Another postseason inning, another lever pulled for Tony La Russa: In the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 2011 World Series the St. Louis Cardinals went to Lance Lynn, who's looked less than sharp in his series performance to date, and Lynn responded with a perfect inning, retiring Josh Hamilton and Michael Young and striking out Adrian Beltre on a 95-mph fastball up in the zone to maintain the Cardinals' 6-2 lead with just three outs to go. Jason Motte lurks in the bullpen for the ninth inning.
After a series of bullpen failures following their near-perfect NLCS stint the Cardinals struck gold again after Chris Carpenter was forced out; Arthur Rhodes and Octavio Dotel stranded a baserunner on second in the seventh inning.
The Cardinals got on the board in the first inning on David Freese's improbable two-RBI double and took a 3-2 lead in the third inning when Allen Craig, who later robbed Nelson Cruz of a home run at the warning track, homered into the right-field seats. Two more runs scored on a walk and a hit batsman in the fifth and Yadier Molina singled in their sixth run in the seventh.
Veterans of Game 6 will be reminded that no baseball game is over until it is officially over.