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ST. LOUIS (AP) #8212;Losses like these create reputations. Debacles like thistake decades to overcome #8212;if ever.Twice within a strike of winning their first World Series title, the TexasRangers came up short both times. #8220;You study all year long, get straight A #8217;s and then you have to pass theone test to pass the course, #8221; Colby Lewis(notes) said. #8220;We didn #8217;t pass eac football shirts h time. #8221;In a year of unprecedented collapses, the Rangers saved the worst for last. A night after they were a pitch from winning the first title in the 51-yearhistory of the franchise, they wasted a two-run lead Friday and lost Game 7 ofthe World Series 6-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals.Texas players walked around the quiet clubhouse, exchanging blank looks, notquite ready to go home.Clubh football shirts ouse attendants took down their nameplates and packed their gear.In a century-plus of World Series play, rarely has there been such an emptyfeeling. #8220;I want to celebrate and was thinking about it, #8221; Elvis Andrus(notes) said, #8220;butthat moment never came. #8221;Until now, the 1986 Boston Red Sox had been the only team to come within anout of the title without winning it. Red Sox fans football shirts dwelled on Bill Buckner #8217;serror for 18 years, until the 2004 Sox won the team #8217;s first championship since1918.These Rangers will be remembered for a triple failure, for Neftali Feliz(notes)allowing David Freese #8217;s(notes) tying triple in the ninth inning of Game 6, for ScottFeldman(notes) giving up Lance Berkman #8217;s(notes) tying single in the 10th and for Mark Lowe(notes)allowing football shirts Freese #8217;s game-ending home run in the 11th. #8220;I tried the best that I could, #8221; Feliz said. #8220;What happened? It wasn #8217;twhat I envisioned, that was all. A bad outcome. #8221;Texas had not lost consecutive games since Aug. 23-25 against the Red Sox.But Matt Harrison(notes), Feldman, C.J. Wilson(notes) and Mike Adams(notes) combined to give up sixruns, and the Cardinals became football shirts the ninth straight home team to win Game 7. #8220;This will never be a good feeling. It hurts, #8221; David Murphy(notes) said. #8220;It #8217;shard to go through a full season and play so well and get to Game 7 of a WorldSeries and not get it done. #8221;After last year #8217;s five-game loss to San Francisco, the Rangers became thefirst repeat AL pennant winner since the 1998-01 Yankees. They football shirts finished as thefirst team to lose consecutive World Series since the 1991-92 Atlanta Braves. #8220;I #8217;m still kind of numb, #8221; general manager Jon Daniels said.Just as Red Sox fans wondered why John McNamara didn #8217;t put in Dave Stapletonas a defensive replacement in the 10th inning of Game 6, Rangers supporters willponder why Feliz didn #8217;t throw a slider to Freese with a 1-2 cou football shirts nt in the ninthinning of Game 6 instead of a 98 mph fastball. #8220;Sometimes when opportunity is in your presence, you certainly can #8217;t let itget away because sometimes it takes a while before it comes back, #8221; manager RonWashington said. #8220;If there #8217;s one thing that happened in this World Series thatI #8217;ll look back on is being so close, just having one pitch to be made an football shirts d oneout to be gotten, and it could have been a different story. #8221;Boston blew a nine-game September lead in the AL wild card, and Atlantafrittered away an 8 1/2 -game advantage in the NL, with the Cardinals reaching theplayoffs on that unforgettable final night of the regular season on Sept. 28.But with a title tantalizingly close yet remaining elusive, this caused evenmore heartache. After t football shirts he game, the Rangers clubhouse remained closed for about20 minutes while Washington spoke with his players.In the first Game 7 since 2002, the Rangers spurted to a 2-0 lead againstChris Carpenter, pitching on three days #8217; rest for the second time in his career.Josh Hamilton(notes) and Young hit RBI doubles in the first inning, which could havebeen bigger had not Ian Kinsler(notes) stumbled an football shirts d been picked off first after hisleadoff single.Instead of bringing back Wilson on short rest or starting Derek Holland(notes), whopitched brilliantly in winning Game 4, Washington stayed in rotation and startedHarrison.He couldn #8217;t hold the lead, allowing three runs, five hits and two walks infour innings. Harrison had trouble with plate umpire Jerry Layne. #8220;He had his zone, #8221; Harr football shirts ison said. #8220;There were pitches that were closethat didn #8217;t go our way. #8221;Feldman and Wilson then fouled up the fifth, combining for three walks andtwo hit batters while allowing two runs without any hits.Freese, the World Series MVP, started the comeback with a tying, two-rundouble in the first. Allen Craig(notes), starting because Matt Holliday(notes) injured hiswrist on Thursday, football shirts homered for a 3-2 lead in the third, with Nelson Cruz(notes) vainlyclimbing the right-field wall trying to make the catch.Facing Feldman, Yadier Molina(notes) walked with the bases loaded for the secondtime in two nights, and Wilson forced in another run when he relieved and hitRafael Furcal(notes) on the hip with his first pitch.That made it 5-2, and the record crowd of 47,399 at Busch Stadium go football shirts t louderand louder with each Texas out as the Cardinals #8217; 11th World Series title andfirst since 2006 neared.Texas pitchers walked a World Series-record 41, one more than the 1997Florida Marlins. Of the Cardinals #8217; 34 runs, 11 reached base on walks and anothertwo on hit batters. Not exactly what Nolan Ryan was looking for when he startedto remake the team with strong pitching. #8220;You football shirts #8217;re going for careful locations. That sometimes leads to bad results, #8221;Wilson said. #8220;And then sometimes there #8217;s the factor of trying to do too much.You get into a situation where the pressure is on, you try to make too perfectof a pitch. It #8217;s a little thing, like maybe you squeeze the ball or something.But something physically changes. #8221;He #8217;s eligible for free football shirts agency. Changes may be coming. #8220;A lot of things to be proud of, #8221; Daniels said. #8220;A disappointing end to ahell of a run. We #8217;ll have a staff meeting tomorrow and get back to it. #8221; Follow Yahoo! Sports' MLB coverage on Twitter. Updated Oct 29, 3:46 am EDT football shirts
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