As you all know by now, or at least, should know by now, Carlos Beltran made a spectacular catch this afternoon, snow coning a fly ball to rob the Cardinals of a homerun. And while we can talk about poor Ludwick, who played hard and should have had a homerun, or of the Catch from Cardinals series past in which Endy too made a magical play to rob a sure homerun. But what has been overlooked so far, is the bird.

Watch the video carefully. The closeups. Mere feet away, crossing his path while he ran, a bird attempted to knock that ball just out of Beltran’s reach. Birds always have hated the Mets, and are natural Cardinal fans anyway. The mere athleticism and instinct of Beltran, to not just track the ball and its path, but the bird as well, thus avoiding yet another outfield collision, one that could have ruined Beltran forever. The only question that remains now: was this an isolated incident, or merely the start of an Avian Epidemic.