ST. LOUIS - The Texas Rangers were one strike away from a championship - twice - and Mike Napoli was oh-so-close to being the likely MVP of the World Series.

But the bullpen's collapse in Game 6 forced the first winner-take-all game since 2002, and the St. Louis Cardinals spoiled Napoli's unforgettable series with a 6-2 victory on Friday night.

Bounced from the Angels to the Blue Jays before ending up in Texas, Napoli put together an October to remember. The catcher hit a pair of homers and drove in 10 runs while making several key defensive plays that took the Rangers to the brink of a fairytale finish.

It simply wasn't meant to be.

Napoli did just about everything he could.

The slugging catcher had the tiebreaking two-run double that gave Texas a 4-2 victory in Game 5 on Monday night, and had an RBI single and three walks in Game 6.

It wasn't just his bat, though. Napoli also threw out two runners at second base in Game 5, and picked off Matt Holliday at third with the bases loaded in the sixth inning of Game 6.

Napoli added one more hit for posterity in Game 7.

"You study all year long, get straight As and then you have to pass the one test to pass the course. We didn't pass each time," Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis said long after it was over. "It doesn't show how good this team really is."

With perhaps the best World Series by a catcher since 1976, when the Reds' Johnny Bench hit .553 for the "Big Red Machine" in a sweep of the Yankees, Napoli joined some elite company.

The only other player to have four multi-RBI games in a World Series is Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, who accomplished the feat in 1960. Mantle (12) and fellow Yankees great Bobby Richardson (11) - the MVP of the '60 Fall Classic - are the only players with more RBIs in a single World Series.

Associated Press

(China Daily 10/30/2011 page7)