TOWER GROVE — In a city that can treat baseball like college football — right down to the raucous, hearty and wonderful tailgates that surround Busch Stadium — no wonder there’s such agonizing this morning. One loss means already means no BCS bowl for the St. Louis Cardinals this season.

But this was more than one loss. It was deja vu.

There are 161 more games to go and a loss in Game 1 does not a season ruin, but there were so many culprits from last year’s fourth-place finish that showed up again on Monday that it’s impossible to ignore. Two blown saves. Ten men left on base. Four base hits and an error needed to produce two runs in the third inning. No knockout blow. A lefty reliever stuck with a blown save. And so on.

As the regular season gets going here and the Post-Dispatch’s ever-expanding online coverage of the Cardinals grows stronger with the muscle of Cardinal Beat, thought it was time to try something new here at Bird Land, too. Inspired by Bernie Miklasz’s “5 Minutes” and borrowing from the newsletter’s day planner, here is the 10@10. Each weekday when there’s a game, in the 10 o’clock hour I’ll try to bridge the gap from the day before to the game ahead with tidbits, anecdotes, stats links. Ten things. Anything goes.

So, here goes:

1. The headline, of course, is Jason Motte’s troubled first appearance as the Cardinals’ unnamed but de facto closer. What stood out was Adam LaRoche’s comments after the game. (You can read them here.) He said Motte is going to have to find a second pitch to get three outs in a major-league game. Motte spent all of spring training showing that he had command of an effective slider, and two of the outs he got last night were on the slider or setup by the slider. He just didn’t throw it often. According to MLB.com’s pitch-tracking system, of Motte’s 29 pitches, 23 were 95 mph or more. Twenty-one were 96 mph or better. LaRoche saw three pitches. They were 97, 98 and 97. It was clear the Pirates were timing Motte. Others will, too.

2. What should the Cardinals do with the ninth?

   • Sheesh, give the ball back to Motte.
   • Continue with Closer by Committee plan.
   • Pick another option from the bullpen.
   • Promote Chris Perez, pronto.
   • The answer isn’t in the organization.
   • Petition for games to be shortened to 8 inning.

   View Results

    Loading …
3. The Cardinals, as you’ve no doubt heard, had 31 blown saves last season to lead the National League. They have retaken the lead with two already this season. The Cardinals first blown save of last summer came on Opening Day. The second one? Not until the 12th game of the season, in a victory against San Francisco.
4. Check out the new look of the ever resourceful Baseball-Reference.com.
5. David Freese made his major-league debut in the 7th inning of yesterday’s game. Freese is a native, and a graduate of Lafayette High. It is the second consecutive Opening Day that the Cardinals have had a St. Louisan make his major-league debut. Hazelwood West’s Kyle McClellan did a year ago.
6. With his single in the third inning Monday, outfielder Ryan Ludwick extended his hitting streak to 12 games. Hitting streaks are technically tracked from one season to the next, though franchise and league records make a distinction between hitting streaks within one season and hitting streaks that bridge two seasons. Ludwick also hit the go-ahead home run last night, and manager Tony La Russa has an interesting choice facing him tonight: Ludwick is 1-for-11 with six strikeouts and no walks against Pittsburgh’s scheduled starter, Ian Snell. That could be the opening for Colby Rasmus to make his major-league debut.
7. Certain to appear in the starting lineup tonight is Skip Schumaker at second base. Schumaker is 10-for-22 with one strikeout against Snell, and he has a hitting line of .455/.478/.545. Two others who hit Snell particularly well: Albert Pujols, 14-for-33, with four home runs and three strikeouts, .424/.513/.848; and Yadier Molina, 9-for-23, with a line of .391/.517/.609.
8. Got a question about this on the Twitter feed (dgoold). In yesterday’s edition of USA Today, the paper had its annual and helpful audit of all of the major-league opening day payrolls. The study points out that about half of the teams had a drop in payroll from 2008 to 2009, and that Cardinals are clearly in that camp. Just not to the extent that USA Today details. The total payroll for the Cardinals, according to USA Today’s report, is  $77.6 million. Colleague Joe Strauss was able to do some detective work and discover by that report’s total is so different than the low-$90-million payroll he calculated (correctly) a few weeks ago. USA Today has a missing digit: A “1″. They have Troy Glaus’ salary listed as $1.213 million. The missing one goes at the front — $11.2 million. Throw in Adam Kennedy’s salary and there’s the difference.
9. There is no official estimate of batting-practice home runs, but using the grids put together by John Vuch and Sig Mejdal for Busch Stadium, is possible to come up with a rough guess on how far Albert Pujols’ home run went Sunday. (That homer was described in the previous Bird Land.) The estimate: 475 feet to 485 feet. If it had been in a game, that would be the longest home run hit by a Cardinal at Busch III — by more than 30 feet. Quick note: Pujols fungo’d a ball about as far last year at the ballpark.
10. The highlight of Opening Day, no doubt: Stan Musial’s appearance. With the All-Star Game coming to St. Louis this summer and Musial being an all-star All-Star, how would you like to see Major League Baseball and the Cardinals honor The Man at the Midsummer Classic?

And there you have it. The first 10@10. Comments welcome. We’ll see how it works.

I can start by getting it posted closer to, um, you know … 10.

-30-