"Back, back, back, this will win the game, over the wall, game over, Cardinals win!" -Mike Shannon calling Miles' game winning grand slam
It wasn't just Miles who made the sweep possible today. The offense showed up in full force, along with a good start from Jaime García. This was Garcia's first major league start, throwing five innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out four.
After giving up a home run to the first batter, Garcia seemed to be a little nervous on the mound. But once he got a few more outs, he seemed to settle in and go the distance to give the Cardinals offense a chance to win the game and complete the four game sweep of the struggling Padres.
Isringhausen continued his worst season by blowing his eighth save this year, but Miles made us forget about Izzy's missed opportunity in the bottom of the inning for a short while.
The offense was there throughout the end of the game to ease the pitching pains, as the Cards offense was unforgiving on the Padres pitching staff again. Glaus hit a three-run home run in the eighth to take the lead by two, and Ankiel and Pujols also got in on the fun in getting an RBI apiece.
The fireworks didn't start however until the bottom of the ninth inning, when a stray ball went past the Padres first baseman, allowing Pujols to get to third with only one out. The Padres decided to walk Molina and Schumaker to load the bases for a chance at a double play.
Miles had other plans.
Miles took a high pitch and put it into the right field bullpen with the bases loaded to walk off, well, run off, to home plate and get mobbed by his teammates.
After the celebration, Tony was back to business, knowing a more important series is coming up. The Cardinals will play the Brewers, who are only one game behind them in the division in the next four days.
This Cardinals seem to recognize that this is the time to knock those that are close in the division down a few games, and gain more ground on the team that is leading the division, the Cubs.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
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