Freese, the unexpected hero, just made it a special moment in the great tapestry that is baseball.
