DOWNTOWN — St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright spent much of his early major-league career studying and mimicking the ace of the Cardinals staff, Chris Carpenter. Beyond just watching how he pitched and what he did to bedevil hitters, Wainwright even wanted to borrow Carpenter’s mannerisms.

It’s no wonder he remembers vividly the last time he saw Carpenter start. It was at Wrigley Field, against the Chicago Cubs, and Carpenter wasn’t feeling right. Something was up in his shoulder.

But he kept pitching.

“His last pitch was 95 mph with sink and he was hurt,” Wainwright said. “He’s healthy. So I look forward to seeing that.”

So do the Cardinals. And that’s where the 10@10 begins:

1. Manager Tony La Russa joked during spring training that he “crosses everything, even things that shouldn’t be crossed” every time Carpenter pitches. It’s a fair question on when — or even if — the Cardinals can exhale about their highest-paid but injury-prone ace. Some are unsure if they ever can, saying that every 12 pitches or two starts from Carpenter should be viewed as 12 pitches and two starts you didn’t count on from Carpenter. Others don’t see it as exhaling at all, or wondering if this is the pitch that leads him back to the DL. “I don’t think it’s apprehension,” pitching coach Dave Duncan said. “I think it’s recognizing what he’s gone through and trying to use common sense as to how to give him his best chance to pitch the entire season and stay healthy.”
2. Lost in the dinks and dribbles and bloopers and record-setting seven assists of last evening, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols had the 700th walk of his career. Only four other Cardinals have 700 walks in their careers with the team: Stan Musial (1,599), Ozzie Smith (876), Enos Slaughter (838) and Ray Lankford (780). Pujols is the 24th active player with at least 700.
3. The Pittsburgh Pirates enter today’s game with a chance to win a four-game season series against the Cardinals and finish the first series of the season no worse that tied for the lead in the division. Begs the question: Who is going to finish last in this NL Central? If we call all agree that the returning favorite Chicago Cubs won’t, that leaves five teams, a few of whom took significant strides backward this offseason. Who ya got? 

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4. David Freese joined the crowd with his first major-league base hit last night, a busted bat humdinger that didn’t leave the infield. He is the second Cardinal in three games to get his first major-league hit, as Colby Rasmus did it the night before. But he may not be the last. Other Cardinals currently on the roster (or could be soon) that have yet to get a base hit in the majors: Josh Kinney, Jason Motte, Kyle McClellan and Chris Perez. (Trever Miller has one.)
5. The Cardinals top four minor-league affiliates open play today, with Mitchell Boggs starting for Class AAA Memphis. The club will go with piggyback rotations at both Class A clubs, High-A Palm Beach and Low-A Quad Cities. A piggyback rotation is where two starters are assigned to the same day and essentially split the innings. The new twist this year is a 10-man rotation in Quad Cities. There will be only three true relievers on the staff, and five sets of two starters will turn like a regular five-man rotation. Save: On the day the two starters would be scheduled to throw their between-starts bullpen session they will be “live” as relievers for that game.
6. All things remaining the same, it’s fairly clear who is going to be the Cardinals top prospect entering the season next year (3B Brett Wallace) and even who is the likely No. 2 (OF Daryl Jones), but here are some sleeper picks (can Curt Smith still be one?) who could end the year on the prospect radar: LHP Sam Freeman in High-A, RHP David Kopp in High-A, OF Adron Chambers in High-A, C/3B Tony Cruz in Class AA and OF Jon Edwards in Low-A.
7. The Pirates keystone combination is cranking. Infielders Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson are batting .571 and .462, respectively. Combined they have driven in eight runs already in this series.
8. Joe Thurston further explained his decision to race for third in the ninth inning Wednesday night: He said he’s always been taught to know how many bases you can get and look for the extra one. He knew he had a double so “out of the box I’m looking for a triple.” What La Russa stresses, however, is to play the scoreboard. Thurston was thinking triple, not thinking still down by three runs. Thurston’s wasn’t closer to winning the game at third than he would have been at second base. The infielder, who is starting at third today, said the only good play is a play where he is standing up. In that situation, any slide into a base a bad decision, even if he’s safe. As the manager said: “He could have been standing at first and that still would have been a good play.”
9. For those keeping count, lefty reliever Brian Fuentes now has as many blown saves as the Cardinals de facto closer Jason Motte. Fuentes botched the ninth inning for the Angels on Wednesday.
10. More than 3,500 people voted in the poll in the first 10@10 and overwhelmingly the readers sided with giving Motte the ball back for a ninth inning, should a save opportunity present itself today, for example. That leaves only one question yet to be answered about the Cardinals and their rookie closer. What song should blare at an ear-bleeding volume when he charges from the bullpen as if being chased by an actual bull … ? I’m thinking something by Rob Zombie.

Ah, noon games after late-night games. Racing to avoid that 10@11 time stamp.

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