One of the weird side-effects of Twitter: People are vastly more likely to make rule-of-three style connections than they used to be, thanks mostly to the Trending Topics that aren't perpetually taken up by Eastern European countries begging for a One Direction concert. Specifically: a small batch of St. Louis Cardinals fans has connected the Cardinals' brutal extra-inning loss to the absurd Todd Akin rape statements to make Sunday one of the Worst Missouri Days Ever.

Some examples:

So, to recap, worst day in MO history. Cardinals lose 19 inning game with playoff implications, Royals get robbed of no hitter, Todd #Akin.

— Dan Forster (@leggomystego) August 20, 2012

Between the @cardinals loss and Rep. Todd Akin, today has not been a banner day for St. Louis.

— Cake Walker (@LACakeWalk) August 20, 2012

The good news: People are less likely than you might expect, if you read those BuzzFeed collections of terrible tweets and are thus gunshy about the whole enterprise, to say the Cardinals' loss is worse than Akin's comments.

The rest of them are pretty similar, but I have to say that—as tired of Todd Akin jokes as I am—I kind of like this, as a final joke on both topics:

I wonder if Rep. Todd Akin has empathy for the hundreds of fans who are still watching this Cardinals game.

— don bilson (@dkbilson) August 19, 2012