Young proud of the effort displayed by Rangers

ST. LOUIS There's no one who takes more pride of putting on the Texas Rangers uniform than Michael Young. That may make the sting of losing a World Series when the team was one strike away from winning it twice a little tougher for the club's all-time hits' leader to take. "Obviously this is going to sting for a while," Young said. "It's pretty fresh. Obviously the last two nights have been pretty difficult. I'm proud of our effort as a team and I loved suiting up with these guys all season long." Love for the last two nights may be in the eye of the beholder but Young was proud of the effort the Rangers displayed in the playoffs and throughout the World Series. Even though Texas blew a ninth-inning lead in Game 6 Thursday, it put itself in position to win the game again in the 10th inning before the Cardinals rallied again to force Game 7. That effort was again on display Friday as Texas jumped out to a 2-0 lead, with Young's RBI double to right accounting for the final Texas run in the 6-2 loss. At no time did Young think the Rangers were out of the game. "I think we showed what we were made of out of the gate to come out and get two out of the chute showed everybody we came to play tonight," Young said. "Last night was over with and we came to play. They made some pitches after that and they found a way to score some runs and we didn't get anything and that was the difference in the game." The Rangers struggled in big situations against Chris Carpenter Friday as the club was just 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. At no time did Young think the Rangers weren't going to come up with the big hit to get back in the game. "We don't get frustrated," he said. "Sometimes we get pissed. We find a way to make an adjustment and get back at it. That's the nature of being a competitor. You can be frustrated if you're not prepared. That's not the case with this team." Young ended up hitting .259 in the Series with a home run and five RBI. He made a pair of errors but has no regrets about the way the Rangers played in the Series. "It will be difficult to move on," he said. "There's really not too much to assess. The effort level was through the roof. Last night they obviously had some big at-bats when gave them an opportunity today and they put up six runs. We got close. We just couldn't get the final out." Young has been with the Rangers since 2000, seeing plenty of lean times. That doesn't make the last two years of World Series losses any easier to take. He plans to spend time with his sons Mateo and Emilio before thinking about what the club can do to get better in 2012. It will be hard for Young to top the season he had offensively, as he hit .338 and led the team with 106 RBI while playing four positions. Young was one of several Rangers' players who addressed the team following Friday's 6-2 loss. He said a lot of what was said was private, but the overall message was how proud each player was of the team's efforts in 2011. "I'm proud to be part of the 2011 Rangers," Young said. "The last two nights obviously stink. Time will heal. We'll regroup and get ready to play next year." As for next year, Young believes the pieces are already in place to make another run at the World Series. "This is a championship-caliber team," he said. "To sit there and get better, what do you have to do? Make Nellie two feet taller so he catches that ball yesterday? No. We'll come back next year with the same effort and expect to have success."