For all the high-tech scoreboards in stadiums and computers in each clubhouse that track every pitch, decisions on which relievers to warm up are passed along on Alexander Graham Bell's invention of 1876.

After Game 5 Monday night, with Rangers Ballpark nearly empty, the bullpen phone 400 or so feet away could be heard ringing when the narrow black handset with the gray push buttons was picked up in the visitors dugout on the third-base side. But with a crowd of 51,459 a few hours earlier, an unbelievable meltdown occurred.

With the score 2-2, right-hander Octavio Dotel replaced Chris Carpenter to start the eighth and Michael Young doubled. Adrian Beltre struck out and Nelson Cruz was walked.

Manager Tony La Russa said he had told bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist to have left-hander Marc Rzepczynski and right-hander Jason Motte warm up, but Lilliquist only heard "Rzepczynski" -- La Russa now thinks Lilliquist may have hung up after hearing the first name.

Going by the numbers (left-handers hit .163 off Rzepczynski during the regular season and right-handers batted .275), La Russa brought in Rzepczynski to face left-hander batter David Murphy.

Murphy hit a comebacker that could have become an inning-ending double play, but instead deflected off the reliever's hand for an infield single that loaded the bases and caused La Russa's head to snap back in shock.

Then La Russa noticed that Motte was not warming up, and he called the bullpen again to have his closer start throwing. But Lilliquist said he thought he heard "Lynn," for right-hander Lance Lynn, who was supposed to be resting after throwing 47 pitches in Game 3.

With Motte (.162 vs. right-handers and .270 vs. left-handers) still not warming up, La Russa left Rzepczynski in to face Mike Napoli, who sent a slider into the right-center gap for a two-run double.

"I said, man, this is stuff that I hope happens on a Wednesday game on the road someplace that nobody is there. Then of course it wouldn't have happened that way," La Russa said.

Now, alongside all his accomplishments, La Russa will be remembered for this famous failure to communicate.

"Hey, it's my fault," he said. "Maybe I slurred it, whatever it is. It comes down to who has the responsibility when there's those kinds of miscommunications."

Mike Napoli is batting .308 against St. Louis, with two homers and nine RBIS -- one fewer than the rest of the team combined. Yankees great Mickey Mantle, in 1960, is the only player besides Napoli to have four multi-RBI games in a World Series. Napoli drove in seven runs in the three games at Texas. The only players to drive in more runs in a single World Series are former Yankees Bobby Richardson, Mantle and Yogi Berra, the Indians' Sandy Alomar Jr. and Ted Kluszewski of the White Sox.