ST. LOUIS—Anyone searching for an omen 27 days earlier needed only hear the first words broadcast in the Citizens Bank Ballpark press box after Roy Halladay threw the first pitch of the National League Division Series to Cardinals shortstop Rafael Furcal.

It was nothing more innocuous than the evening temperature: 64.

An indelible number in Cardinals lore received a companion on Friday night at Busch Stadium when a team that thought itself listless, even underachieving in late August, capped one of the most remarkable reversals in the game’s history by defeating the Texas Rangers, 6-2, in Game Seven of the World Series.

One night after becoming the first team to rally five times in a World Series game, the Cardinals used six innings of inspiration from starting pitcher Chris Carpenter, a first-inning double by Series Most Valuable Player David Freese and a third-inning bolt by replacement left fielder Allen Craig to take the lead. A two-run fifth inning constructed without a hit provided a cushion that four relievers didn’t need as the Cardinals ran out the 11th world championship in franchise history and the second in six seasons.

Nearly a half-century after the ’64 Cardinals used a two-week rush to erase a six-and-a-half game deficit en route to a world championship over the New York Yankees, the 2011 version exploited the modern-day wild card to reach the postseason and bowl over three of the game’s most powerful lineups.

A frustrating season that began to shift after July 27 and that gained momentum after an August 25 clubhouse meeting ended when Craig strangled Rangers left fielder David Murphy’s fly ball.

Moments after closer Jason Motte had entered the game to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” the largest crowd in new Busch Stadium history (47,399) took the message to heart.

Carpenter became the first Cardinals starting pitcher to make three World Series starts in 26 years on the same night that Freese established a new postseason record with 22 runs batted in (RBI).

The Cardinals left behind a stunned American League champion that twice closed within one strike of winning the Series in Game Six but never found a way to finish.

“This is one of the great runs in baseball history,” said Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr.

“We play in a city like this where we have the best fans in the world. They come out every day. They allow us to do what we did this year,” General Manager John Mozeliak said.

Given the same opportunity on Friday, the reconstituted Cardinals never flinched, hardly surprising for a bunch that found itself 10-and-a-half games off the wild-card lead on August 25 and barely with a pulse when September arrived.

At one point afforded less than a 4 percent mathematical chance of reaching the postseason and rated by Las Vegas sports books as a 500-to-one proposition to win the Series, the Cardinals overcame doubts both within and outside their clubhouse with an uncommon show of resilience, bullpen and chemistry.

“It’s unbelievable, amazing, incredible,” said Manager Tony La Russa, who captured the third World Series championship of his career. “The teams we played in the playoffs were all great teams.”

Initially dull, Carpenter raised his career postseason record to 9-2 with his fourth win in six starts this month. Working on three days’ rest for only the second time in his career, Carpenter found himself trailing after his 10th pitch and down 2-0 before his team took its first at-bat. But after allowing six of the first 10 batters he saw to reach base, Carpenter more effectively changed speeds after his offense quickly tied the game.

Thursday’s offensive hero also became the thread within Friday’s clincher.

Perhaps a game away from losing his position during the NL Division Series, Freese burned Rangers starting pitcher Matt Harrison with a two-out, two-run double in the first inning before returning in the seventh to deliver a RBI single good for a four-run lead.

It was Freese who plucked the Series from doom during Thursday’s ninth inning and delivered a 10-9 win with an 11th-inning home run to dead center field.

Friday Freese completed two nerveless weeks that included eight RBI. During the four-week tournament the hometown hero amassed 14 extra-base hits, including five home runs, and scored 12 times in addition to his 21 RBI.

The Cardinals interrupted history to make some. By rallying from a three-games-to-two deficit, they handed the Rangers consecutive defeats for the first time in 47 games dating to August 25, the same day the Cardinals began to exhume themselves.

The Rangers produced four of their six hits in the first two innings but were punished for giving away the night’s first out on catcher Yadier Molina’s pick-off of leadoff hitter Ian Kinsler, who strayed too far on a missed bunt.

Center fielder Josh Hamilton gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with a one-out double following a five-pitch walk of shortstop Elvis Andrus and first baseman Michael Young followed with a double to right field that scored Hamilton.

Carpenter required a visit from pitching coach Dave Duncan after issuing a two-out walk in the second inning. At that point, the Cardinals ace had allowed six of 10 hitters to reach. After the consult, Carpenter permitted only two of 15 to reach.

Rangers Manager Ron Washington entered the Series with a reputation for abhorring intentional walks but left wearing skid marks because of them.

The Cardinals rallied for two first-inning runs in part because of an order for Harrison to pitch around first baseman Albert Pujols with no one on and two out. However, Harrison followed by also walking right fielder Lance Berkman to give Freese a chance to rifle a two-run double into the left-center field gap.

Two innings later the Cardinals’ accidental left fielder, Craig, provided his third game-winning RBI of the Series when he pumped his second home run in as many nights, this one to right-center field, for a 3-2 lead.

Craig started only because left fielder Matt Holliday finished the postseason in a soft cast, the result of a Thursday baserunning mishap. Still, Craig leveraged 19 at-bats into one of the Series' most influential offensive roles.

The game ran away from the Rangers in the fifth inning when Washington imported reliever Scott Feldman and ordered an intentional walk of Freese to load the bases after a walk, a hit batter and a right-side grounder created the two-out predicament.

With literally no room for error, Feldman forced home a deflating run by walking Molina. Washington pulled Game 5 starter C.J. Wilson from the bullpen to hit Pujols with his first pitch, making a 5-2 game.

Freese used his final postseason at-bat to provide a fitting signature, a single to center field that scored Pujols with perhaps the final run of his Cardinals career.