Cardinals 'rally kitten' emerges before Yadier Molina's go-ahead grand slam

Step aside, “Rally Squirrel,” there’s a new four-legged hero in St. Louis. We’re calling it the “Rally Kitten” after it made a dramatic debut at Busch Stadium on Wednesday night, arriving mere moments before Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina launched a go-ahead grand slam in their 8-5 win against the Royals.

The crazy scene played out in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Cardinals were trailing 5-4 at the time and the crowd was ready to hang on every pitch as Molina dug in for his pivotal at-bat. After calmly taking a first-pitch slider from Peter Moylan for a ball, Molina stepped out of the batter’s box and everybody’s attention went to center field, where the kitten was darting past Kansas City’s Lorenzo Cain.

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At that point, a member of the Busch Stadium grounds crew attempted to chase the cat down and safely remove it from the field. He quickly learned this cat wasn’t going without a fight.

The terms scratching and clawing certainly applies to the Cardinals as they look to make a late season surge to the postseason. They also apply to the rally kitten’s methods to freeing itself from this poor guy’s grasp.

We can throw biting in there too.

It was reminiscent of a scene that played out at the Old Kingdome in Seattle 33 years ago.

We’d say both cats were equally determined to stand their ground. The one in St. Louis will be remembered more fondly though. That’s in no small part thanks to Molina’s heroics, as he launched the very next pitch for his grand slam.

Even manager Mike Matheny, who admittedly is not a cat person, has an appreciation for this one.

If we’re being truthful, we know the appearance of a cat or any other animal on the field can’t really influence a game or change the direction of a season. But it can be a rallying point that helps players relax and go along for the ride. Perhaps that’s what it will be for the Cardinals. But even if it’s not, it’s one of those memorable moments that can really only happen in baseball.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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