They beat the Phillies (the best team in the NL) in five games. They went on to beat the Phillies (the second best team in the NL) in six games. Then it was on to the World Series.
ESPN put it best:
It was so improbable, so unthinkable, that it had to happen. Despite massive deficits in August and September, despite playing four elimination games in the postseason, despite twice being down to their last strike the night before, the St. Louis Cardinals are the World Series champions for 2011 after winning Game 7, 6-2, over the Texas Rangers on Friday.
It was the craziest series I've ever seen. After game one, it appeared we had the series in the bag. We won 3-2, but it seemed like a bigger lead than that because our bullpen was unhittable.
Game two was going swimmingly until the 9th. Our unhittable bullpen through the first two rounds finally gave one up. Texas didn't score until the 9th. It all came down to a stolen base. Their guy was safe by about a tenth of a second. If he would have been out, the game was ours. The Rangers stole that game. We dominated them again, but just couldn't pull it out. Instead, we lost. Grrrr.
We all wondered how the Cardinals would react. They reacted well in game three. Pujols finally had a breakout game, after a postseason that was less than great for him. He had 3 consecutive home runs to tie Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the most home runs in a World Series game. It all started on a Cardinal runner called safe at first when he was clearly out. I felt sorry for the Texans, but then we beat them by such a wide margin, not many people could argue that the blown call won us the game. We won 16-7. Awesome.
Our offense was finally clicking, and I had high hopes going in to game four. Unfortunately, we ran into Derek Holland, the Rangers starter, in that game. He dominated us, only allowing two hits in nine innings. This was the first game that they truly dominated us and I was worried.
My only hope for a win in game five was Chris Carpenter. He had pitched a gem in game one and is always amazing in the postseason. He's our ace. He did well in this game, giving up two runs in seven innings. Unfortunately, Mike Napoli got a double in the bottom of the 8th, to give the Rangers a 4-2 win and a commanding 3-2 lead in the series. We were defeated, and deflated. The good news is that we were going back to St. Louis. I thought we were a long shot (although we had been a long shot for months at this point).
So then came game six. I wrote about this previously. I still can't get over that game. It truly was amazing and will probably hold up as the best Cardinals game I ever get to witness, especially knowing we went on to win the Series. Simply amazing. We won 10-9 and David Freese was our hero.
And then it was time for a game seven. We went over to Ryan and Jackie's for the game. Peggy, Sally, and the kids stayed through the first four or five innings, then went home to get to bed. I stayed through the end, and was sure glad I did!
The one thing that may have won us the series (or at least helped) was, oddly enough, a rain delay. Game six was pushed back a day because Wednesday night was somewhat rainy. If it were a normal game, they would have had no problem, maybe just a couple short delays. But the MLB decided to push game six and seven back. As soon I heard this, I knew our chances went up drastically. This meant that Carpenter could pitch on four days rest.
And that's exactly what happened. I was worried in the top of the first, as the Rangers were hitting Carpenter well. The general thought was the if Carpenter had a good game, we'd win. If not, we'd lose. It wasn't looking good at the start. David Freese solidified his MVP status in the bottom of the first. He hit a double to drive in the two game tying runs. After that, Carpenter settled down and only gave up no more through the start of the 7th. The bullpen picked him up from there and finished it out.
Overall, it was just an amazing two months. Everything centered around the Cardinals and what they were doing. I can't believe it's over, and I still can't believe they actually won!
Here's Miller's house for the final out:
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