In his second inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln noted the irony that while Union and Confederate soldiers both prayed to the same God for success in battle, the almighty could not answer both prayers fully.
It seems players from both the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers received divine guidance, though to varying degrees of success and in a much less serious conflict — the World Series.
Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton told reporters after game 6 that he felt the lord telling him that he would hit a home run as he came to bat with the game tied in the top of the 10th.
“He said, ‘you haven’t hit one in a while and this is the time you’re going to,'” Hamilton said. “But there was a period at the end of that. He didn’t say, ‘you’re going to hit it, and you’re going to win.'”
Hamilton’s blast temporarily put the Rangers ahead, silencing the Busch Stadium crowd that had only moment before celebrated hometown boy David Freese’s game-tying base hit.
Then in the bottom of the 10th, the Cardinals’ Lance Berkman singled to center to tie the game yet again. Freese’s solo home run one inning later gave the Cards the dramatic win in one of the most exciting World Series games of all time.
“I just prayed before the game that the Lord would give me a calm and a peace,” Berkman told the Jim Rome Show. “Y’know, I don’t believe in praying for hits, or anything like that, but I did pray that I would be able to compete to the best of my ability and that I wouldn’t let the situation overwhelm me and that I’d be able to concentrate, and I really did feel peaceful.”
The Rangers and Cardinals face each other again Friday night for a decisive game 7.