ST. LOUIS Moments after Yadier Molina hit a sharp double-play grounder toward Giants second baseman Joe Panik in the bottom of the sixth inning, the crowd at Busch Stadium fell abruptly silent.And their silence wasn't about the two outs Chicago Bears Hats that ended a potential rally before it even really started in a tie baseball game, but about Molina himself. The Cardinals' All-Star catcher never moved toward first base after Brian Urlacher Jersey the swing, instead staying at the plate in obvious pain.MORE: | | | | When Tony Cruz came out in full catching gear for the top of the seventh inning, the whisps of hope faded completely. Molina was done for the game, and pretty much everyone in the stadium wondered if they'd see him again in the series. Cruz's pa sed ball helped the Giants go ahead, 3-2, but St. Louis tied it in the bottom of the seventh.Official word from the Cardinals said Molina left the game with a "strained left oblique.""He felt a little something on his first at-bat and we kind of watched and kind of did some tests Xavier Crawford Jersey ," manager Mike Matheny said after the game. "He still felt good enough to go and knew that it would be something that we had to be careful with."The Cardinals didn't have any immediate timetable for his return. Theywill have a decision to make, though. Should the diagnosis come back that Molina will Jim McMahon Jersey have to mi s several games, the Cardinals could remove him from the NLCS roster and replace him with a healthy player. But that would mean he's Germain Ifedi Jersey not eligible to play in the World Series, should St. Louis advance that far.They could also choose to just play the rest of the NLCS with only 24 healthy players. They have this option because they were already carrying two other catchers, Tony Cruz and A.J. Pierzynski, on the NLCS roster. And, obviously, the Cardinals' chances of winning Cairo Santos Jersey the World Series would take a significant hit should Molina not be able to play (again, if they outlast San Francisco in the NLCS), so they'd be willing to play shorthanded now with the hopes that he could come back for the World Series.