It just didn't seem fitting that the 2008 Cardinals would go down without a fight, but heading into the bottom of the 7th inning last night, that appeared to be exactly what was about to happen.

Fortunately, after Joe Mather popped up with the bases loaded to end the 7th inning, Brewers' reliever Carlos Villanueva popped off at the Cardinal dugout...and for whatever reason, that seemed to inspire the Cardinals to play one of their best innings of baseball in recent memory in the bottom of the 8th.

As Adam Wainwright said, "That was a turning point."

Albert Pujols didn't take too kindly to Villanueva's gestures in the Cardinals' dugout direction, and he let Villanueva know about it...and he made the Milwaukee bullpen pay for it in the next inning when he led off with a double.

Ryan Ludwick followed with an RBI 2B to make it 3-2...and then the really good baseball on the Cardinals' end began, while the Brewers started their pitching and defensive implosion.

Troy Glaus, who was fortunate to not get tossed after arguing balls and strikes following his third K a couple innings earlier, drove in Ludwick with a base hit, but Mike Cameron's throw was so far off-line that Ludwick, who could've damn well been out with a better throw scored easily...and the Brewers weren't either able (or there) to cut the throw off, and so Glaus gets to second base.

That big play became even bigger...when Yadier Molina executed beautiful fundamentals by just getting the bat on the ball to the right side of the infield to move Glaus to 3rd with one out.

That's great baseball. Small stuff. Boring stuff. But critical stuff.

Aaron Miles, a contact king, came up with the grounder to short on the next play. The right move was to have Glaus run on contact, and he did. But, the Brewers blew it when J.J. Hardy's throw went in the dirt and Jason Kendall failed to get the tag on Glaus. Just like that...in 20 minutes...the Brewers had gone from cock-daddy's gesturing to the Cardinal dugout to imploding less than 6 outs away from essentially burying the Cardinals.

More great baseball followed in the next AB when pinch-hitter Braden Looper was able to get a bunt down wtih 2 strikes. That was massive in importance...because the next hitter, Felipe Lopez, was able to drive in Miles from 2nd with his 2 out base hit.

Little things like Cameron missing the cut-off man, Molina moving a runner over with a right-side of the infield ground out, and Looper getting a bunt down with 2 strikes proved to be the difference in this game...a game that earlier today on The ITD Morning After Cardinal GM John Mozeliak admitted the team had to have.

"As you sat there last night, and you're watching the 3rd inning, 4th inning, and 5th inning crap along, I definitely felt our season was somewhat hanging in the balance, because if you lose that game, it's just such an uphill battle," Mozeliak said  on Team 1380 this morning.

Exactly.

The Cardinals were six outs away from being psychologically---not mathematically---out of the race. And, here in St. Louis, for the first time since 1999, we'd have a September where there wasn't at least a sniff of a pennant race in the air.

Now, the season that wasn't supposed to be continues into late August with the Cardinals, Brewers, and Phillies (or will it be the Mets) set to battle for the wild card spot.

Many will remember Villanueva's pointing at the Cardinal dugout as the moment that turned it around. Perhaps that's true.

But, I'll take the sound hitting and fundamentals of the Cardinals in the bottom of the 8th versus the piss-poor pitching and defense of the Brewers as the reason why the 2008 Cardinals are still in the mix heading to Houston.

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