"For a moment, it was just like old times.

It was Monday night, and the crowd at Busch Stadium was on its feet, and the Cardinals fans were clapping and cheering moments after Scott Rolen made a spectacular stop at third base. The scruffy-faced 36-year-old had hit his knees to glove the outfield-bound baseball. The momentum of his slide had carried him into the green grass of foul territory. Almost instantly, he had gotten back on his feet to make a hard throw across his body to first base.

"I was just trying to get it headed over in the first-base direction," Rolen said. "It hit my glove directly, came out of my hand the right way and got over there the right way."

But the runner was safe. And Cardinals fans were cheering not because Rolen made the stop but because his throw was one blink late. They were happy because Rolen does not make incredible plays for the Cardinals anymore. Now he makes them for the Cincinnati Reds.

The replay of how the Cardinals scored in the eighth inning of Monday's 1-0 win over the Reds has been shown over and over.

Cardinals pinch-hitter Mark Hamilton assumed his spinning grounder down the third-base line was going to cruise through for a double. He began to round his path to first base and Rolen nearly made him pay. Hamilton frantically launched into the bag headfirst to reach safely while Colby Rasmus scored from third.

In the Reds' clubhouse on Tuesday, Rolen described the stop as a "non-play." And technically, it was. But the sliding snag was enough to remind those cheering St. Louis fans of a time when they used to call Rolen their own.

Rolen spent 2002-2007 with the Cardinals before he was traded to Toronto for his replacement, Troy Glaus.

He won a World Series, played in another and earned three Gold Gloves while with the Cardinals. But just as memorable was the unpleasant ending to his time in St. Louis.

Rolen was struggling with complications from a left shoulder injury, and it was no secret he and manager Tony La Russa were at odds. Rolen requested a trade."