JUPITER, Fla. — The Cardinals raced the rain by rescheduling their minor league games for early Saturday morning. They had more than quick games, they made quick work of the Marlins’ affiliates and swept all five games.

Nobody worked quicker or more effectively than Mitchell Boggs. The righthander came to spring training as one of the young pitchers the organization wanted to get a look at in a big-league setting. He was also one of the first starters returned to the minor-league camp. Boggs has been a steady presence as a prospect, rising as one of the coach’s favorites. While he’s been a starter at every stop, there lingers the possibility that his future is in the major-league bullpen, as a setup righthander with a tricky slider.

He puts up numbers like Saturday’s and you see why.

A quick statistical oddity for the day: The three minor-leaguers who faced Mark Mulder early that morning in batting practice combined for six hits, two doubles and two RBIs in their games.

** Memphis 6, Albuquerque 1 **

– Boggs was the winning pitcher, going five innings and allowing two hits and no runs. He struck out seven and walked two. … Lefty reliever Ron Flores, who still could have a role with the big-league team because of the lack of depth on his side of the bullpen, pitched two scoreless innings and struck out four. … Two parts of the stockpile of closers Memphis could have this season worked the game as well: Mark Worrell allowed a run in his inning, and Jason Motte followed with a scoreless inning. He struck out two.  

– Jose Martinez had a strong offensive day and looks be positioning himself to be the Redbirds starting shortstop. A underrated prospect who is apt to get a look at second base when the Cardinals are next auditioning for the job, Martinez doubled and hit a three-run homer Saturday.

– Gabe Johnson went 2-for-3 with a double and run scored. … Reid Gorecki doubled, and Brian Barden and David Freese had the other hits for Memphis.

– Barden, the utility infielder, was outrighted off the 40-man roster this week. He cleared waivers and was assigned to Memphis on Friday.

** Springfield defeated Carolina, 5-1 **

– TCU alum and lefty Brad Furnish was the winner, working five innings, allowing four hits and one earned runs. … Reliever Matt Scherer, who is on the bus to Port St. Lucie to provide backup for this afternoon’s big-league game, pitched one perfect inning. … Nick Webber, Bob Zimmerman (2 K’s) and Luke Gregerson (2 K’s) each threw a scoreless inning. Gregerson is the other minor leaguer going up to see the Mets today.

– Third baseman Allen Craig work up before his alarm clock to spend the morning facing Mark Mulder in his first appearance against hitters. Nice warmup. By the time he was playing in a game a few hours later, his bat was perky, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI. Heck of a race between Double-A Craig and Triple-A Freese when it comes to playing time at third base in the near future with the Cardinals.

– Shane Robinson had two hits, a double and three RBIs … Casey Rowlett had two hits, a run and an RBI.

** Palm Beach defeated Jupiter, 5-3 **

– The Cardinals’ High-A affiliate trailed 3-1 in the seventh inning before tagging the Marlins’ affiliate, which shares the same regular-season stadium with the Cardinals’ team, for four runs in the bottom of the inning.

– The offense came from Daniel Descalso (another of the hitters who faced Mulder), who had two hits and an RBI. … Jon Edwards, the strapping outfielder with the plus arm, went 2-for-4 with an RBI. … Oliver Marmol – yes, the third of the hitters to start his day against Mulder — singled in his only at-bat. … Isa Garcia was 1-for-4 with three RBIs.

– Righthander Gary Daley pitched three innings, allowing one hit and one run. … Eddie Degerman, who has the unusual pie-throwing delivery, worked 1/3 inning, allowing one hit and two runs. He also walked two batters. … Armando Carrasco pitched 2 2/3 scoreless. … Elvis Hernandez was the winner in relief with a perfect inning. … Josh Dew pitched a perfect ninth, which included a strikeout.

** Quad Cities #1 defeated Greensboro, 10-1 **

– Arkansas’ own and 2007 draft pick Jess Todd was the winner with five shutout innings of one-hit ball, no walks and five strikeouts. … Andres Rosales followed with three innings, during which he allowed two hits and an unearned run. … Justin Fiske finished up with a scoreless ninth.

– Charlie Pelt went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. … Domnit Bolivar, the star of the first Vuch Report of spring, went 3-for-5 with a double and run scored. … St. Louis’ own Travis Mitchell cracked two hits. … Beau Riportella and Luis DeLaCruz each had a couple RBIs.

** Quad Cities #2 defeated Marlins’ 5th club, 5-0 **

– Deryk Hooker, again a name to keep track of this season as a fireballer who could rise into full-season ball this summer, got the win. The righthander pitched three scoreless innings, allowed two hits and struck out two against two walks. The San Diego native, whose father helped build PETCO Park, was a standout pitcher in the Gulf Coast League last season, a few months after being a seventh-round pick. Hooker struck out 47 and walked 11 in 31 innings pitched.

– Mark Diapoules also had three scoreless innings, allowing two hits, striking out four and walking one. … Jose Mateo (2 IP) and David Riddle (1 IP) finished the game.

– Matt Arburr, a familiar name to the Vuch Report this spring, was 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI. … Ryde Rodriguez, a familiar name to all the farmniks out there, hit a three-run HR.

***

This is the third spring of the Vuch Report, an exclusive feature of Bird Land. Each day John Vuch, the Cardinals director of minor league operations, harvests statistics and notes from the game reports and scorebooks of the minor-league games played on the back fields. The numbers are his, the comments are mine.

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