August 28, 2003: Kerry Robinson, and One Great Night In August

     On August 28, 2003, Kerry Robinson belted a walk off home run during the ninth inning of a contest against the Cubs at Busch. The St. Louis native's big blast off of Mike Remlinger gave the Cardinals a 3-2 win, and capped off one of the most memorable series of that season, as it was documented in the book Three Nights In August. While the book told the tale of a rift between Robinson and the Cardinals skipper Tony LaRussa, it was all forgotten, at least momentarily, as the ball sailed over the wall in right. It was time to celebrate walk off style.

     The game was a battle from beginning to end, as Matt Morris and Carlos Zambrano went toe to toe like two boxers in a ring. Morris served up a big fly to Sammy Sosa in the first, and watched Ramon Martinez knock in a run with a sacrifice in the third. It might have looked like the Cubs had Morris on the ropes, but he settled down before Robinson came up with an RBI double in the sixth to spark the Cardinals offense. One inning later Scott Rolen took Big Z deep to knot things up at 2, and just like that it was a new ballgame.

     Steve Kline's dirty cap came in to pitch the eighth for the Cards, and he got himself in trouble quickly by putting runners on first and third after recording the first out of the frame. LaRussa called on newly acquired Mike DeJean to put the fire out, and he got the job done with an inning ending double play. The Cubs went to Remlinger in the bottom of the inning, who set the side down in order. DeJean matched Remlinger with  1-2-3 top of the ninth, then came Robinson. The man who wore the number 0 on his jersey battled the Cubs reliever in that final at bat, as he fell behind 0-2, then worked the count to 3-2, before he ended it with a swing of the bat that made it one very memorable night in August.

Get up baby!! Get up!!! Watch Kerry hit it, and listen to the Moon Man make the call here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnkUUp21xu8

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN200308280.shtml