Frozen In The Cold October Night

Freese, the St. Louis native did his best to force a
Game 7 Friday night.

In one of the coldest nights in World Series history and the St. Louis Cardinals down to their final strike, twice, David Freese sent the fans he grew up rooting with home with goosebumps running down their spine.

After dropping a routine popup that allowed Josh Hamilton to reach to start the fifth inning and eventually score on a Michael Young double, the St. Louis native was determined to redeem himself and continue his remarkable postseason. With the Texas Rangers holding a two-run lead, threes outs away from capturing their first World Series title in franchise and their All-Star closer headed to the mound, Tony La Russa's club had their backs up against the wall like they have all season long.

With two on and two out, Freese walked to the plate against Neftali Feliz, someone he'd yet to face in his career. Feliz quickly got ahead 1-2, but on a 98 mph fastball, Freese launched a drive over right fielder Nelson Cruz's head for a game-tying two-run triple. Yaider Molina lined out to the right, sending Game 6 into extra innings.

No closer in history, not even the great Mariano Rivera, had converted their first eight save opportunities in the postseason, that's exactly what Feliz was trying to accomplish in Game 6. Instead St. Louis handed him the first blown save of brief postseason career.

But Texas would pick up their closer in the 10th. After a one-out single by Elvis Andrus, Hamilton followed with his first home run in the postseason and first since Sept. 23. The reigning American League Most Valuable Player had gone his last 65 postseason at-bats without a home run, but it couldn't have come at a better time, giving his team their fifth different lead of the night, 9-7.

Faced with their second two-run deficit in as many innings, the Redbirds would have to rally yet again to keep their Cinderella season alive.

Rangers skipper Ron Washington elected not to have Feliz return for his second inning of work after only 22 pitches, but instead send 18-year veteran Darren Oliver, who recorded his first World Series win in Game 5, to the mound to close out the biggest game of his career, something he has only done six times in his entire career.

After back-to-back singles, a sacrifice bunt and a RBI groundout, Washington called on right-hander Scott Feldman to get the games final out. The former 17-game winner intentionally walked Albert Pujols with the potential tying run at second base, setting the stage for the native Texan, Lance Berkman.

Down to their final strike again, Berkman lofted a single to shallow center field, bringing home John Jay for the game-tying run.

Berkman, who signed a one-year $8 million deal in the offseason, was rewarded with a one-year extension earlier this season after a fantastic 2011 season that saw him hit .301 with 31 home runs and 94 RBIs. That has carried into the postseason, especially in the Fall Classic, where he is batting .435 and an on-base percentage of .519.

Berkman watches his game-tying singel
in the 10th inning of Game 6.

It was the first time in World Series history a team came back from a two-run deficit, twice in the ninth inning or later.

After a scoreless top of the 11th by veteran Jake Westbrook, who was added to the World Series roster after being left off the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers, Freese took center stage.

Freese hammered his fifth home run of postseason and first of the Fall Classic to dead center field for a game-winning walk-off blast, reminding Cardinals fans of another Game 6 walk-off home run, Jim Edmonds in the 2004 NLCS, but this time in the World Series.

For Freese it was a moment frozen in time and one that will forever live in postseason lore.

The 28-year-old third baseman, who quit baseball after his senior season of high school, joins Bill Mazeroski (1966), Carlton Fisk (1975), Kirby Puckett (1991) and most recently Joe Carter (1993) as the only other player to hit a World Series walk-off home run in games six or seven.

Like just Fisk and Puckett did for their respective team, Freese is the third player in World Series history to accomplish that feat when his team was trailing 3-2 in the series.

Not to mention his 19 postseason RBIs are a new franchise record and becoming the first player in postseason history to tie the game in the ninth and have the game-winning RBI in extra innings.

With so many twists and turns, peaks and valleys, St. Louis is also the first team in World Series history to score in the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th inning of a game, doing so while making numerous mistakes on the defensive side. The Cardinals committed 3 errors in Game 6, the most since 1943.

As the Rangers, they have yet to lose back-to-back games in this postseason and haven't lost consecutive games in over two months, Aug. 23.

Cruz added his eighth home run of the postseason, tying a postseason record for the most in a single postseason. It has been magical back-to-back postseason runs for Texas, but history is not on their side. The Rangers have never played in a Game 7 of the World Series in franchise history, while the Cardinals will be playing in their eleventh and their first since 1987. St. Louis has won 7 of those 10 Game 7s.

It's the first Game 7 in the World Series since 2002 and the last eight home teams have won those games. Also, teams that hold a 3-2 series advantage and go on to lose Game 6 have lost 8 of the 9 Game 7s. The 1997 Florida Marlins are the one exception.

History aside, two teams that traveled far different ways to get here, what sports fans dream of, the two greatest words in sports, Game Seven. So as Fox broadcaster Joe Buck paid homage to his late Hall of Fame father, Jack Buck, "We'll see you tomorrow night."