(UPDATED) JUPITER, Fla. — It’s a small complex and with as much as these two teams play each other every spring, there aren’t too many secrets between the Florida Marlins and the Cardinals. Word gets around and stays around.

Take Skip Schumaker, for example.

The other day in the Florida Marlins’ clubhouse, I was talking with John Gall and he asked about Schumaker’s chances. Gall brings a been-there, missed-that familiarity to the question after twice being the club’s organization player of the year and once being trumped by Schumaker for a spot on the opening day roster. Gall said Schumaker is a topic even on Florida’s side of Roger Dean Stadium. Grapefruit League numbers may not matter, but guys who put them up aren’t forgotten. 

“Oh yeah,” Gall said. “We all know the guys who have big springs around here. The pitchers talk about it. Skip is that guy.”

Has been that guy the past three springs, and certainly past two days.

Following up Wednesday’s night game when his two-run triple broke a 3-3 tie — a hit, Schumaker said later, that allowed him to sleep better that night — Schumaker had hits in his first three at-bats of Thursday’s game. He roped two singles up the middle off a lefthanded pitcher and blasted the first home run of a back-to-back-to-back triple jack by him, rising-stock outfielder Joe Mather and Albert Pujols. He has the tie-breaking hit in consecutive games.

“Three hits,” manager Tony La Russa said. “Clutch hits. Two off the lefthander.”

Schumaker, the first hitter to bat leadoff in consecutive games this spring, also scored three runs.

His 3-for-4 afternoon swept his batting average to .444 for the spring, right in line with the Schumaker the Marlins’ pitchers chat about.  Schumaker has scored at least 10 runs in each of the past two springs, and in three consecutive springs he’s hit better than .280. He hit .348 in 2005, .281 in 2006 (though offset that with a series of brilliant defensive plays that helped put him on the team) and then hit Spring Yahtzee in 2007 — .388 average, .455 on-base percentage and .551 slugging.

His spring spikes coincide with when he started doing the workouts with the L.A. County SWAT member in the offseason.  

Late in Thursday’s game, La Russa told Mather to shift to first base and Colby Rasmus to head out to center field. Schumaker figured with Rasmus going in, he was coming out and stayed in the dugout. For a minute, they Cardinals were without a left fielder until La Russa figured out where the communication short-circuited and sent Schumaker out.

Sheer brilliance. Play the hot hand.

That same inning, Schumaker threw a bullet that pegged a runner at the plate.

***

Apparently, Scott Rolen left the Cardinals too soon. Might have reconsidered his trade demands if he saw what was coming his way.

***

In his spring debut, Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen needed nine pitches to get three outs and keep Thursday’s game tied 2-2. Isringhausen didn’t throw any of his split-finger fastballs, staying with a vicious cutter and his curve to rifle through his one inning of work. Isringhausen will throw again during one of the games against Atlanta coming up in Orlando, Fla. From there, pitching coach Dave Duncan said, there’s a good chance “his schedule will look a lot like our home schedule.” 

***

With Tyler Johnson to start the season on the DL, Ron Villone is all but a certainty to make the team.

***

Ryan Ludwick said he was fine after getting whacked in the helmet by a pitch late in Wednesday’s afternoon game. He did not wake up with a headache and had no concerns of a concussion or lingering cobwebs.

*** 

Jason LaRue threw out three runners in Wednesday’s night game, including Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez. The throws were not only swift, but accurate and made all the more speedy by LaRue’s quick transfer and release. That is what a few of the Cardinals’ pitching coaches noticed when watching the game from the stands. The Cardinals keep a stopwatch on the catchers and their throws to second base — a way to know if the catcher helps compensate for the pitcher’s pace to the plate. Improving the arm of the backup was a priority for the Cardinals after Gary Bennett, who late last season had real difficulty throwing.

LaRue is at least a plus there.

“Those were hellacious pegs,” La Russa said. “It’s not just the strength of his arm and his accuracy, it’s the quickness of his release. It’s less than 2.0 (seconds). That’s Yadi territory.”

***

Josh Kinney, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery and an elbow fracture that set him back several weeks, is considered a week behind Mark Mulder in his throwing program. Mulder is expected to be a “baseball decision” before the team leaves Florida, meaning it will be up to the baseball side of the hallway to determine how ready he is to compete in a game — if he’ll be sent off on a rehab assignment or given a few extended spring training starts. Kinney would be treated to the same evaluation about a week later.

*** 

The Cardinals assigned catchers Gabe Johnson and Bryan Anderson to the minor-league camp on Thursday morning. That makes the second wave of cuts a total of six players, and there will be additional cuts coming early next week. The Cardinals need to get their workouts to a manageable size.

***

Johnson has always been an interesting fixture here at spring training. Rick Ankiel joked at Winter Warm-up that the only guy around the club anymore who had been to as many spring trainings as him was … Gabe Johnson. He has been the definition of a good soldier for the organization. He’s a catcher, reporting early to spring, but also has played other positions trying to climb the ladder. Yet, he’s never had an at-bat at a level higher than Class AA and had one season where he hit better than .260.

He’s made quite a career out of being a bench player in minor-leagues and always available as a catcher in spring training. His pro-ball career is entering its 10th season.

After trying his chances with another organization last season (Detroit, probably not coincidentally), Johnson was out of baseball in 2007. This past winter, Johnson, 28, joined a few other Cardinals in their workouts with Mark McGwire.

“Intriguing talent because he’s a good athlete,” manager Tony La Russa said, praising the yeoman. “When it clicks, he can hit the ball with authority. He has had a little trouble putting it all together. When it clicks in he’s got real ability.” 

***

Minor-league workouts begin in earnest today with pitchers and catchers going this morning, and the position players will take the field this afternoon after they complete the physicals. The first full-squad minor-league workouts are Friday. There are plenty of players worth checking out on the backfields (Pete Kozma, anyone?), and one pitch I’m eager to see throw in a game.

His name is Joe Rogers. He has a knuckleball.

***

Minor-league games begin in a week, and the Vuch Report will return.

***

Reader Kurt Hunzeker continues his design frenzy with the latest spring slogan t-shirt. This one is based on a malaprop used by one of the Cardinals earlier this season when describing his chances of making the team. The numbers you see in the clouds are the distances — home-run style — it would take to, say, hit a ball that far.

*** 

ESPN’s Buster Olney tops his blog today by extolling the virtues of Daric Barton, professional hitter. Sent to Oakland in the trade that brought the Cardinals’ Mark Mulder, Barton — Colby Rasmus without a position before Colby Rasmus was Colby Rasmus with a position — is set to be the A’s starting first baseman. In Olney’s intro, Barton (specifically, his ability to hit) is compared to Mark Grace, Lance Berkman, Joe Mauer and Prince Fielder by scouts and other sources. 

-30-