Last night, Steven Jackson was one of many fans of the St. Louis Cardinals watching possibly the greatest comeback in World Series history.
As a resident of St. Louis, Steven Jackson has been swept up in October’s aura. He was glued to his television Thursday night like nearly half the city, taking in every moment as the Cards, trailing three games to two, tried to stave off elimination. St. Louis came back back from deficits of 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3, before falling behind 7-4 in the seventh inning. They clawed closer on a solo home run in the eighth by Allen Craig, but went down to their last out in the ninth still trailing by two.
It was then that third baseman David Freese tied the game at seven with a triple to left, sending St. Louis — and Steven — into a frenzy.
Even after a two-run homer from Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton put the Rangers back in front, 9-7, in the 10th, Steven sensed that hope was not lost.
“No!!!” he tweeted. “(deep breath) Gotta come back.”
Sure enough, the Cardinals did just that in the bottom of the tenth. After two singles and a sacrifice, the Cardinals had the tying runs in position to score. A groundout brought a run home, and as Albert Pujols strode to the plate, Steven tweeted what all of St. Louis was thinking.
But the Rangers walked the game’s most dangerous hitter to get St. Louis’ Lance Berkman. It proved no better than facing Pujols; Berkman delivered a single to center to tie the game.
“*running in place* I’m going crazzzzzzzzzy,” Steven tweeted. “I will not be able to sleep… Oh my gosh, this has to be one of the best baseball games I’ve ever seen!!!”
It would get even better. When the Cardinals disposed of the Rangers in the top of the 11th, up stepped Freese to lead off the inning. After working a full count from Rangers reliever Mark Lowe, Freese sent the Cardinals to Game 7 with a titanic home-run blast to centerfield, and a 10-9 victory.
“Game over !!!! Home town kid !!!!! Freese !!!!!!” Steven tweeted.
That tweet was followed by the most important fact of all.
That day is today. Game 7 of the 2011 World Series starts tonight at 7:05 CT.