Game 6 of the 2011 World Series vs. Super Bowl 34

[Bothrops Atrox]

So Game 6 of the 2011 World Series and the 2000 Super Bowl. Freese and Berkman and Freese again or Warner to Bruce and Mike Jones tackling Dyson? Almost certainly the two best moments in STL sports history over the past 30 years. I know there is an inherent bias towards baseball here, so I am really looking for comment from those who love both the NFL and MLB, if possible.

So St. Louis MLB and NFL fans...which was more exciting for you? 30 years from now, which will you remember the most? Too early to put them into perspective against each other? Which do you watch back more often on DVD?

Is there any moment in the past 30 years that can be put into that group? Ozzie and Jack Clark back-to-back games in 1985 NLCS? Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS? McGwire's 62nd HR? Anything?

[Herr28]

Pretty interesting comparison, but I will certainly go with Game 6 without a doubt. What Warner and Bruce did was awesome, but the fact that I was rooting for the Rams still didn't feel right. I was stationed over in Germany at the time and it was around 0300 in the morning when that game ended, so the exuberance wasn't quite the same (too darn tired and sloppy drunk).

Even so, I place the Cardinals not only on top of my list of baseball teams, but all sports teams. Watching that disgusting, sloppy, and all out depressing play during Game 6 was too much. I live in Central Texas and was taking a ton of heat from all my Rangers buddies. Last strike. Crap. I am preparing to send a text to my mom (who was going to work up in Iowa that night and wouldn't be able to see the end of the game and wanted to know what happened) and tell her that I am happy the Rangers finally won after that terrible display against the Giants a year earlier. That fly off the bat of Freese seriously seemed to stay in the air for minutes! I was screaming for it to get down or over! When Nellie missed it and I saw it running away from him I damn near exploded with joy!!!

Except for an outburst of expletives directed at Freese, Pujols (pumping his fist behind Napoli), the Cardinals dugout, anything red, and especially me, it seemed like Texas grew pretty quiet when we tied it up. The breath was taken out of everyone around me. My celebrations had to be tempered (I did have to get out of that joint in one piece, after all). When Hambone hit that 2 run HR, and with the end of our order due up, the insults started again in earnest. Again, I was preparing to send that defeatist text to my mom (lifelong Cardinals fan who grew up with the great teams of the '60s) when Berkman came through! Twice, down to the last strike and they did it twice! Then the Freese HR and Joe Buck saying "We will see you tomorrow night!" My feet didn't touch the ground again until Texas put up a couple runs in a shaky first off Carp in Game 7!

Two great championship moments for St. Louis sports fans, but for me personally, Game 6 takes the cake! It will go down as my favorite, all time greatest, sports moment ever! Unless the 2013 Cardinals have something up their sleeve...

[Ben Grimm]

Really tough call - though I'm not a ST Louis fan. But I feel it comes down to what was the risk, the gains - the loss, etc. Granted, game 6 was huge to turn the team around and open up a chance, the SB was for all the marbles. To win the SB by 1 yard is just sick and as great as I'm sure it was to see the Cards win game 6, there still was another game to be won to finally get the title.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

I'm going with the Super Bowl. The 2011 series is still to fresh for me to consider it a classic. Although i'll admit it was one of the best WS games I ever saw.

[Herr28]

True Game 6 didn't win the World Series (or all the marbles) by itself. However, it was just as important a part of that World Series Championship as the 70 some yard Warner to Bruce play (or the best defensive player the Rams had at the end, the damn game clock) that produced the margin of victory. It is a "Series" compared to a game. Those 4 wins were critical for the championship, especially Game 6 which was win or go home. The Rangers had just picked up two straight wins, now it was the Cardinals that needed two straight, or all was lost. If this had been Game 1 or Game 3 (where Pujols and company put up a football score), I wouldn't think it such a slam dunk case. There were still more games to win to claim the trophy. Game 6 was a must win, and we were down 3 going into the 8th before the Craig HR. Then 2 down with 2 out and 2 strikes on the hitter (Freese). Neftali Feliz has made hitters look like fools for those first few years he was the closer down here. For a young kid like David, hometown kid no less, to block out those distractions and in mere miliseconds turn the game from imminent defeat to a tie with a thrilling 3B just past the outstretched glove of Nellie Cruz (inches), come on. That was far more impressive than watching the game clock win the Super Bowl for the Rams (our D wasn't stopping them).

Had Freese and Berkman (not to mention all the little things that went into those 9th and 10th inning rallies to set the table) failed, that would have lost the Series (and all those dang marbles). So the whole shebang was up for grabs in that game, just like the Super Bowl, where after the game is done one team at least could claim the trophy. I am biased, I know, but I think that was a far greater accomplishment (both individual and team) than that Super Bowl victory.

[Bothrops Atrox]

I still cringe every time I see Kevin Carter so out of shape and gassed that he wasn't even trying to pass-rush McNair.

[Herr28]

This moment will live forever in the hearts of Cardinal fans! 2 out, 2 strike, 2 run 3B in the bottom of the 9th! Doesn't get much better than that!

Last chance!.JPG

[StanTheMan]

Generally speaking St Louisans love the Cardinals far, far more than management of a relocated football team could probably comprehend.

Freese and Game 6. Hands down.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

I think after this year you may have to add the St Louis Blues to this. I was thinking about this the other day and I personally still consider that football game better but it's not by much. That really was one of the best Super Bowls I ever saw.

[Bothrops Atrox]

I think after this year you may have to add the St Louis Blues to this. I was thinking about this the other day and I personally still consider that football game better but it's not by much. That really was one of the best Super Bowls I ever saw.

They may very well be a President's Trophy winner this year, but if you think MLB playoffs are a crapshoot...
#7 and 8 seeds in the playoffs win as often as #1 and 2 seeds in the NHL. Once you make it, everybody has about equal chances. That is what happens in games with roughly equal talent and such low scoring that one or two lucky bounces makes upsets routine. Even if they are the best team in the league, their chances of winning the cup compared to the field are less than 15%.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

They may very well be a President's Trophy winner this year, but if you think MLB playoffs are a crapshoot...
#7 and 8 seeds in the playoffs win as often as #1 and 2 seeds in the NHL. Once you make it, everybody has about equal chances. That is what happens in games with roughly equal talent and such low scoring that one or two lucky bounces makes upsets routine. Even if they are the best team in the league, their chances of winning the cup compared to the field are less than 15%.

Yeah thats true with the playoffs in hockey. But they are my pick for winning it all. This Vladimer Tarasenko is something else.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

They may very well be a President's Trophy winner this year, but if you think MLB playoffs are a crapshoot...
#7 and 8 seeds in the playoffs win as often as #1 and 2 seeds in the NHL. Once you make it, everybody has about equal chances. That is what happens in games with roughly equal talent and such low scoring that one or two lucky bounces makes upsets routine. Even if they are the best team in the league, their chances of winning the cup compared to the field are less than 15%.

Yeah thats true with the playoffs in hockey. But they are my pick for winning it all. This Vladimer Tarasenko is something else.

[Herr28]

Just thought I would throw in Tony LaRussa's take on the end of Game 6, from his book One Last Strike. I just finished the book and will read it dozens more times! Yes, it is that good. Here's Tony picking up at the top of page 370, right as Allen Craig came up in the bottom of the 8th, before setting the stage for the bottom of the 9th in Game 6 (27OCT11):

"I was just returning to my usual spot in the dugout after having said, 'Great job,' to R-zep before letting him know that that was it for him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Allen's bat lash ferociously around in his follow-through. He hit Holland's slider right over the image of number 45 Bob Gibson. Down two with five outs to go. Even though we didn't score again in the inning, we had three hits. Instead of bemoaning a lost opportunity, the fact that we kept battling like that was another of those flashes of light, like R-zep's performance (Tony is referencing the previous page, where he described 'Scrabble's' 1-2-3 inning on three quick grounders by the Rangers' potent bats of Hamilton, Moreland and Beltre when we were down 3 in the top of the 8th).

Needing to hold them right there, I called on Jason Motte in the ninth. Like R-zep, he gave us a lift, working quickly and around a one-out walk to send us back to the dugout.

I walked to the far end of the dugout as the guys were coming off the field to say to the guys on the bench, 'This is when we need you.' The bench responded, 'Lets get something started.' It felt good hearing all that support coming from everyone."

Before the next section, Tony explains that Mo had visited him in his office before Game 7 to say that the Cardinals owner, Mr. DeWitt, wanted the guys to go out on the field and thank the fans in the event the Rangers won. The Rangers celebrating in the middle of the field would not be bothered by the Cardinals coming out of the dugout and bullpen to thank the fans quickly, as the MLB guys and gals set up the stage for the trophy presentation. There was plenty of time for the guys to thank the huge crowd of Redbird fans. Tony agreed, knew it was the right thing to do to salute the fans, he said after Mo left "I appreciated the reminder, and went back to my business."

Bottom of page 370:

"As their closer, Neftali Feliz, took his warm-up tosses, I got on the phone to remind Lilliquist (bullpen coach at the time for those who don't know) to give the guys left in the bullpen the heads-up about thanking the fans. I told him not to say anything until there were two outs and it looked like we were going to get beat, and then tell the relievers who were left to come down to the dugout to join their teammates. I went around to tell the guys in the dugout who either had played in the game or were not eligible to play in the Series. I said, 'We've got a real shot here, but we need to corral the guys and step out for a minute to salute the fans.'

They were already on the top step, and as I walked along I saw a row of Cardinal red hoods and hats. When they heard me they turned, and I caught a glimpse of their faces before they turned back around, nodding, some of them pivoting their gaze from one of the outfield scoreboards to the infield and back. Were they wondering if somehow one glance would reveal something different from the previous one?

I settled in. The sound of one of Feliz's explosive fastballs was audible over the crowd's expectant and nervous thrum. I took a deep breath, and as I had probably done 45,000 times before, I watched my team come to bat in their half-inning.

Feliz was well rested and it showed. His fastball had the kind of jump to it that the best hard throwers have. Theriot went down swinging. Two outs to go.

Albert stepped into the home-plate circle. He was hitless in three at-bats. I couldn't ignore all the flashbulbs going off or the appreciative roar of the fans. Everyone was thinking that this might be it for Albert. With his free agency being one of the hot topics of conversation around the major leagues, what else could you think of at that point? But Albert clearly wasn't thinking about it. On Feliz's first pitch, a fastball out on the edge, Albert reached out and stroked it into left-center field for a double. He pointed to the sky. I was looking at Feliz, hoping I could read something in his demeanor, but I couldn't see his expression. The four straight balls to Berkman told me something. There was no way they wanted to put the tying run on base. I was hoping that maybe the moment had gotten to Feliz. His strikeout of Craig said otherwise.

In a fitting bit of irony, David Freese, who'd rooted for the Cardinals as a kid, who we'd received in a trade from San Diego for his favorite Cardinal, Jim Edmonds, came to the plate as potentially the last hope for Cardinal Nation.

One out to go.
A ball.
A strike looking.
A swinging strike.
One strike left in the season.
I hoped that David would get his front foot set sooner. On the swinging strike he hadn't.
David Freese then did what many people don't think is possible. He made me smile.

I watched as Feliz stood at the back of the mound, gazing into the outfield. They were one strike away from winning the World Series---what better moment to take it all in?

What better moment to take it all away?"

Need a break. This is longer than I remember!

[chicagowhitesox1173]

I couldn't have been more wrong about the Blues and Vladimer Tarasenko.

[Bothrops Atrox]

I couldn't have been more wrong about the Blues and Vladimer Tarasenko.

You could have been more wrong - they did finish with the 3rd most points in the West and 6th overall. Outside of the Hawks and Penguins, the Blues were as good as anybody else. Tarasenko played well before he got hurt. I am still excited about him going forward.

The playoffs are such a crapshoot - losing in the 1st round really doesn't say much of anything about any team.