TOWER GROVE — The last time Cardinals starter Mark Mulder won a game Owen Wilson was the voice of the hottest thing in animation (Lightning McQueen of Cars) and Jack Black was the wannabe tough guy, Nacho Libre. Fast-forward two shoulder surgeries and two summers, and Mulder returns to the rotation from the bullpen tonight against Philadelphia still pitching for that next victory. His is not the only role reversed.

Now Jack Black powers the punchiest animation movie around, Kung-Fu Panda, and Owen Wilson has already faded out as the wannabe tough guy, Drillbit Taylor.

Things sure have changed.

It has been nearly 25 months since Mulder last victory, and even longer than that since the last time he registered an out in the sixth inning (June 3, 2006) or had a quality start (May 22, 2006). On June 15, 2006, Mulder took the mound at PNC Park looking to end a skid of three losses. The starting lineup that night featured seven players who are no longer with the team; the first six batters, from David Eckstein through second baseman Hector Luna are now elsewhere. The lede to my game story from that night read:

PITTSBURGH — As far as omens go, the first inning was a doozy for the Cardinals. The first batter faced by beleaguered lefty Mark Mulder cracked a home run to the deepest nook of PNC Park, and that was after the Cardinals’ two-out rally in the top half ended with a bases-loaded whiff by a rookie.

The signs signaled trouble.

Signs can be so hasty.

Steeled by his first faults, Mulder was given and lost the lead twice. But he found his misplaced groove in time for the most critical three outs of his start. Chris Duncan, the rookie who ended the Cardinals’ first inning, got hits in his next three at-bats and propelled a 6-5 victory over Pittsburgh on Thursday …

“With or without Albert (Pujols), that’s a heck of a piece of work,” said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa … “Mark did a good job of not being discouraged and kept trying to work, and ultimately it worked out for him. …

As for Duncan, La Russa said: “It wasn’t just that he had the three hits. After that first at-bat, a lot of guys would be hiding.”

Mulder has started several times since then, but never for much of an appearance and not all that successfully. So, of course, he returns to the rotation tonight at Citizens Bank Park against, as Joe Strauss put it so well in this morning’s paper, “a team that eats lefthanders for lunch, in a claustrophobic place prone to giving pitchers weak knees.”

Following in the success of the interactive Two-Words exercise at STL Sports Nation, here is Interactive Bird Land (iBird?): What kind of line can be expected of Mulder? That’s the question posed to year reliable reader. Will he pitch long enough to get the win (5 innings) or only long enough to get a loss? Will he surprise … or just survive?

Pitching coach Dave Duncan said he wanted to get Mulder a start now before he got too far away from his starts in the minors. This was a conditioning concern, not a quality concern. Mulder has appeared twice in relief — his first two regular-season relief appearances of his career — but the Cardinals believe he is still in shape to handle a starter’s pitch count, or close to it.

“He’s ready to throw what is expected of a starting pitcher,” manager Tony La Russa said on Sunday. “Physically he should be able to handle that number of pitches. We’ll watch him and see how he does.”

Mulder’s rehab assignment lines have been well-chronicled here and in the paper. But for research sake, as you consider your best guess for his line, here are his recent Triple-A lines and his one Double-A line (June 14) with the new, lower arm slot:

A30 … 3 1/3 ip … 9 h … 7 r … 7 er … 1 bb … 1 k … Loss

M5 … 6 ip … 9 h … 7 r … 7 er … 2 bb … 4 k … Loss

Jn14 … 5 ip … 5 h … 0 r … 0 er … 3 bb … 0 k … Win

Jn 19 … 3 2/3 ip … 10 h … 6 r … 6 er … 2 bb … 3 K … Loss

It isn’t much to go on, and if it is it isn’t much to run with. Mulder’s is a faith-based start. Asked why they would elect to have Mulder start tonight instead of, say, Mitchell Boggs or another pitcher from Memphis’ mound, a Cardinals official responded with a question: “Do you think any of them would give us a better chance?” To answer that question, the Cardinals are siding with experience … and hope.

When predicting the line go with either of those ingredients. Go with the numbers. (Check out his last three starts in the majors, from 2007.) Go with your gut.

Best guess here:

4 1/3 ip, 7 h (three on groundballs, mind you), 4 r (one after he leaves), 4 er, 1 bb, 3 k, 1 HR.

What say you? Does Mulder kick it like Panda, or get Drilled-bit?

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