SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Manager Brian Poldberg and his Northwest Arkansas Naturals came to Hammons Field this week in the midst of a title race, a three-way joust for a Texas League first-half division title. What he saw across the way for a doubleheader Saturday was the team the Naturals were chasing and its two starters.

Both major-league pitchers.

“It just happens,” Poldberg said the visitor’s clubhouse at Hammons Field before losing both games in the doubleheader. “That’s why the minor leagues are here, for the major leagues.”

Springfield became the way station this past week for the Cardinals’ recovering pitchers. Three games in four nights were started by pitchers throwing their back to the majors, and the S-Cards won all three, vaulting to a 35-32 record and a one-game lead in the Texas League’s North Division entering play Sunday. (The lead, over the Arkansas Travelers, can be traced to the game against the A-Travs started by Jason Isringhausen – and finished by Jess Todd.)

Mulder and Clement got the wins in their starts.

The two pitchers coming back from extensive shoulder surgeries went five innings. They both had four shutout innings; Mulder threw five. They both allowed five hits. They both struck out three and didn’t walk a batter. And yet, their starts were quite different.

Similar results. Disparate routes.

Mulder was impressive, which he has been in some rehab starts before, and displayed not only a new delivery but renewed and unexpected velocity. Clement pitched like a starter making his third rehab start — his tide of adrenaline subsiding and now entering hard chore of grinding through the needed innings. Clement allowed three runs, all earned, and all in the fourth inning. His velocity hit 85 mph, but hovered mostly in the 83-84 range.

Nine of the balls put in play were in the air and seven on the ground.

“I wouldn’t call it a spectacular outing by any means,” Clement said. ”I wouldn’t call it a terrible outing. I felt fine. I didn’t feel great, but I didn’t hurt. I take it as hopefully part of the process. You get those first couple and you have that adrenaline going. Now you’re in the spring training mode where you have to fight a little bit more to get through other outings.”

Clement is mentioned in this morning’s paper as a possible candidate for an imminent start in the majors. Clement threw like he’s going to need the full 30 days allowed for his rehab assignment, and he’s appeared comfortable with that. Mulder did not. He did not throw like it, and he didn’t sound like it afteward. We’ve seen and heard it before and, as one baseball scout said after Mulder’s start, it’s always better to wait and see until he’s made a few successful starts in the majors.

Still, consider this: In the last start of his halted rehab assignment Mulder hit 89 mph twice, and that was it. That was as fast as he got.

On Saturday, 40 of his 73 pitches were at least 90 mph.

He’ll have to do it again in his next start to confirm that his new, freer, easier delivery will consistently fire at that velocity with the same natural sink he showed regularly at 91 mph on Saturday. Take a look at the breakdown of his innings:

SECOND INNING

RH Batter — 89 ball. 91 sink ball low. 90 sink called K. 90 fouled. 90 6-3.

RH Batter — 90 sinker called K. 88 straying cutter, away. 87 tries the cutter again, gets better grip and shatters the bat for 6-3.

RH Batter — 91 sinker called K. 83 ball changeup. 84 ball changeup. 91 fouled back. 71 curveball 6-3.

THIRD INNING

RH Batter — 91 ball inside. 88 cutter 5-3.

RH Batter — 91 sinker low. 91 called K. 87 cutter in. 91 sink fouled. Hung the curve but gets the hitter to pop up, F7.

RH Batter — 91 sinker smoked to mound off Mulder’s glove. Could have had an eight-pitch inning, but instead it’s an infield single.

RH Batter — 90 low. 90 called K. 90 outside. 91 ball up. 90 groundball single threw whole for a single, but 7-2 gets runner at plate.

FOURTH INNING 

RH Batter — 89 called K. 90 fouled off. 86 splitter sails away. 87 splitter sails wide. (Baseball Lingo lesson: Mulder called them “zoom balls”.) 75 curve for a L6.

LH Batter — 90 fouled off. Curve ball chopped for 3u.

RH Batter — 84 changeup up. 83 fouled off, broken bat. 91 sink fouled. 90 sink fouled. 73 curve ball. 74 curve fouled. 91 ball. 90 fouled straight back. 83 changeup away. K swinging.

In his fourth inning, Clement began shaking his arm in such a way that manager Pop Warner and the trainer approached the mound to make sure he was OK. Clement said later he was, and that he didn’t have the tell-tale control troubles that usual come with arm fatigue. It was his third rehab start and the second time in his assignment that he’s started after the usual four days of rest. He hit two batters, but didn’t walk anyone and after tumbling into trouble in the fourth he came out for the fifth inning.

He finished off  his 74-pitch outing with a perfect inning.

Like Mulder before him, Clement will make the trek to St. Louis to be at Busch Stadium today. Both pitchers expect to throw their between-start sides for the major-league coaches  — and then head out again to some affiliate for another rehab start.

“I don’t want to take too much out of anything really,” Clement said. “I don’t want to get too analytical about each and everything. … There’s a reason why this process lasts as long as it does.”

***

The reporting for this blog and some of the early writing were done in Springfield, Mo. The blog was completed this morning in St. Louis. Happy Father’s Day to all. It has become my new favorite holiday, and I was honored the Post-Dispatch asked me to be a part of this package of letters.

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