SOUTH GRAND — The St. Louis Cardinals plan to get their starting center fielder back as soon as tonight, but that will force them to confront a looming decision about what to do with their … starting center fielder.

In Rick Ankiel’s absence to recover from his frightening crash into the outfield wall, rookie Colby Rasmus has started every game in center field. It is the position he’s earmarked to take, eventually, even as Ankiel’s replacement. Ankiel’s turn on the DL gave Rasmus an opportunity, and it gave the Cardinals a prelude. This season manager Tony La Russa has sided with incumbency as the rule when deciding who plays center field. Rasmus is the more natural center fielder, but Ankiel is the more experienced center fielder — at the major-league level. Ankiel is the emerging slugger who popped 25 home runs last season and has 68 home runs in his previous 269 games, including 32 in 102 games at Class AAA. Rasmus is the emerging star, who has found his groove with the consistent playing and is now providing a power spark that has been missing for the Cardinals lineup.

It’s the Rasmus Razor. Do the Cardinals find a way to keep Rasmus’ glove and bat in the lineup at the position he’ll ultimately own? Can he continue his recent progress and production with reduced playing time? Or does Ankiel — who did play in a corner position last year to ease his return from injury — slide back into center? That’s the position he identifies with most, where his arm is an asset, and where he’s had his share of highlights.

There’s certainly room in the outfield for both of them, now and later. It’s just how they’re positioned. Seems like a good place to start the 10@10.

1. Rasmus’ last three hits, including his two-run shot Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs, have all been two-run home runs. Throw in the rained-out homer — which doesn’t count in the stats, but like Skip Schumaker’s diving catch a year ago still happened — and Rasmus has four home runs in his past 18 at-bats. (Officially, it’s three in 17.) The power surge, while not accompanied by a similar rise in his average (he’s hitting .239 this month), does reflect a growing comfort at the plate for the rookie. Rasmus did not have a home run in April, and in his first 99 plate appearances he hit .256 with six extra-base hits (one homer), nine walks and 19 strikeouts. In his 26 plate appearances since, he’s batting just .227 but has three homers and two walks against three strikeouts. La Russa is hyper-aware of any of his players thinking home run, swinging home run, talking home run. And Rasmus is careful to say that when he’s hitting home runs that just means he’s hitting well. “Get a good pitch to hit,” Rasmus said, “and swing as hard as I can.”

2. All of that leads to a rather obvious poll, with a less obvious answer:

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3. A confluence of winning histories could return to the Cardinals lineup tonight. Ankiel, as mentioned above, will be back, and the Cardinals are giddy with the return of former Cy Young award winner Chris Carpenter. The two players share a common distinction when it comes to the team record with them around — they have historically made the winning percentage better. The Cardinals are 105-86 (.550) with Ankiel in the outfield, the best winning percentage of any player who has appeared in 150 or more games since Ankiel “retired” as a pitcher and tried this whole hitting n’ catching the ball thingy. The Cardinals are 70-30 in games with Carpenter for a .700 winning percentage. That is the best of any player on the roster, regardless of games played and edging reliever Ryan Franklin (110-49, .692).

4. Joel Pineiro had impeccable timing for what was arguably the best start of his career, and what was certainly the best start of his career as a Cardinal. Backed by superb defense, Pineiro needed just 92 pitches to get through the fourth shutout of his career. It is the fewest pitches in a complete game this season. Pineiro’s gem halted, for the evening, the Cardinals longest skid of the season and it gave the bullpen a night off on the eve of Chris Carpenter’s return. At ESPN.com, they “score” starts and keep tracking of the highest scoring starts of the season. Back in 2005, Carpenter “scored” a 94 with one of the finest games of his career — a shutout of his former team, Toronto, that included one hit allowed and 10 strikeouts. Pineiro’s scored an 86, the third highest of the season so far in the National League … and the first not thrown against the Pittsburgh Pirates:

Aaron Harang, Cin … vs. PIT … CG/SHO … 9.0 … 3 H … 0 BB … 9 K … Score: 90

Yovani Gallardo, Mil … vs. PIT … CG/SHO … 9.0 … 2 H … 1 BB … 10 K … Score: 88

Joel Pineiro, Stl … vs. CHN … CG/SHO … 9.0 … 3 H … 0 BB … 5 K … Score: 86

5. Albert Pujols next two-hit game will be the 463rd of his career, the second-most of any active player since 2001, trailing only Ichiro Suzuki’s 564. But here’s the .330-average question: When is it OK to wonder if Pujols is slumping? Too often the Cardinals first baseman gets questions about his average and his dropping performance when he’s, oh, just hitting .300. So, some sense of realism is necessary. Yet, Pujols went 1-for-4 against the Cubs on Tuesday, doubling in his final at-bat. Pujols is hitting .291 this month. But, his average has dropped from .343 to .319 in the past 10 games. He’s batting 8-for-37 in that span with only five walks. Teams are pitching to him. He’s fouling off a lot of pitches on the edges. Is it too early to ask?

6. To quote from today’s ESPN’s “Inside Edge” scouting report on Carpenter, “every pitch in his repertoire has worked” this season for the righthander. He’s yet to allow an earned run in 10 innings this season, and he’s bedeviling hitters with a fastball, curve, slider, tight slider/cutter combination. Take the slider data from the scouting report. Of the sliders he’s throw, 73.3 percent have been in the strike zone and 55.6 have been chased. And remarkably, only 11.1 percent of his sliders have been put in play.

7. FARMNIK REPORT: Another day, another couple hits for Brett Wallace. That third baseman who is generating so much buzz in the message boards, blogs and a-Twitter, went 2-for-3 with a couple singles and a walk. … But the story of Triple-A Memphis’ 3-1 victory Tuesday was starter Blake Hawksworth. The former No. 1 prospect whose time on the 40-man roster is ticking, Hawksworth plunged his ERA to 3.49 with 6 1/3 innings of work that included one run allowed, six hits and seven strikeouts. … Josh Kinney worked a scoreless ninth with a strikeout for his first save of the season. … Shortstop Donovan Solano also had two hits and he drove in two of the three runs. … In Double-A Springfield’s 6-1 victory, Mark Hamilton, who fits that Three True Outcome profile discussed yesterday, homered, walked twice, scored twice and drove in a run. … Tony Cruz had two hits and two runs scored, and outfielder Tyler Henley matched three hits with three RBIs. … Trey Hearne improved to 3-1 and is putting together quite a bounceback season. In seven innings he allowed four hits and one run. He struck out seven. Hearne did not walk a batter and he dropped his ERA to 3.07. … Eddie Degerman, the decorated NCAA pitcher and pie-thrower from a couple drafts ago, pitched a scoreless inning in relief. … Adron Chambers had his first multi-hit game in a week and started to claw out of a spiral with a 2-for-3 day in Palm Beach’s 4-2 loss to Sarasota. Chambers is 9-for-40 in his past games with four walks and six strikeouts. … Lefty Nick Additon brought in an 18-inning consecutive scoreles streak. He pitched two innings and allowed a run on one hit and three walks. … Quad Cities defeated Kane County, 6-5, with a couple runs in the bottom of the 10th inning. Alex Castellanos drove in the winning runs with a two-run, two-out single. … Charles Cutler, starting at DH, went 4-for-5 and is 7-for-9 in his past two games. He’s hitting .362 this season with 34 hits in 27 games and 11 walks against 11 strikeouts for a .422 on-base percentage.

8. Wentzville Holt alum Tim Melville will make his professional debut tonight for the Kansas City Royal’s affiliate in the Midwest League. Melville, a righthander, was taken in the fourth round of last summer’s draft. But his upside was enough that he had been pegged as a first-round candidate and the Royals did sign him for a hefty $1.25-million bonus. He’ll start for the Burlington Bees.

9. Infielder Brendan Ryan, back from a hamstring injury, has two stolen bases in his past two games. On Tuesday, he stole third to get closer to home for an RBI single. This is an element of Ryan’s game that he hasn’t uncorked often in the majors, and it’s an element of the Cardinals lineup this season that has idled. Pujols leads the team with six steals this season, and the Cardinals’ 21 steals this season are the 10th-most in the NL. Ryan stole 30 bases in one of his low-minor seasons and he stole 24 total — combined Class AAA and majors — as recently as 2007. “There’s a certain element of trust that comes with getting the green light from Tony,” Ryan said Tuesday night. “Hopefully we can use it a little more. If I get the shot I’m definitely not going to back away. I love to use my legs and try to swipe bags. Hopefully those opportunities will continue to be there.”

10. Yadier Molina’s pickoff of Alfonso Soriano in the first inning of Tuesday’s game was his third of the season and the 29th of his career. Houston catcher Ivan Rodriguez is the active leader with 81 pickoffs in his career entering this season. One would think Molina won’t get the chance to match that number because opponents will eventually take notice that it ain’t worth that extra step away from first base. Yet, Molina had seven pickoffs last year, and this isn’t a new asset he’s sporting. And he has three already this season. La Russa suggested that Molina and Pujols, with this little voodoo that they do, will continue to pick players off. Part of it is how they sell it. Part of it is the game.

“You have to (lead off first),” La Russa said. “You can’t win hanging next to first base. You don’t break up double plays. You don’t ever get to third base. You have to.”

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