Baseball, St. Louis Cardinals | featured news

The Texas Rangers moved one win from their first World Series title with a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5. The deafening chants of “Nap-O-Li! Nap-O-Li!” rang out from the 51,549 fans before and after the key eighth-inning at-bat, sounding like the Sunday afternoon cheers for the Italian soccer team.

Derek Holland pitched into the ninth inning as Texas tied the World Series at two games apiece with a shutout.

Albert Pujols began the game hoping to shake his slump and maybe get a hit. He did that, and a whole lot more: He produced the defining game of his monster career, and perhaps the greatest hitting performance in World Series history.

The starting pitcher had carried the game all the way to the seventh inning, a rare luxury for the St. Louis Cardinals this postseason, and with a one-run lead and nine outs to go, the 46,406 in attendance Wednesday night at Busch Stadium, home of the savviest fans in baseball, could practically pinch-manage the rest of Game 1 of the World Series for Tony La Russa.

The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 12-6 in Game 6 Sunday night to win the National League Championship Series. The Cards will now take on the Texas Rangers in the World Series, which begins Wednesday.

The Cardinals take a 3-2 series lead after the Brewers bounced and bobbled the baseball around the diamond.

Albert Pujols hit an RBI double during a four-run first inning and the St. Louis bullpen bailed out Chris Carpenter as the Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 Wednesday night for a 2-1 edge in the NL championship series.

Leave "Beast Mode" to the guys on the other team. Albert Pujols was just a monster. The St. Louis slugger had one of the biggest postseason nights of his career in Game 2 of the NL championship series, going 4 for 5 with a home run, three doubles and five RBIs to lead the Cardinals past the Milwaukee Brewers 12-3 on Monday.

John Jay knocked Carlos Ruiz backward with a hard forearm shiver, then the St. Louis Cardinals flipped this series around. Albert Pujols hit a go-ahead single in the seventh inning after Cliff Lee blew a four-run lead, and the Cardinals rallied past the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 Sunday night to even their NL playoff matchup at one game each.

Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals completed one of baseball's greatest comebacks, clinching the NL wild card Wednesday night with an 8-0 win over Houston and a later loss by Atlanta. The Cardinals got their playoff spot when the Braves fell to Philadelphia 4-3 in 13 innings.