Holland helps Rangers tie Series, 4-0

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Derek Holland had a tough act to follow for Game 4 of the World Series Sunday night. George W. Bush throwing to Nolan Ryan? But after that ceremonial first pitch, the stage belonged to the Texas lefthander.

"I've never really got to experience how loud that crowd was today," Holland said. "That's the loudest I've ever heard it and it made my arm hair stick up. It gave me a crazy tingly feeling."

Whatever was flowing through him, it worked. Holland allowed two hits in 81/3 innings and Mike Napoli hit a three-run homer as the Rangers beat the Cardinals, 4-0, to tie the series at 2-2. Holland walked two and struck out seven as Texas guaranteed itself a return trip to St. Louis. The Rangers still haven't lost back-to-back games since they dropped three straight to the Red Sox on Aug. 23-25.

"I think the reason why we got on this roll is they just come out and try to deal with what they have to deal with on that day," Ron Washington said. "And I always preach to them -- it's not always the best team that wins, it's the team that plays the best on that day. Today we were better."

The best, by far, was Holland, who threw the most scoreless innings by a starter in a World Series game since the Yankees' Andy Pettitte pitched 81/3 in Game 5 in 1996. "Growing up as a kid, obviously this was the dream that I've wanted to do," said Holland, who entered Game 4 with a 5.27 ERA this postseason. "I wanted to pitch in the World Series and get a win. And after idolizing Andy Pettitte and seeing that, I wanted to be like him."

The crowd of 51,539 erupted in applause when Holland popped from the dugout for the ninth. For all the pregame talk of how to handle Albert Pujols, it had been no problem for Holland, who retired him on a groundout, foul pop and comebacker.

In the ninth, Holland got Nick Punto on a grounder before walking Rafael Furcal. That prompted a visit by Washington, and after a lengthy discussion, Holland left to a loud ovation. "He was begging," Washington said, smiling. "I just told him if you want to stay out here, get on your knees. He walked off the field."

The Texas manager was laughing as he uttered those words, and Holland gave his own version of the events a few minutes later. "He was like, you ain't going in there, son," he said. "And then typically he gave me that nice little ha, ha, ha. That nice little laugh he always does. I was trying everything I could to stay out there, but unfortunately I couldn't."

After Holland left, Neftali Feliz created some anxiety by walking Allen Craig. But Pujols flied out to centerfield and Matt Holliday struck out.

Shortly before following Bush, Holland could be seen getting an emotional pep talk from Washington in the dugout. The manager held him by the shoulders during the face-to-face chat and slapped him lightly on the cheek before he took the mound. "He does that a lot," Holland said. "He is a very emotional coach. He's like a track superstar in the dugout. But he's really into it every time and he shows that he cares about every single one of our players."

Edwin Jackson, who walked seven in 51/3 innings, walked Nelson Cruz and David Murphy with one out in the sixth and La Russa called on Mitchell Boggs. Napoli drilled his first pitch to leftfield for a three-run homer and a 4-0 lead. "It looked like it was a bad decision," La Russa said. "He just missed and Napoli didn't."

Texas scored in the first on a single by Elvis Andrus and Josh Hamilton's RBI double. That snapped the Cardinals' 10-game streak of scoring first in the postseason, one shy of the longest stretch established by the Tigers, who did it from 1972-84.

Holland allowed only Lance Berkman's double and single. "Well, I would say he worked us over," said La Russa, who replied "no comment" when asked about the strike zone of plate umpire Ron Kulpa. "Give him credit. What happened is he just worked us over and shut us down."