World Series: St. Louis 6 - 2 Texas (St. Louis wins 4-3)

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

-- T.S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men"

That pretty much sums up what happened to the Texas Rangers last night. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, the high-powered Texas offense sputtered and died. In the last eight innings of their season, the Rangers could not manage a single run. And that, more than anything else, is why they lost Game 7 of the World Series in St. Louis.

The Rangers didn't score, in large part, because Chris Carpenter, pitching with only three days' rest, rallied after a shaky first to pitch five shutout innings. By the time he left the game in the top of the 7th, St. Louis had a 5-2 lead and you could tell it probably wasn't going to be Texas's day. David Freese was named the MVP of the series, as he should have been, but the Cardinals never could have won this championship without Carpenter. For years, the 36-year-old Carpenter has been an unsung hero of the Cardinals' rotation -- he is an excellent pitcher who would be much more famous if he had played in a bigger market instead of spending his career in Toronto and St. Louis. In eight seasons with the Cardinals, he has a record of 95-42, and an ERA of 3.06. This year, he went 4-0 in the post-season, and won a decisive Game 5 against the Phillies -- a 1-0 complete game shutout on the road that is one of the greatest pitching performances I have ever seen. He was also the winning pitcher in last night's Game 7. He pitched 19 of the 63 innings in this series, meaning that he personally accounted for over 30 percent of all the innings pitched by St. Louis. (No other pitcher, for either team, threw more than 12 and 1/3 innings in the Series). In his 19 innings, Carpenter had an ERA of 2.84. The rest of the Cardinal pitching staff had an ERA of 4.30. Carpenter's importance is almost impossible to overstate.

In large part because of Carpenter's solid pitching, the St. Louis bullpen held up better than the Texas bullpen over the course of the Series. Texas's bullpen was simply dominant in its wins over Tampa Bay and Detroit in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but they failed over and over in this Series -- particularly in the devastating Game 6 loss, but also last night. For one thing, Texas gave away too many walks -- 41 in all, a World Series record.

But St. Louis hitters must also get some credit. For long stretches of the Series -- particularly in Games 1 and 2, and Games 4 and 5 -- the Cardinal bats appeared to be totally overmatched. But with the exception of Game 5, where St. Louis left runners on base in almost every inning, Cardinal hitters were much more efficient than their Texas counterparts. They almost kept pace with the Texas sluggers in the home run battle (they had 8 to 9 for Texas), and their ability to draw walks and score runs in bunches more than made up for their relative lack of power. To me, the most striking statistic about the Series was this: The Cardinals scored 38 runs on 56 hits, while Texas managed only 30 runs on 60 hits.

This season, which was so boring for most of the year, will now be remembered for St. Louis's remarkable stretch run and series of upsets in the playoffs. They were 10 and 1/2 games out of the Wild Card in October, and they only got into the playoffs because Philadelphia swept Atlanta in the last week of the season. In retrospect, that was where the Phillies blew it; if they had simply rested their starters, and allowed Atlanta to eliminate St. Louis, Philadelphia could have avoided having to deal with the red-hot Cardinals in a short series, and I believe they would have won the championship. But maybe this was just St. Louis's year. They not only caught a break with the Braves' collapse; they also benefited from having home field advantage in the World Series, and from the rainout of Game 6 that allowed Carpenter to pitch Games 5 and 7.

But lots of teams were lucky this year. Texas, for example, had the chance to win the title without having to face the Yankees or the Phillies -- or, indeed, any team that won more than 95 games. The Cardinals, however, seized their chance -- playing with a verve and fire rarely seen in baseball history. I've seen the Cardinals win three titles -- in 1982, 2006, and 2011. My guess is that for most Cardinal fans, this team will be remembered as their favorite.

And now a few words for Texas fans. I've been tough on Texas throughout this month, in large part because the Dallas fans strike me as front-runners who are simply filling in time between Cowboys' games. But I'm sure Texas has some deeply committed fans, and as it is I know almost exactly how they feel. When I was 11 years old, the Los Angeles Dodgers were absolutely my favorite sports team on earth. And over the next two seasons (1977 and 1978), I followed the Dodgers all the way to the World Series, where they lost both times. I don't think anything I've experienced as a fan hurt as much as those two defeats. The baseball season is incredibly long -- last night was the 179th game played by Texas this year, and the 180th for St. Louis -- and to win and win for six months, only to lose it all at the end, is truly terrible. Losing under those circumstances two years in a row is devastating. Thirty-three years after the 1978 World Series, I can still remember vividly how I almost quit watching sports altogether, because the whole process was just too painful. But the Dodgers did win the World Series in 1981, and the Braves (who lost the Series in 1991 and 1992) came back to win it in 1995. So all is not lost for Texas.

The important thing, of course, is that Texas keeps its team together. Texas manager Ron Washington will be criticized for various moves he made during the playoffs. I would note, for example, that his best pitcher in the Series -- Derek Holland -- only got to throw 10 and 1/3 innings, during which he had an ERA of 0.87. But it would be a tremendous mistake for Texas to give up on Washington. Tony LaRussa was criticized after losing the Series in 1988 and 1990; Tommy LaSorda lost in 1977 and 1978; Bobby Cox lost in 1991 and 1992; Sparky Anderson lost in 1970 and 1972. It's really, really hard to win the World Series, and a lot of luck comes into play. The Rangers have built a great team. If they stick with their current formula, I believe they will eventually get a title.

But that will be for another time. Today we celebrate for the Cardinals, who really do have the best fans in baseball, and we are glad they have so many warm memories to take them through the cold of a Missouri winter.