DISNEY WORLD — If only he had been as aggressive in the first inning Monday as he was in the four innings that followed and in the post-game with the media, Adam Wainwright might really have had himself a dandy start against Atlanta.

It was Dave Duncan that spurred him to perk up in the game.

It was a question about Duncan’s rotation that stirred him after the game.

One of the things manager Tony La Russa and Duncan have discussed often this spring is the need to stay in contention, just tread there in the standings, until getting pitchers Mark Mulder and Chris Carpenter – preferably in that order — back during the season. Their idea is that if the current group of pitchers can hold fast and keep the Cardinals in contention, the addition of the frontline starters would propel them ahead.

And thus, a reporter asked Wainwright about “holding on” until the returns.

Wainwright, the ace while those two mend, sees it differently. Adamantly so.

“That’s selling ourselves way short,” he said after his third start of spring. “I don’t think the goal should be to hold on until they get here. What does that say about ourselves if that’s the case? The goal should be for us to out there and dominate so that when they do back, Dunc and Tony look at the five guys and say, What are we going to do?”

After a unsteady first inning, during which his delivery was sluggish, Wainwright awoke and cruised to five innings Monday. Targeting 70 pitches for the day, he finished the fifth with eight pitches to give. He struck out one, walked three and allowed four hits.

Both of the Braves runs came in the first inning, off three hits and four baserunners.

“He came out with a slow tempo,” catcher Yadier Molina said. “From there, after the first inning, he was more aggressive. He made the adjustment you like to see.” 

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Brian Barton had all three of the Cardinals’ RBIs on the trip to Walt Disney World. And this was a trip where the team took all of its healthy everyday position players and got 19 total at-bats from Albert Pujols, Troy Glaus and Rick Ankiel.

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Two of the Cardinals “Young Gun” relievers pitched the final innings of the loss to Atlanta on Monday, and both delighted the radar gun they keep here at Disney’s Champion Stadium. Jason Motte threw regularly at 95 mph, firing a breaking ball that whipped in at 87 mph. Chris Perez was wild, especially with his slider, though he touched 96 mph and threw regularly at 94 mph. A 2-2 slider that broke toward the hitters ankles buzzed at 87 mph. (His curve has been his better breaking pitch this spring.)

Both batters faced former All-Star Javy Lopez with varying results. Lopez crushed a pitch from Perez for a solo home run. Motte tested him with a 95-mph fastball, an 87-mph slider and then lost him on a fastball for for ball four.

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Motte and Perez remain in camp and are on the fringes of an interesting jostle for spots in the bullpen. There could be as many as two spots open for righthanded relievers after the starting rotation is filled. And the mix of relievers in the pool for those jobs are varied. I asked La Russa this morning if in filling out the bullpen they may look at the style of the pitcher, particularly one that gives a different look.

“It’s effectiveness. Whatever you do, you have to be effective with it,” La Russa said. “It’s nice to have styles that contrast. If everybody has a hard slider … “

After the ‘Pen Trinity of Jason Isringhausen, Ryan Franklin and Russ Springer, there are a few styles to choose from:

• Motte: High-90s fastball. Ultra-aggressive with strikes. Working on a cutter.

• Perez: High-90s fastball. Wild. Two swing-and-miss breaking balls.

• Hugo Castellanos: Almost submariner. Way different look for righties.

• Kelvin Jimenez: Experience. Throws strikes. Sharp slider.

• Cliff Politte: Experience, too. Has served variety of roles. Good changeup.

• Mike Parisi: Dandy breaking ball. Can handle innings, learn on the job.

• Kyle McClellan: Four pitches, hard to square. Fit for Wainwright-like apprentice?

• Mark Worrell: Funky delivery that adds to quality stuff; throws strikes. 

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Juan Gonzalez played the entire game in right field. Had no trouble tracking down balls and La Russa thought he made good breaks on the fly balls. La Russa said he’ll get out there again, but stressed that innings are limited when it comes to the raging outfield competition.

“We’ll get him ou there as much as we can,” the manager said, “but there’s other guys competing so it’s not like it’s all about Juan. He played 8 1/2 innings so that’s good.”

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Matt Clement threw 30 pitches in a live batting practice session Monday morning at the Cardinals’ complex in Jupiter, Fla. According to minor-league pitching coordinator Dyar Miller, who oversaw the outing, Clement threw both fastballs and sliders. And this is what he said to reporters in Jupiter:

“The one thing I’m trying not to do right now is worry about velocity. If I get my body in the right position, the velocity is going to come. It’s something Carp’s been preaching to me since I’ve been throwing off the mound and as someone who has experience coming back from shoulder injury, so I’d be crazy not to listen to him because he didn’t only come back, but he came back and became one of the best pitchers in baseball.”

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Today’s baseball lingo lesson comes from Rick Ankiel who was concerned during Sunday’s game that closer Jason Isringhausen would be irked that he didn’t get a “courtesy jog.” When Scott Thorman mashed a three-run home run off Isringhausen, right fielder Ankiel didn’t flinch. He just turned and watched it sail deep over the right-field wall. Ankiel wanted to make sure the closer was cool with that reaction.

Isringhausen said it was fine, and on Monday reliever Ryan Franklin also he didn’t care for the “courtesy jog.”

COURTESY JOG (n.) — The chase outfielders give for an obvious home run. Sometimes it can take the outfielders to the wall and it may include a quick wave with the glove, but the outfielder does so knowing there’s little chance the ball will be caught.

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Rookie pitcher Jair Jurrjens, the prize the Braves landed from Detroit in the Edgar Renteria deal, threw four shutout innings against the Cardinals on Monday. This spring, the righthander has nine innings, during which he allowed one run on four hits and he’s struck out four. 

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Pitching Anthony Reyes (flu) returned the facility in Jupiter saying he felt much better. The Cardinals said Monday morning here that Reyes did not have a dehydrating illness and they think he’ll be able to make his next scheduled start, on Friday. … Outfielder Chris Duncan worked out back in Jupiter as well because the team did not want to aggravate his back sprain by riding in a bus for several hours. He expects and is expected to rejoin the lineup Tuesday.

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Always good to discuss baseball topics and rankings when sitting next to HOFer Rick Hummel, and here were the questions that I wondered about Monday during the Braves-Cardinals game:

• If in the National League Central, where would the Tampa Bay Rays rank?
• The five best defensive third basemen in the post-Mike Schmidt era?

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COMMERCIAL DISTRICT

An email from Disney arrived in the inbox this morning, featuring photos of Albert Pujols’ visit to Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom this past weekend. The photos are courtesy Betsy Miratsky and were taken by Todd Anderson, both with Disney. Both pictures are from the “Magic Carpets of Alladin” ride, and the first features Pujols, his wife Dee Dee Pujols and daughter Sophia.

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ESPN’s Jayson Stark is the latest to pluck the feathers of a few former ‘Birds, and in doing so offers up this morsel of trivia:

(Scott Rolen and David Eckstein are) about to become the first two infielders to transplant themselves into some other team’s infield, within two years of starting at least 80 games for a World Series champion, since Bill White and Dick Groat went from the Cardinals to the Phillies in 1966.

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Oh, and speaking of Pujols: La Russa caused a minor tremor in the St. Louis area Sunday morning when he posted the lineup card in the Cardinals clubhouse. There in La Russa’s distinctive handwriting, beside the name “Pujols” was this position:

3B

When the typo — printo? — wasn’t pointed out to bench coach Joe Pettini, he quickly took the lineup down and walked it back into La Russa’s office for a correction.

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