Bottom of the ninth, two outs, no runners on base, and James Loney hits a soft line drive right at Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday.  That should have been the game, the Cards should have recovered from the unexpected Game 1 loss, and Adam Wainwright’s incredible performance would be rewarded with a win.  But weird things happen in baseball, and last night was no exception – Holliday failed to catch the ball:

“It’s tough to swallow,” Holliday said. “Obviously, I feel terrible. But I just missed the ball. It hit my stomach. I think I can catch a ball hit right at me.”

Hopefully he’s put it out of his mind, but I’m guessing Holliday is feeling pretty crappy this morning.  His blunder obviously wasn’t Bartman-esque…but it was pretty bad.  So bad, in fact, that some Cards fans have lost sight of the fact that Holliday had belted a homer in the 2nd inning.  From scholar “ballinyadi:”

what the hel* holiday,how could u drop a fly ball to end the game. Then u pull out ur sunflower seeds like a cocky son of a bit**. Dont sign this idiot, he COST US THE PLAYOFFS,if we woulve won yesterday we probabley wouldve won the series. thanks holiday

Yeah, ballinyadi.  It’s one thing to drop the ball, but to eat sunflower seeds?!?!?  Who the fuck does Matt Holliday think he is?  I swear to God, if one player on the Cardinals even thinks about chewing sunflower seeds in Game 3, I’m getting on a flight to St. Louis to execute them all.  Sunflower seeds?!?!  The fucking nerve!!!!

[Holliday and ballinyadi comment via MLB.com]