From the Cards clubhouse

Mulder clobbered in rehab start at Memphis

Mark Mulder's first start at Class AAA Memphis was a disaster Wednesday.

Mulder, rehabilitating from two shoulder surgeries, was tattooed for nine hits and nine runs, seven of which were earned, in 3 2/3 innings against Salt Lake. Mulder walked one, struck out one and allowed three home runs. He threw 80 pitches, 47 for strikes, and left the game with Memphis trailing 9-0.

It's become clear that the Cardinals' patient approach with Mulder is the right course to take. Mulder will probably need his entire rehab period, which ends May 15. That gives him an opportunity to make two and perhaps three more starts before being recalled to the bigs.

If Mulder isn't ready, extended spring training is his next option. There's really no rush for him on the major-league roster. The starters, for now, are dealing. But that's all subject to change.

Cardinals' 18th win in April would be historic

It's a chance at history for the Cardinals today. A win over Cincinnati in an afternoon game at Busch would be their franchise-record 18th in April. The 2000 and 2006 Cardinals won 17 games in April. The 2000 team went on to win 95 games and reached the NL Championship Series. The 2006 team won just 83 regular-season games, but caught fire in October and won the team's 10th World Series.

It won't be easy today, with the Reds sending strikeout master Aaron Harang to the mound against Braden Looper. Harang was 2-0 against the Cardinals last year and has won four of his last five decisions against them.

Adam Kennedy, Cesar Izturis, Yadier Molina and Ryan Ludwick are on the bench. Kennedy is 1-for-6 against Harang in his career, while Izturis is an alarming 0-for-17. Molina is 4-for-21 and Ludwick is 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Here are the lineups for the rubber game of the series:

Cardinals
Skip Schumaker RF
Aaron Miles 2B
Albert Pujols 1B
Rick Ankiel CF
Troy Glaus 3B
Chris Duncan LF
Jason LaRue C
Braden Looper P
Brendan Ryan SS

Reds
Ryan Freel CF
Jeff Keppinger SS
Ken Griffey Jr. RF
Brandon Phillips 2B
Adam Dunn LF
Edwin Encarnacion 3B
Joey Votto 1B
David Ross C
Aaron Harang P

Ankiel pulls another stunt

This topic has been addressed one other time this season, but it's apparently one that's not going away.

Rick Ankiel hit a home run Monday night in the Cardinals' 4-3 loss to Cincinnati. Because it was overshadowed by a fly ball that left fielder Chris Duncan called for but then lost in the twilight sky for an RBI double, there was no real urgency to hear from the former wunderkind.

But in the Cardinals' 7-2 win over the Reds on Tuesday, Ankiel was everywhere. In his first three at-bats, he was 3-for-3 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. He finished 3-for-5 and made all the plays in center field.

But once again, Ankiel declined to comment about his contributions.

This isn't about the media. It's not a huge deal when an athlete doesn't want to talk. You move on to the next player, which in this case was Skip Schumaker, a media darling who understands responsibility. It's the fans who pay a premium price for tickets — or cable or satellite TV to watch the games — who are burned when Ankiel blows out of the clubhouse without talking.

Again, this guy is perhaps the most compelling player on the surprising Cardinals (17-11). People still are amazed by his pitcher-turned-player story. It's intriguing. Instead, Ankiel is acting like a spoiled 20-year-old. Really, he's no different than he ever was.

I had hoped that Ankiel would grow up in his time away from the major leagues, and I'm sure he has in some respects. But his behavior remains much the same as it was when he was a rookie in 2000.

A year later, memories of Hancock's death still vivid

Today marks the one-year anniversary of relief pitcher Josh Hancock's death. It's hard to believe.

What a strange Sunday that was. A co-worker called me the morning of Hancock's fatal car accident, about five or six hours after it happened. The news jolted me out of my slumber. Baseball's routine took a break that day. Instead of going to Busch Stadium to cover the Cubs-Cardinals game, I drove to the accident site and found skid marks, a scraped-up barrier wall that separates the westbound and eastbound lanes of Interstate 40 and a few stray pieces of car/truck parts.

As expected, the scene at the ballpark was one of sadness. Fans meandered about with empty expressions, flowers were placed at an entrance to the stadium and questions began to arise. Mainly, it was, "How did this happen?"

Hancock, driving over the speed limit and above the legal limit of intoxication, smashed into the back of a tow truck and died instantly.

A press conference was held. Walt Jocketty, Tony La Russa and Braden Looper spoke on behalf of the Cardinals, Lou Piniella for the Cubs. All were numb. It reminded me of June 2002, when Darryl Kile died in his hotel room in Chicago.

I recall other baseball deaths. Bo Diaz. Bob Moose. Lyman Bostock. Danny Frisella. Tim Crews. Steve Olin. Eric Show. J.R. Richard. Don Wilson. Mike Coolbaugh. Alan Wiggins. When I was real young, I remember hearing the new of Roberto Clemente’s tragic plane crash.

But the Kile and Hancock deaths hit close to home. They were Cardinals, guys I knew. In Hancock’s case, I had just spoken with him. It seemed impossible that he was gone. Kile and Hancock are memorialized in the Cardinals’ bullpen

I hope there’s never another day like April 29, 2007.

It's 3 1/2 hours before the game, but here are the lineups

Hey, this is unusual. The lineups have been dropped off to the pressbox before our daily trip to the clubhouse for pregame enlightenment from Tony La Russa and any player who feels like yapping it up. By the way, Ryan Ludwick is NOT leading off for the Cardinals.

So in rapid-fire time, here are the lineups:

The Cardinals vs. Johnny Cueto:
Skip Schumaker RF
Adam Kennedy 2B
Albert Pujols 1B
Rick Ankiel CF
Troy Glaus 3B
Chris Duncan LF
Yadier Molina C
Joel Pineiro P
Cesar Izturis SS

And now, the Queen City ballplayers, a.k.a the Cincinnati Reds:
Corey Patterson CF
Jeff Keppinger SS
Ken Griffey Jr. RF
Brandon Phillips 2B
Adam Dunn LF
Edwin Encarnacion 3B
Joey Votto 1B
Paul Bako C
Johnny Cueto P

Check back around 5 or 5:15 for more. Sunny skies and cool temperatures prevail and lovely Busch Stadium. A warning to Chris Duncan and Rick Ankiel: Twilight will arrive around 8 o'clock.

Ouch! That experiment didn't go so well

Ryan Ludwick could have gone 5-for-5 from the leadoff spot Monday and not been in the No. 1 hole again Tuesday. But Ludwick's 0-for-5, four-strikeout game assured that he won't be back at the top when the Cardinals play Cincinnati again at 7:15 Tuesday night.

But at least Ludwick didn't lose a pop fly in the twilight sky. That's what happened to left fielder Chris Duncan and center fielder Rick Ankiel in the third inning. With the Cardinals already trailing 3-0, Edwin Encarnacion hit a short fly to left-center. It should have been the third out, but Duncan and Ankiel converged on the ball and let it fall, scoring Ken Griffey Jr. with what proved to be the winning run in a 4-3 Cardinals loss.

Duncan was terse after the game, clearly agitated with the responsibility he shared with Ankiel.

"As soon as it got out of the stands, I couldn't see it," Duncan said.

The rest of the interview:
Reporter: So you get it off the bat, but then it goes up and you lose it?
Duncan: Yeah.
Reporter: It seemed like a lot of weird stuff happened like that tonight to hurt you. You had a couple of chances offensively and they make a couple of plays that are the difference.
Duncan: It's a tough break. It's all it is, really.
Reporter: Was (Bronson) Arroyo anything special or did he just make pitches when he had to?
Duncan: He made some pitches when he had to.
Reporter: This may be overstatating it, but it seems like you guys are having a little more luck getting guys on than getting them in. Is there anything to that or is it just kind of the way it's happening?
Duncan: That's baseball.

End of interview. For you statistics freaks out there, Duncan averaged five words per question over the last four questions. With reporters seeing that Duncan was going to shed no further twilight on the situation, the interview, to everyone's glee, broke up. Maybe the questions just weren't compelling enough to capture Duncan's interest.

Ludwick said it's easy to lose a ball in the sky at Busch at certain times of the day.

"Sometimes it's real tough," he said. "You can pick it up coming through the stadium. Then once it gets up in that sky, at times it can be real, real tough. Anywhere when it's a blue sky like that and the colors tend to dim and fade in with the ball, it can be awfully hard to pick up.

"Unfortunately for Dunc, he caught it at the time of day when it was really tough."

Red alert: Ryan Ludwick in leadoff spot

How's this for a change? Ryan Ludwick is leading off tonight for the Cardinals. No joke.

"If it works, I did it. If it doesn't, I'm going to blame (Joe) Pettini or (Jose) Oquendo," manager Tony La Russa said.

"I would rather have him in the middle of the lineup," TLR said, "but it disrupts the lineup the least (having him hit leadoff). He shouldn't change anything he does. Just give the best at-bat he can give."

TLR decided to rest Skip Schumaker, his leadoff hitter in 21 of the team's 26 games. That left him with a vacancy in the No. 1 spot, since Brian Barton doesn't start against right-handed pitchers and Cesar Izturis, back in the lineup after missing the last five starts, was batting ninth.

"I thought of Rickey Henderson," Ludwick said when he saw the skipper's lineup card. "I grew up watching him. He hits right and throws left (like Ludwick). He's probably the best of all time doing that. I'm going to tribute this game to Rickey. I might steal third a couple of times today, I don't know."

On that note of hilarity, here's the Cardinals' lineup for the first of three against Cincinnati:

Ryan Ludwick RF
Rick Ankiel CF
Albert Pujols 1B
Chris Duncan LF
Troy Glaus 3B
Yadier Molina C
Adam Kennedy 2B
Todd Wellemeyer P
Cesar Izturis SS

And now, introducing the Big Red Machine (well, not exactly):

Corey Patterson CF
Jeff Keppinger SS
Ken Griffey Jr. RF
Brandon Phillips 2B
Adam Dunn LF
Edwin Encarnacion 3B
Joey Votto 1B
Paul Bako C
Bronson Arroyo P

Jocketty back in town as GM of Reds

Former Cardinals General Manager Walt Jocketty, recently named to the same post with the Cincinnati Reds, is expected to talk to the media within the next couple of hours. It will be interesting to see how the conversation goes. I'm certain he will discuss his dismissal from the Cardinals, his plans for the Reds, his feelings about the Cardinals and his successor as general manager, John Mozeliak.

I'll have a later post on Jocketty, who seems an odd bedfellow for manager Dusty Baker, considering Dusty once was on the North side of Chicago with the Cubs.

Ken Griffey Jr. has 597 home runs. He has three games in St. Louis to reach 600. Remember, Griffey hit No. 500 against the Cardinals at old Busch Stadium. On the mound for the Cardinals tonight is Todd Wellemeyer. Griffey is 0-for-6 with one strikeout in his career against Wellemeyer.

Lineups on my next post around 5:15 — unless that's when Jocketty decides to talk.

A first for Glaus: He DOES have allergies

Troy Glaus learned Saturday that he has allergic conjunctivitis, a noncontagious case of pink eye that is caused by high levels of pollen produced by grass, trees and ragweed. Glaus is extremely interested in this ailment, particularly in any information that would help rid him of the plague.

Glaus' theme song when he digs into the batter's box is "Crazy Train," by the crazy Ozzy Osbourne. It's appropriate that in the early stages of the song, Osbourne screams, "Ay-ay-ay" or in Glaus' case "Eye-eye-eye." Sorry. Just a weird thought.

Glaus is 3-for-24 in night games at home. Just a reminder about his malady: It only bothers him during Busch Stadium night games when the temperature is in the 50s or lower. The bad news is it's only April. Allergy season hasn't even peaked yet. The good news is it's almost May and temperatures should begin to ascend soon. Even if they don't, Glaus can be comforted in knowing the Cardinals have three day games among their next seven.

Tony La Russa joked Saturday that he should rest Glaus on Monday and Tuesday — night games against Cincinnati. It might not be a bad option. TLR pays attention to the numbers and a 24 at-bat sampling is enough for him to at least consider a switch for one of those games, assuming it remains cool and the problem is still affecting the third baseman.

While Glaus has watery eyes, I'm wondering what's going on with Rick Ankiel and Jason LaRue. Ankiel hasn't had an RBI since April 13. LaRue is 1-for-22 this season (.045).

A whole bunch of turkey-calling going on

Hey, after a crushing 3-2 loss to Houston on Friday, Jason Isringhausen and the Cardinals had every right to lighten the mood in the clubhouse early Saturday morning.

Isringhausen, who gave up three ninth-inning runs to absorb the loss, had a couple of boxes of turkey and duck calls delivered to the clubhouse. They were a hit with his teammates, as many of them honed their technique. It didn't sound like a typical baseball clubhouse. Russ Springer suggested the noise-makers be put to use in the dugout. Not sure the arbiters will allow it, but who knows?

Isringhausen was still bothered by his blown save, which culminated with a home run by Carlos Lee that gave Houston its margin of victory. Marty Mason, the bullpen coach, tried to lift Izzy's spirits, telling him he threw the ball well, but the Astros just hit it. It happens, it's baseball, Mason said.

Izzy has been booed often in his career. But this guy cares. After all the years, a blown save still rips out his insides. Izzy will go hunting on the off day Thursday for some R&R. He needs 11 saves to become the 22nd pitcher in history to get as many.

Troy Glaus is being booed, too, as he tries to figure out what's making his eyes water during night games at Busch Stadium. He had no further explanation about the problem Saturday morning. He's just praying for warmer temperatures and looking forward to two consecutive day games.

Here is the Cardinals' lineup for this afternoon's game against Houston:

Skip Schumaker RF
Rick Ankiel CF
Albert Pujols 1B
Chris Duncan LF
Troy Glaus 3B
Adam Kennedy 2B
Jason LaRue C
Adam Wainwright P
Brendan Ryan SS

And now, introducing the Astros:

Michael Bourn CF
Kaz Matsui 2B
Miguel Tejada SS
Lance Berkman 1B
Carlos Lee LF
Hunter Pence RF
Mark Loretta 3B
Brad Ausmus C
Roy Oswalt P