Now it's officially a blowout. Or a rout. Or a laugher. Or a grimblejack. You choose.

Whatever you want to call it, it's all over but the grumbling, as the Cardinals strung together three two-out hits in the top of the eighth inning and pushed their lead from 6-0 to 8-0. Jon Jay got things started with a single to center, and Carlos Beltran -- yes, him again -- drove an automatic double to right field that would have plated Jay if it hadn't bounced over the fence.

That brought up Matt Holliday, who fouled a pitch off his calf, fell to the earth in pain, then drove a single into left field that drove home Jay and Beltran. All this came against Ryan Mattheus, one of the Nationals' Game 1 heroes. After walking Allen Craig, Mattheus cleverly got Yadier Molina to hit a line drive directly at Bryce Harper to end the inning.

The Nationals have six more outs to play with, and need to score at least eight runs. Otherwise they need to win two games in a row or be eliminated.