TOWER GROVE — Bruised and humbled by the surging Milwaukee Brewers, the St. Louis Cardinals welcome in their rivals comforted by what’s on the horizon. Reinforcements are coming.

During this three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals plan to welcome back starter Chris Carpenter from the disabled list — he’ll start Wednesday — and outfielder Rick Ankiel from the DL. Ankiel spent the weekend playing in extended spring training games in Jupiter, Fla. With the starting rotation wheezing and the lineup sputtering dramatically, it’s hard to pinpoint whose return will have more significance. A healthy Carpenter elevates the pitching staff and should give the Cardinals another sure-thing on a staff with few sure things so far this season. But the return of Ankiel — and in a week Ryan Ludwick — highlights one of the biggest things that has been missing from the Cardinals, this month in particular.

Runs. As in scoring them. As in producing them. As in craving them.

The only lead the Cardinals had in the three-game series against Milwaukee was, as colleague Rick Hummel said, a “mythic one”, because it was rained out on Friday. The Cardinals have lost seven of their previous nine games, and in those losses they have averaged 2.3 runs per game. Remember back in spring training when Skip Schumaker’s move to second base was a way to augment the offense — keep his bat in it, while adding another bat, like Chris Duncan’s, to it. The Cardinals knew they would be missing Troy Glaus for at least a month (ahem) and figured that offense would have to be found somewhere … somehow.

Last year’s team led the National League in batting and scored the fourth-most runs. This team figured to be deeper in offense and certainly has to be more productive than it’s been to contend. An audit of the Cardinals offense, position by position, shows how the Cardinals are struggling at certain areas to even match the offensive production of last year’s team. Several positions that were spotlighted for improvements haven’t yet been more productive. And the position that has had the most significant dropoff is a surprise.

That’s where the 10@10 begins.

1. Around the diamond, position by position, with the batting average and slugging percentage at each position from last year compared to the BA and SLG from this year at that position (some interesting numbers in bold):

• C … 2008: .281/.376 … 2009: .304/.444
• 1B … 2008: .328/.588 … 2009: .312/.638
• 2B … 2008: .312/.398 … 2009: .276/.423
• 3B … 2008: .273/.461 … 2009: .252/.370
• SS … 2008: .268/.316 … 2009: .241/.365
• LF … 2008: .267/.426 … 2009: .264/.451
• CF … 2008: .293/.490 … 2009: .221/.359
• RF … 2008: .295/.526 … 2009: .289/.483

The absence isn’t just players on the DL, though adding Ludwick back to the lineup will certainly give it a needed jolt. The absence is at third, a power position flagging in slugging percentage, and in center, where Ankiel and rookie Colby Rasmus are off last year’s production. The lack of power from third only underscores the need for it come from some other positions. Left field? Sure. Shortstop? Not yet. Elsewhere …

2. Chicago Cubs’ ace Carlos Zambrano is expected to rejoin the team in St. Louis this week to prove his hamstring is healthy enough for a start this coming weekend. Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter is set to start Wednesday and outfielder Rick Ankiel could return in the same lineup. Health is returning to a few of the NL Central teams, but already the division’s rosters are starting to give the impression that an absence will help determine the division race. That’s today’s poll question:

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3. Mizzou grad and Tribune Cubs beat writer Paul Sullivan takes a look at how tonight’s Cubs’ starter, lefty Ted Lilly, has combined all the homers he’s allowed (fourth-most) and all the walks he hasn’t (fewest per nine in NL) to be one of the more successful pitchers so far this season. … Introducing a theme that will be revisited in No. 10 of today’s 10@10, Chicago Sun-Times baseball writer Toni Ginnetti presents how the success of this year’s Cubs is rooted in a revamped minor-league system. (Heard that somewhere before?) As Ginnetti writes, a dozen Cubs currently on the roster are from within the minor-league system.

4. Something that hasn’t happened for the Cardinals in at least 54 years has already happened twice at Busch Stadium this season. Reliever Chris Perez became the first Cardinal to walk three batters and strike out three batters in the same inning since information for such a feat has been available, in 1954. But earlier this season, Pittsburgh’s Donnie Veal made his major-league debut at Busch with three walks and three strikeouts in the ining. Perez and Veal are the only major-leaguers to do it since Justin Miller did for Florida in 2007.

5. Veal also allowed a home run in his inning, giving him a Three True Outcome perfecta. If you’re not familiar with the Three True Outcome phrase in baseball, it’s a statistical tag that describes a batter whose production at the plate can be described by Three True Outcomes — either he walks, he strikes out or he hits a home run. The conceit being that the ball never gets put in play. Washington slugger Adam Dunn is held up as leader of the Three True Outcome class. In 167 plate appearances this season, he has one of the Three True Outcomes 51 percent of the time: 11 homers, 33 walks and 41 strikeouts. Because there were so many walks this weekend at Busch Stadium, we had some time to discuss if the Three True Outcome pitcher exists. For an inning, Todd Wellemeyer had the look of it. Only one of the first 15 batters Sunday hit into an out in fair territory. We decided that an HBP would count as a de facto walk for a pitcher’s TTO%, and here’s how the Cardinals pitchers line up:

• Todd Wellemeyer … 4 HR … 21 BB … 27 K … 3 HBP … 26.1 TTO%
• Joel Pineiro … 2 HR … 7 BB … 14 K … 1 HBP … 12.6 TTO%
• Kyle Lohse … 5 HR … 16 BB … 32 K … 2 HBP … 28.1 TTO%
• Adam Wainwright … 6 HR … 23 BB … 40 K … 0 HBP … 32.4 TTO%

And, for the sake of interest, one of the TTO% leaders on the Cardinals pitching staff:

• Chris Perez … 1 HR … 12 BB … 15 K … 1 HBP … 51.8 TTO%

6. Happy Anniversary Brad Thompson. Five years ago today Thompson pitched his 49th consecutive scoreless inning for Tennessee, the Cardinals’ affiliate, to set a Southern League record, and he nearly broke a 97-year-old record for scoreless innings pitched. In 1907, Irving Wilhelm pitched 59 consecutive scoreless innings, and Thompson’s overall streak, which started the seaosn before at a level lower, came four outs short of tying that record. The next year, in 2005, he made his major-league debut.

7. FARMNIK REPORT: The affiliates went 4-0 on Monday. … Brett Wallace, whose immediate future and gas-pedal promotion was the subject in Bird Land yesterday, went 3-for-6 in Triple-A Memphis’ 3-2 victory Monday. All three hits were singles, and after the 12-inning game Wallace is hitting .429. He also struck out twice for the second consecutive game. … Outfielder Jon Jay hit into a forceout and an error allowed the winning run to score in the 12th inning. Jay went 2-for-5 with two walks. … Shortstop Donovan Solano went 3-for-5. … Adam Ottavino walked six and struck out five in five scoreless innings. … Fernando Salas got the win after allowing one run in the top of the 12th. … First-rounder Pete Kozma drove in the winning run for Springfield in the bottom of the ninth. Kozma’s RBI single was the winner in a 3-2 victory against Arkansas. It was his third hit of the game, raising his Class AA average to .224. … Curt Smith, at DH, scored twice. … Relievers Tyler Norrick, Pete Parise and Francisco Samuel, who got the win, combined to throw four scoreless innings. … Righthander Brian Broderick pitched a season-high eight innings, allowing one run on four hits in Palm Beach’s 6-1 victory against Sarasota. Broderick did not walk a batter, and he struck out two. … Shane Peterson went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, a home run and three RBIs. He also struck out a couple times. … Matt Arburr who has that light-tower power that folks talk about started at DH for PB and he hit a home run. During spring training, Arburr is well known for the height and distance of his shots. … Catcher Charles Cutler went 3-for-4 and drove in a run. He is hitting .337 this season. … Scott McGregor got the victory for a 2 1/3 scoreless innings, but he was just picking off the win from piggyback partner Arquimedes Nieto. The WBC pitcher struck out six and allowed one run and three hits in five innings. Casey Mulligan struck out three in a scoreless 1 2/3 innings for his ninth save. He has 33 strikeouts against four walks in 16 2/3 innings.

8. Alas, Mark Cuban won’t bring his Twittering, trash-talking, official-bating ways to baseball. Thomas Ricketts is reportedly close to finalizing a deal to purchase the Chicago Cubs with a price tag of $900 million. (The Cardinals went for a reported $150 million back in 1995. Yeesh.) Ricketts is a corporate bond trader and the son of Ameritrade founder Joseph Ricketts. But there’s a report in this morning’s Sun-Times that Thomas Ricketts is inviting a few of the Seventh Inning-stretchers to join in his ownership bid. The celebrifans mentioned include John Cusack, Jim Belushi and Bill Murray. Say a celebrifan/celebriowner softball game were to break out, who would the Cardinals call on?

9. Suggested reading. The Post-Dispatch chimes in with some draft coverage this morning as Mr. Versatile Stu Durando – not to be confused with the sportswriter equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife, Mr. Tom Timmermann — has a feature about local prep pitcher Jacob Turner. Lots of good tidbits in Durando’s look at the perfect-frame, high-velocity prospect. That includes the nugget about how Turner, the ace for Westminster Christian Academy in suburban St. Louis, did not throw off-speed until his junior year. Many draft pundits believe Turner will be drafted in the top 10; some have him going in the top five.

10. A quick look at the two lineups used for Monday’s game has stirred debate. The Cardinals are relying — no leaning — more and more on their farm system, and Milwaukee offers an example of a team that has turned a series of high draft picks and exceptional development into a division contender. Consider, if healthy, the Brewers everyday start their first-round picks from 2002 (Prince Fielder), 2003 (Rickie Weeks) and 2005 (Ryan Braun). No other team offers as stark a comparison for the context we’ve spent the last two, three years trying to provide on how to look at the improvement in the Cardinals system. The Cardinals have ascended to the eighth-best system, according to Baseball America, as a result of their depth. And you are seeing that in play: the Cardinals see the Cubs’ 12 homegrown players mentioned above and raise them 11 rookies. Milwaukee has one of the best — arguably the best — system in baseball (see: Mat Gamel), and they rank so high because they have turned high, top-10 draft picks (which, granted, the Cardinals have not had) into elite players.

The difference is simple. One system has produced a stream of complementary players, so far. The other has provided centerpiece players.

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