I don’t doubt that the Rangers’ players, coaches and managers feel a little shell-shocked after blowing two two-run leads in the ninth and tenth innings and losing in the eleventh, but they have the luxury of going out to try to win again tomorrow. Rangers’ fans, on the other hand, are going to second-guess Cruz’s inability to catch Freese’s tying triple in the ninth, Feliz’s sudden inability to get people out in save situations, and German pinch-hitting for Feldman in the eleventh, forcing Washington to bring in Mark Lowe, who hadn’t thrown a pitch in anger in several weeks.

That was one of the most exciting games imaginable. There have been some other memorable Game Sixes: Kirby Puckett’s amazing catch in 1991 followed by his home run in the eleventh inning of that game, Carlton Fisk’s dance down the first base line, waving his ball fair in Fenway in the twelfth inning in 1975, Mookie Wilson’s grounder through Bill Buckner’s legs in the tenth inning in 1986, and Joe Carter’s Series-winning three-run home run in the ninth in 1993. This one ranks right up there with them. The Cardinals came back twice from two-run deficits in the ninth and tenth and then won on a home run from the first hitter they sent up in the eleventh. That hitter? The same Mr. Freese who tied the game in the ninth with a dramatic triple with two strikes on him.

Wow.