World Series was a big hit

ST. LOUIS -- David Freese swooped in, expecting Elvis Andrus to bunt. He did, but the ball trickled wide of the line.

The St. Louis third baseman scooped up the foul, scanned the crowd and spotted his target sitting near the Texas dugout: a man in the front row wearing a Rangers jacket and a glove.

Freese flipped him the souvenir, drawing a big smile and making yet another friend in his hometown. Then again, why not? There was plenty to share in this World Series.

A Game 6 that ranked among baseball's greatest thrillers. A three-homer, five-hit, six-RBI game by Albert Pujols that probably was the best hitting show in postseason history. Ron Washington running in place, Tony La Russa reacting in dismay to a ball that got away. Everyone learning how to chant Nap-Oh-Lee! Oh, and a Rally Squirrel on the scoreboard and a telephone mix-up in the bullpen.

"I told you it was going to be a great series -- and it was," Texas slugger Josh Hamilton said.

Hamilton doubled home a run and scored on Michael Young's double to put Texas ahead 2-0 in the first inning in Game 7 Friday night, but Freese and the Cardinals would not be denied. A night after twice rallying when it was one strike from elimination, St. Louis came back to win the championship with a 6-2 victory.

"Now that we've won it, it makes yesterday greater," La Russa said, referring to Game 6.

Said Hamilton: "It was actually fun to watch and fun to see. You hate it, but it happened."

It was an October for fans to cherish, for sure. As for how many saw these games nationwide, the numbers will tell. Going into the finale, TV ratings were up 11 percent over last year, when San Francisco beat Texas.

Before the opener, many observers predicted this Series would be a dud because it lacked big-market teams. Minus the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies, some said, it would attract little attention. But inning by inning, it got more intriguing.

"I know there's been a lot of conversation about ratings," commissioner Bud Selig said before Game 7. "Some of it, in my opinion . . . was misinformed."

Exactly a month before the Cardinals won their 11th championship, they clinched a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season. The night of Sept. 28 was riveting -- St. Louis capped a comeback from 101/2 games down to overtake Atlanta for the NL wild card and Tampa Bay completed its late surge to beat out Boston for the AL wild card.

The playoffs produced their moments, too. The one that brought winning and losing into a tight focus: Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals celebrating a 1-0 win over Roy Halladay in Philadelphia while star Ryan Howard writhed on the ground, having torn an Achilles tendon on a game-ending groundout.

Soon after, the first Game 7 in the World Series since 2002.

In a year punctuated by historic comebacks and epic collapses, it'd be easy to say the biggest rally of all belonged to baseball.

Certainly a back-and-forth World Series boosted interest, helped by the two most magical words in sports: Game 7.

"There isn't anybody on this team, the other team, too, that when you're a young kid, you don't think about winning the World Series, and it's always in Game 7," La Russa said.

Freese, who had come through twice in the ninth and 11th innings in Game 6, delivered a two-run double that tied Game 7 in the first inning -- and the NLCS MVP wound up adding the World Series MVP trophy.