It's counting outs time for the St. Louis Cardinals. They entered the bottom of the eighth with six outs left to get three runs. Every out they made would be a self-inflicted body blow, each one more painful than the last. And they made three of those outs in the eighth.

But they did get a run back! Which is nice. Allen Craig, would-be postseason legend if things had played out a little differently, sent a Derek Holland pitch into the left-field seats:

Holland stayed in the game, though, even though the Rangers gave up all sorts of prospects to get one of the best eighth-inning men in the game, Mike Adams. The Cardinals made the second out of the inning when David Freese grounded out, but Yadier Molina singled to right to keep the inning alive.

With the World Series on the line and the pitcher's spot up, the Cardinals had two options: Daniel Descalso and Gerald Laird. Both of whom aren't especially exciting, even if you get your MacGyver brain going to see if you can make other things with them. Adams came in to face Descalso (after Laird was burned as the announced pinch-hitter), and he reached on an infield "hit" that was more of an Elvis Andrus brain fart:

Andrus threw to first, but Kinsler would have been close enough to take the throw at second. Descalso beat the throw out. Jon Jay came up and singled on the first pitch to load the bases. The St. Louis crowd was hopping. A single could tie it. A double could give them the lead.

Rafael Furcal grounded back to the pitcher on the first pitch. So it goes. The Cards have three outs left, but they're down by two runs now, 7-5.