St. Louis Cardinals' Jason Motte and Lance Berkman hold up the Commissioner's Trophy after Game 7. Photo / AP
A day after twice coming within one strike of ending a 51-year World Series drought in Game 6, the Texas Rangers never came close in Game 7.
Pitchers Matt Harrison and C.J. Wilson fizzled rather than sizzled, and the St. Louis Cardinals won 6-2 in Game 7 to send the Rangers home as World Series losers for the second straight season.
"It was in our grasp and we didn't get it," manager Ron Washington said. "Tonight we fought hard for it and the Cardinals got it."
Last year, this was a new experience for Texas. The first American League pennant was satisfying, even if the five-game loss to the San Francisco Giants was a disappointment to a franchise searching for success as the expansion Washington Senators through 1971 and the Rangers since the move.
This loss left wounds that will never be forgotten for the oldest Major League Baseball team without a Series title. "2011" will be remembered by Rangers fans, much like "1986" weighed on the memory of the Boston Red Sox until they finally ended their long championship drought in 2004.
Only once before in baseball history had a team come within an out of a Series title and not brought home a championship those '86 Red Sox, infamous for Bill Buckner's error.
These Rangers will be remembered for a triple failure, for Neftali Feliz allowing David Freese's game-leveling triple in the ninth inning of Game 6, for Scott Feldman giving up Lance Berkman's tying single in the 10th and for Mark Lowe allowing Freese's game-ending home run in the 11th.
Even the collapses come bigger in Texas.
"I just told them they're champions, which I believe," Washington said. "Someone has to win, someone has to lose and the Cardinals did it. ... They were the better team. They are the world champions. All we can do is come back next year and commit ourselves to it, like they did this year."
In the first Game 7 since 2002, the Rangers spurted to a 2-0 lead against Chris Carpenter, pitching on three days' rest for the second time in his career. Josh Hamilton and Michael Young hit RBI doubles in the first inning, which could have been bigger had not Ian Kinsler stumbled and been picked off first after his leadoff single.
Instead of bringing back Wilson on short rest or starting Derek Holland, who pitched brilliantly in winning Game 4, Washington stayed in rotation and started Harrison.
He couldn't hold the lead, allowing three runs, five hits and two walks in four innings. Feldman and Wilson fouled up the fifth, combining for three walks and two hit batters and allowing two runs without any hits.
"They cleanly beat us," Washington said. "We certainly didn't give them anything."
Freese, the Cardinals' Game 6 star, started the comeback with a tying, two-run double in the first. Allen Craig, starting because Matt Holliday injured his wrist on Thursday, homered for a 3-2 lead in the third, with Nelson Cruz vainly climbing the right-field wall trying to make the catch.
Facing Feldman, Yadier Molina walked with the bases loaded for the second time in two nights, and Wilson forced in another run when he relieved and hit Rafael Furcal on the hip with his first pitch.
That made it 5-2, and the record crowd of 47,399 at Busch Stadium got louder and louder with each Texas out as the Cardinals' 11th World Series title and first since 2006 neared.
Texas pitchers walked a Series-record 41, one more than the 1997 Florida Marlins. Of the Cardinals' 34 runs, 11 reached base on walks and another two on hit batters. Not exactly what Nolan Ryan was looking for when he started to remake the team with strong pitching.
Carpenter, the second pitcher in two decades to make three Series starts, allowed two runs and six hits in six-plus innings with five strikeouts. He finished the Series 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA in three starts and the postseason 4-0 with a 3.25 ERA in five starts. With nine postseason wins, he surpassed Mariano Rivera for the most among active pitchers.
With Wilson eligible for free agency, the Rangers likely will be seeking a new ace. In the ultimate game, Carpenter pitched like an ace and no one on the Rangers did.
When David Murphy flied to left for the final out, St. Louis became the ninth straight home team to win a Game 7. Many of the Rangers leaned forward in the dugout, stunned.
And why was Texas the road team against the wild-card Cardinals, who were 10 games out of a playoff spot on Aug. 25?
The All-Star game decides home-field advantage in the World Series, and Wilson was the loser in that one.
"We'll work hard again," Washington said. "Hopefully if we can stay healthy, we can get back and have another opportunity."
In his first outing on short rest, Carpenter gave up four runs over three innings in Game 2 of the NL division series at Philadelphia. He wasn't sharp at all at the start of this one, either, starting seven of his first 10 batters with balls.
- AP
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