• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Winner take all: Rangers, Cards play Game 7 at Busch

Oct 28, 2011 - 2:28 PM (Sports Network) - After a 162-game regular season and two rounds of playoffs, Major League Baseball's World Series title comes down to one game, as the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals play a decisive Game 7 at Busch Stadium.

As it has been doing since the middle of August, St. Louis once again fought off elimination on Thursday when David Freese's solo home run in the 11th inning carried the Cardinals to a 10-9 win to force the first Game 7 in the Fall Classic since 2002.

Freese, the NLCS MVP, had tied the game in the ninth with a two-out, two- strike, two-run triple off the right field wall in the ninth inning.

"That defines our team, that game, the way we just kept coming back," said Freese, whose jersey was headed to the Hall of Fame after being ripped off his back by teammates.

"We've been doing that for a long time."

After Freese sent the game to extra innings, Josh Hamilton appeared to deliver yet another crushing blow to St. Louis with a two-run homer in the 10th to give the Rangers a 9-7 lead. Then for the second time the Rangers found themselves one strike away from their first- ever World Series title but Lance Berkman's RBI single in the bottom of the inning capped a two-run rally for St. Louis, setting the stage for Freese's heroics in the 11th.

"They fought tonight. They came back and won the game," said Rangers manager Ron Washington. "We just have to come back and fight tomorrow, because they certainly will."

The Cardinals, of course, had to overcome a 10 1/2-game deficit to even make the playoffs and now find themselves on the cusp of their 11th World Series title. Another win tonight would make St. Louis the fifth wild card team to win the World Series and the first since the 2004 Boston Red Sox.

Recent history is also on the Cardinals' side as the home team has been victorious in each of the last eight World Series Game 7's. In fact there hasn't been a road team to prevail in this situation since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates upended Baltimore.

"You had to be here to believe it," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.

Although La Russa declined to name a starter after Thursday's thrilling win, he is expected to hand the ball to right-hander Chris Carpenter, who will be going on three days' rest for just the second time in his career.

"Why wouldn't you want the ball?" Carpenter said. "If you don't, then you might as well go home."

Carpenter's first foray on short rest did not go well, as the Philadelphia Phillies battered him for four runs and five hits in three innings of his Game 2 start in the NLDS. The Cards, though, went on to win that game.

"You learn a little bit about it," Carpenter said. "I learned what my body's going to feel like, what my stuff's going to be like."

The former Cy Young Award winner has posted a 3-0 mark this postseason to go along with a 3.30 ERA. He beat the Rangers in Game 1 of this set before allowing two runs in seven innings of a no-decision in Game 4.

If it's not Carpenter, La Russa could opt to go with right-handers Edwin Jackson or Kyle Lohse.

Texas, meanwhile, will rely on lefty Matt Harrison, who won 14 games during the regular season, but has pitched to a 5.02 ERA in the postseason. Harrison was roughed up by the Cardinals in Game 3, as he allowed five runs (three earned) and six hits in 3 2/3 innings.

"I'll just try to treat it like another game," Harrison said. "This will be my fourth start in the playoffs. It's been a great experience so far, but I'd like to go out there and pitch us to the World Series-winning game. I'll try not to worry about it too much tonight and get some rest."

The Rangers may be shorthanded this evening as well, as catcher Mike Napoli (ankle) and Nelson Cruz (groin) are both questionable. Napoli's injury is considered the worse of the two, as he rolled his ankle in the fourth inning but depending on the swelling overnight he will likely be ready to go.

"I'm going to do whatever I can to stay in," Napoli said of how he remained in Game 6. "We're going to do some things tomorrow and try to get me back out there again."

Should the Rangers win tonight they would become the 10th different team in the last 11 years to win a World Series title. They'd also become the seventh expansion team to win and the first since the Anaheim Angels in 2002 to win their first-ever title.

Tonight's game will be 11th Game 7 in Cardinals history and they have gone 7-3 in such contests. However, they have dropped the last two.