Anatomy of a dinger

The Cardinals blogosphere certainly is atwitter about our man Sno Cones’ recent walk-off heroics.

But Gary Bennett’s grand slam didn’t happen in a vacuum. He had mad help from his teammates as well as his opponents Sunday. Check it:

Albert Pujols led off the ninth with a single. When imposing his will to win, he needn’t be directly involved to make an impact. I think all of us knew he was going to steal, and off he was against Bob Howry (although it looked as if his first couple steps were in mud).

Scott Rolen then bounced one up the middle. Ronny Cedeno fielded it just to the left of second base. Could he have stepped on second to get the gaffle-minded Pujols? Maybe, but he didn’t. Cubs mistake No. 1.

Juan Encarnacion then grounded to third. Aramis Ramirez scooped it up and seemed to freeze for a split-second before he threw to first. That hesitation allowed a hustling Instant Breakfast to beat the throw. Cubs mistake No. 2. And Pujols advanced to third after seeing no one covering the bag. Cubs mistake No. 3.

Ronnie Belliard, the Gangsta of Glove, finessed a walk to load the bases.

Aaron Miles then tapped a grounder to third. Ramirez forced Pujols at home, but Miles, because he’s Aaron Miles, was digging the whole way and beat Michael “Back Alley” Barrett’s throw.

Finally, Bennett unloaded on Cubs mistake No. 4:

(thanks to VEB commenter Hardcore Legend for the screen capture)