JUPITER, Fla. — The hot dog was essential to Monday’s endeavor. If they didn’t have a hot dog, they didn’t have a punchline. No punchline, no appeal. No appeal, no commercial. No commercial, no campaign. And on and on. It was all about the hot dog, that ballpark diva.

So it made sense today at the Cardinals training facility when, amid the forest of cameras and grips and reflector screens and ad company reps, some stepped away from Adam Wainwright and hollered:

“Do we have 10 more takes of hot dogs? Can we get more?”

No one turned to ask if Wainwright’s stomach had 10 more takes for hot dogs.

While the team was away, some of the remaining veterans got to play Hollywood for a day Monday at Roger Dean Stadium’s backlot. A camera crew and people from Waylon Advertising are in town for two days filming commercials for the coming season. The spots will feature many of the Cardinals you’d expect: Wainwright and Jason Isringhausen star in one spot; Yadier Molina filmed another today; they hope to catch Albert Pujols tomorrow; Troy Glaus and Red Schoendienst will be in one together; and Rick Ankiel.

The commercials hinge around the new slogan for the team:

Play Like a Cardinal

Ankiel’s spot is scripted for him to talk about how he’s not a pitcher, not a center fielder, not a right fielder … but a ballplayer. In Glaus’ commercial, he’ll be looking for a number to wear on his jersey with Schoendienst shaking his head at every try: “Nope, that’s retired. Nope that’s Stan’s. That’s mine.”

The commercials will be airing later this month — March 17, that’s the target — and the one featuring Wainwright and Isringhausen plays off their roles. The plan was to have Fred Bird or another Cardinal chomping on a hot dog until Isringhausen comes in to finish the hot dog off. Get it? He closes out the dog. Wainwright agreed to appear in the spot, giving it the ideal starter-closer combo. Now if only the sun would cooperate.

Clouds rolled steadily over the ball field forcing the camera crew and director to get what they could when they could with the lighting. Isringhausen and Wainwright stood dutifully, accepting pointers on (stage) blocking and drama and getting dusted with makeup when needed. Being pros — and being hams — it didn’t need the 10 takes worth of hot dogs boiled up for the shoot.

“Nothing else you care about more than eating this dog,” the director said to Wainwright, giving him his motivation for the character.

No nothing else. That’s why he gives the nub of it up reluctantly to Izzy.

That’s also why, when out of view of the camera, he spit it out. Guess he had to maintain that hunger for the hot dog the camera craved.

Method actor. Who knew? 

***

Isringhausen’s throw to batters Monday was apparently all about bat preservation. It wasn’t that the closer’s cutter was biting in on lefthanded hitters, the hitters just weren’t swinging. Isringhausen will throw one more batting practice and then probably appear in a game. He said he’s game ready, but he likes getting the work on select pitchers in the controlled environment.

Number of bats busted: Zero.

*** 

They’ve been calling him “Cap’n” ever since he hopped behind the wheel of the RV earlier this spring, so forgive Wainwright if he didn’t flinch when teammates called him “Captain” most of Sunday morning. That’s probably why it took him so long to realize someone had taped a “C” to the breast of his jersey, hockey-style.

The culprit is still at large. Russ Springer claims innocence. Joel Pineiro is suspected.

All through chapel, players called him “Captain” this, “Captain” that. Wainwright said it started with the voyage to Daytona but has evolved into a crack at the press coverage of his as the opening day starter (still official, naturally) and budding ace of the staff. But it also offers a doorway to a larger question asked of the manager every so often — do the Cardinals need a captain?

Tony La Russa has his “leadership council”, which is made up of his “core” players and a few veterans. Isringhausen, Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Chris Carpenter (arguably, the “C” if there were a “C” in this clubhouse) and a few others make up the group that La Russa uses to set policies and practices and also get a pulse of the clubhouse. He calls on veterans to lead by example. For example, Pujols pulling aside a player recently to tell him he needs to perk up in even the mundane workouts.

Hockey obviously has its long-standing history of dubbing captains (welcome to the club, Eric Brewer) and football has its new patch for captains (which really should just be a “Q” because how many “QBs” had one?).

Baseball is more hit or miss, franchise by franchise, era by era. The Yankees have their royalty of captains, most recently passed from Don Mattingly to Derek Jeter. The Red Sox anointed Jason Varitek with a stitched “C” a few years back. Should others follow suit? Would it serve more purpose than photo-op or p.r.?

*** 

Colby Rasmus and Mark Johnson are the only candidates still alive in Cardinals Survivor, as it’s been nicknamed. Entering play today, four Cardinals had played in every game — Rasmus, Johnson, Joe Mather (the leader with 10 PA) and Josh Phelps. Mather and Phelps are not on the trip to Viera, leaving only Rasmus and Johnson as having a chance to keep their streaks going.

***

Albert Pujols took a .571 average and a 1.286 slugging percentage into this afternoon’s game against the Nationals. The slugging percentage ranks second in the Grapefruit League behind New York Yankees’ Jason Lane (1.600). 

***

The 10 players reassigned officially today to the minor-league camp include a handful of pitchers who will be returning to the majors sometime this spring to handle a few 1 o’clock innings. For example: RHP Mitchell Boggs and RHP P.J. Walters, who moved their stuff to the minor-league clubhouse on Sunday evening, went north with the team to Viera, Fla., this morning as arms available against Washington.

***

Thanks to the resourceful John Hadley, I scored a copy of the newest Baseball Prospectus tome. This year’s is a heck of a paperweight, worth its weight in more paper, as usual. The Cardinals section has its surprises — a 4.56 ERA predicted for Wainwright; 30 homers expected from Rick Ankiel – and it has this pointed (and familiar) conclusion on the state of the organization:

All of that adds up to a weird sort of ballclub. The Cardinals are closer to rebuilding than contending, but in a way they’re not doing either. … The new house of Cards (can) be placed on a foundation of Pujols, Rasmus, Ankiel and Wainwright. That’s something less than what they had before, but for a team that was supposed to have little going for it in player development, it would make for a remarkable turnaround.

The book is also high on Jarrett Hoffpauir’s bat and Yadier Molina’s defense — “should have three Gold Glove awards, and he’s still waiting for his first” — and everything Anthony Reyes. Overall good reading. Good way to spur discussions.

***

One element of the annual BP book is its comparisons. So here’s a question to test Cardinals Nation’s depth of knowledge on its players: Chris Duncan is compared to Ryan Klesko, Carlos Pena, David Ortiz and Boog Powell, but only one Cardinals player is nicknamed after Powell and has “Boog” stitched on his glove. Who is it? Anyone know why?

-30-