Rangers Rally Again, One Win Away

Mike Napoli comes through for Texas

Game 5 of the World Series served as a microcosm for the series itself; another low-scoring, tense affair in which the Cardinals jumped out to an early lead, only to watch the Rangers come back to tie (and ultimately win) the game.

St. Louis scored both its runs on back-to-back RBI singles by Yadier Molina and Skip Schumaker in the top of the second, but that was all the Redbirds were going to get off a shaky (nine baserunners allowed in just five and a third innings) but effective C.J. Wilson.  Texas got one back with a Mitch Moreland solo homer in the third, but Chris Carpenter was doing his best to mute the Ranger bats and held a narrow 2-1 lead going into the bottom half of the sixth.  That's when the 2005 NL Cy Young winner stumbled, though; after getting two quick outs he allowed an Adrian Beltre game-tying blast and back to back base knocs by Nelson Cruz and David Murphy to put runners on the corners, but he extinguished his own fire and made it through the next inning before departing with the score (and the series) still tied at two.

So after fighting their way back into the game and the series, Texas kept its momentum rolling in the eighth inning.  Despite Tony LaRussa's best efforts (incredibly, he ordered two intentional walks and used five pitchers to get those three outs, all of which were swinging K's), potential World Series MVP Mike Napoli delivered a tie-breaking two-run double that plated Cruz and Michael Young. 

Once again, the top of the ninth featured Neftali Feliz facing Albert Pujols in a bit of a jam (this time he had plunked Allen Craig to bring The Machine up representing the tying run), and once again the young flamethrower got the best of the future Hall-of-Famer.  This time he ran the count full against Phat Albert (whose timing might have been off after receiving three intentional walks in Game 5) before getting two outs with one pitch via the strike-him-out-throw-him-out.  Then, after walking Matt Holliday to bring up Lance Berkman as the tying run, managed to whiff the NL Comeback Player of the Year and secure his sixth save of the postseason.

The Ranger bullpen, fully rested after Derek Holland's near shutout in Game 4, made things interesting by allowing eight Cardinal baserunners over the final three and two-thirds innings but somehow stranded them all, as St. Louis ultimately left a dozen men on the basepaths.  They will certainly need more success with RISP in Game 6 if they want to survive another game in this series, which shifts back to Missouri. Colby Lewis and Jaime Garcia will square off tomorrow night, the former trying to finish the job while the latter fights to keep his team's Cinderella season alive.  I like the Rangers' chances of finishing off the Cards, but at the same time want the Redbirds to prevail and force a dramatic Game 7, something the World Series hasn't seen since the Giants/Angels Barry Bonds/John Lackey matchup in 2002.

But as much as I'd like that to happen, I foresee Texas winning its first Fall Classic in franchise history tomorrow evening.