subject: St. Louis Cardinals Tickets : The Cardinals And Brewers Split The First Two Games In Miller Park [print this page] Jaime Garcia threw 7 1/3 perfect innings of baseball on May 6, 2011, , before giving up a walk followed by a hit. He did finish the game with a two-hit complete-game shutout, his second complete-game shutout of the season in a Cardinals 6-0 win.The 2011 season may go down as one of the Cardinals' most followed pennant races in recent years.
By August 25, the Cardinals had played their 130th game of the season and were 10 games behind the Wild Card leading Atlanta Braves. Written off by most analysts to make the playoffs due to the large deficit, the team began the month of September at 72-64 and 8 1/2 games behind both the Wild Card and Central Division leaders. Atlanta went into a tailspin during the final month of the season, finishing 9-18.
At the same time, the Cardinals went 18-8 to finish the season at 90-72, one game better than Atlanta's record of 89-73, and won the National League Wild Card on the final game of the regular season. This marks the largest comeback in MLB history after 130 games played (only 32 regular season games remained), and the second largest comeback in the month of September. The Tampa Bay Rays have the largest final month comeback, as they began September 9 games behind the AL Wild Card leading Boston Red Sox, before overtaking them, also on the final regular season game.
The Cardinals matched up against the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2011 NLDS. The Phillies were heavily favored to win. However, the Cardinals defeated them 3 games to 2. Game 5 would become notable for its great pitching duel between the Phillies ace Roy Halladay and Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter. After giving up just 1 earned run over 8 innings, Halladay left the game for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 8th. He was bested by Carpenter who threw a complete game 3 hit shutout, winning 1-0. The win advanced the Cardinals to the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers for the first time since 2006.
In the NLCS, the Cardinals and Brewers split the first two games in Miller Park. The series went to St Louis where the Cardinals took 2 out of 3 for a 3-2 series lead heading back to Milwaukee, the Brewers only win in St Louis was game 4. The Cardinals would go on to clinch the series 4-2 in Milwaukee, defeating the Brewers 12-6 in game 6. This marks the 18th National League pennant for the Cardinals.
This ties them with the Dodgers and Giants for the most pennants won in the National League (with the Cardinals, Dodgers, and Giants together accounting for approximately one-half of all pennants won through 2011) and second place overall to the 40 won by the Yankees.They played the 2011 World Series against the American League champion Texas Rangers.
In the World Series, the Cardinals took the first game, but despite their 1-0 lead in the top of the ninth inning, sloppy defense led to the loss in game 2 (the 2-1 loss was the first time since 2001 a team scored the winning run in its final at bat from a blown save) to tie the series 1-1 heading to Texas. Game 3 in Texas became memorable for the Cardinals offensive explosion. Led by 3 home runs from Albert Pujols, the Cardinals went on to win the game 16-7, the third highest scoring game in World Series history.
The home runs from Albert ties him with Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth as the only players to hit 3 home runs in a World Series game. The Rangers rebounded in game 4 using amazing starting pitching to tie the series 2 all. In game 5 the Cardinals stranded 12 runners on base, and due to a lack of clutch hitting, lost the game 4-2. This puts the Rangers at a 3 games to 2 advantage heading back to St Louis for games 6 and 7.
The Cardinals finished their inaugural season in the new Busch Stadium by winning the 2006 World Series, becoming the first team since the 1923 New York Yankees to win the World Series in their first season in a new ballpark. The ballpark has numerous statues of former Cardinal players who are hall of fame inductees outside, including the iconic statue of Stan Musial in front of the third base entrance.
