The Cardinals and Cubs are playing the rubber match of their three-game set in Busch Stadium on Thursday (CHC-STL GameTracker), and already we’ve seen some baseball weirdness. 

The Cardinals went into the bottom of the seventh with a 4-2 lead and new relief acquisition Brett Cecil on the mound. Soon enough, that 4-2 Cardinals lead turned into a 6-4 Cubs lead. The most conspicuous blow was Kyle Shwarber’s three-run home run to right ... 

What started it all, though, was Matt Sczcur advancing to first base on a dropped third strike. Calling it “dropped,” though, isn’t really an accurate retelling of what became of Cecil’s breaking ball. Please witness the following color-television footage ... 

Another look:

All right, I’ve never seen that before. 

One explanation for what happened is that part of the ball got wedged between the plates in Yadier Molina’s chest protector. Of course, the conspiratorial (but probably more plausible) abounds on Twitter ... 

And to think this is purported to be a meaningful and orderly universe. 

Anyway, neither Cecil nor Molina offered much in the way of an explanation following the game, with Cecil leaving the clubhouse before the press gained entrance:

At this rate the Cardinals are poised to set a new record for pitch-related oddities.