TOWER GROVE — As a tandem, they make for one productive player.

The St. Louis Cardinals are split-shifting third base with steady success so far this season, sharing the at-bats and innings at the position between Joe Thurston and Brian Barden. Colleague Joe Strauss reported in this morning’s newspaper that despite their length of time in the minors and sporadic appearances in the majors, both of the Cardinals’ utility infielders are considered “rookies” when it comes to award voting this season. If they were one player — say Joe Barden, the switch-hitting rookie third baseman — they would be pulling away from the pack of rookies. Their combined 16 runs scored would lead all rookies. Their .308 average would be the highest of rookies who could qualify for the batting title. Ditto with that .500 slugging percentage. They would be the only rookie with more than 10 RBIs. They have 19.

And so on.

But the real measure of this pseudo-platoon at the hot corner isn’t how they compare to other rookies. It’s how the measure against other third baseman — a power and production position throughout the league, and one where the Cardinals were expected to be lacking because of the long-term absence of Troy Glaus.

That hasn’t been so. And that is where today’s 10@10 begins.

1. In order to get a snapshot of where Joe Barden would rank as a third baseman in the National League, there are two routes to take. One would be to mash Thurston and Barden’s stats together into a numerical alloy of their production, no matter the position. The other would be to use only their numbers from when they played third base. Either way, Joe Barden ranks well with his peers. Their combined stats with NL ranks in parentheses:

STAT TYPE … AB … Runs … RBI … HR … Walks … Ks … BA … SLG

Ttl … 104 … 16 (t2nd) … 19 (1st) … 4 (4th) … 11 … 21 … .308 (4th) … .500 (5th)

@3B … 75 … 13 (4th) … 13 (5th) … 2 (t7th) … 9 … 14 … .307 (4th) … .453 (8th)

2. The Cardinals are expected to make a move to augment the bullpen before tonight’s game, and it makes sense that Brad Thompson will get the call to return to the majors. He has not thrown since April 27, and when he has started for Class AAA he’s been mostly successful. Overall, he’s 2-0 with a 3.45 ERA in three starts. He has nine strikeouts and one walk in 15 2/3 innings. He’s groundout/flyout ratio is a 1.71. Four of the six earned runs he’s allowed came in his last start, his least successful of the trio. … Righthander reliever Josh Kinney hasn’t been consistent in his turn with Memphis, allowing five earned runs in 6 2/3 innings with five walks and eight strikeouts. Jess Todd has arguably been the most impressive of the group in Class AAA — five saves, 17 strikeouts, 1.46 ERA, three walks in 12 1/3 innings — but he is not yet on the 40-man roster, and he’s only a month into his life as a reliever.

3. Carlos Zambrano got the win for Chicago on Sunday, but it’s the Cubs that may have taken the loss. Zambrano was taken to a local hospital after Sunday’s game for an MRI on his left hamstring, which he pulled while racing to first for a bunt single. Manager Lou Piniella told reporters afterward that Zambrano’s next start “is in jeopardy.” Today, as reported in this Sun-Times article, the Cubs will decide if they make their first disabled-list move of the season. (Remember they played shorthanded here at Busch Stadium in order to keep walking-wounded like Milton Bradley active.)

4. That got me thinking about what the Cubs’ record is with Zambrano in the lineup. With a nod to Baseball Musings, it was possible to look up that the Cubs are 139-117 (.543) with Zambrano in the game at some point. Not surprising, two of the Cubs with the best winning percentages are Ryan Dempster and Carlos Marmol. Dempster did so much time at closer that the Cubs’ record with him in the lineup is sweetened to 181-83 (.686); Marmol is at 121-54 (.691). … Cardinals closers have similar numbers with Lee Smith leading the way at 206-39 (.841) and Jason Isringhausen at 307-94 (.766). The Cardinals are a clean 70-30 with Chris Carpenter in the lineup.

5. But what about position players? Since 1957, Lou Brock leads all Cardinals by being in the lineup for 1,177 victories. Mike Shannon and Edgar Renteria are tied with winning percentages of .568. The Cardinals were 499-380 with Shannon in the lineup and 513-390 with Renteria in the lineup. Albert Pujols is just behind those two with a 714-549 record, for a .565 winning percentage when he is in the lineup. Those little factoids inspire today’s poll … which is really more of a trivia question. (The answer will be in Tuesday’s 10@10.)

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6. There’s something comforting about a place where the news doesn’t orbit around A-Rod. Search on Amazon.com the abbreviated title of the book that drops today and the book itself is eighth, behind several fishing rods and a Rod Stewart album is the actual book. Selena Roberts in-depth look at the fallen icon is available starting today, and it joins a pin-striped parade of books — they may not lead in the standings, but the New York Yankees are publishing gold apparently. And few these are flattering  to the Yankees:

• A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez.
• Joe Torre’s The Yankees Years.
• American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime.
• The Rocket that Fell to Earth

It’s enough to send some one scurrying for a tension-breaker, some restore-my-faith reading. Which is why this book will be arriving shortly on my doorstep.

7. Mound City native Ryan Howard welcomes the defending champs to his hometown and clearly relishes his swings through St. Louis. The Phillies first baseman has 21 hits in 57 at-bats at Busch Stadium (his first visit home as a big-leaguer came in 2006). Of those 21 hits, eight went for extra-bases, including six home runs. He has hit .368 with a .719 slugging percentage in 15 games here. That 1.239 OPS he has here is his highest at any National League ballpark, edging, oddly, Petco Park in San Diego. When pitching coach Dave Duncan talked about the need to add a lefty specialist like Trever Miller to the staff, Howard was Exhibit A. That was explored in detail here at B-Land back in November.

8. FARM REPORT: The Cardinals named their organization player and pitcher of the month late last week. The minor-league pitcher of the month was Casey Mulligan, the converted catcher who is now closing for Low-A Quad Cities. Mulligan was 1-0 with six saves in nine games for the River Bandits. He also struck out 17 and walked just two in nine innings. The minor-league player of the month for April was Steven Hill, the catcher/first baseman hybrid from Stephen F. Austin. For Class AA Springfield, Hill hit .391, slugged .734 and reached base at a .437 clip for the S-Cards. He hit five home runs and drove in 17 runs. His OPS was 1.171. … Lefty Nick Additon pitch six hitless innings before yielding the game to the Cardinals’ High-A bullpen and watching the Jupiter Hammerheads nail closer Adam Reifer for a 2-1 loss. Additon struck out four and walked three in his six scoreless innings. That dropped his ERA to 4.82. Chuckie Fick got a home with a couple scoreless innings. But Reifer, called in to preserve a 1-0 lead, was hit with two runs on two hits and two walks for the loss. Additon preaches the Gospel According to the Cardinals in a game story at MiLB.com. … The High-A Palm Beach team is expected to be a go-go bunch this season, and they were Sunday — stealing four bases, including two by Colt Sedbrook. … The two highest affiliates were rained out Sunday, like the big club. … Clinton edged Low-A Quad Cities, 4-3. Catcher Charles Cutler went 2-for-4 and he drove in his 14th run of the season. Scott McGregor started for Quad Cities and allowed two runs on three hits in five innings. He struck out four. … About the promotions: Two of the Cardinals recent high draft picks made their Class AA debuts since we last talked. Shortstop Pete Kozma went 0-for-2 and walked in his debut Friday, and the 2007 first pick got his first Double-A hit Saturday. Lance Lynn, the second pick in 2008, was set to make his Double-A debut before the rains came Sunday. … On Friday night, two newcomers to the Cardinals’ Class AAA affiliate powered a 5-1 victory. Lefty Evan MacLane, acquired from Arizona in a minor-league deal, struck out eight in six innings and allowed one run on five hits. Shortstop Donovan Solano, promoted from Class AA to take Tyler Greene’s spot, had Memphis first two hits and finished 2-for-3 with a run scored.

9. Tampa Bay outfielder Carl Crawford became only the fourth modern player to steal six bases in one game – and only the second to also get four hits in the game — in the Rays victory against Boston on Sunday. Crawford is a perfect 17-for-17 in steals this season, giving him four more than the Cardinals have as a team. That said, I’ve been asked a few times this past week if the Cardinals are running more. (Most recently, colleague Bryan Burwell asked the question on his radio show.) There are many ways to answer that question and few good ways to judge it, because steals don’t count hit-and-runs and hit-and-runs don’t show extra bases taken. Manager Tony La Russa said during the past home stand that he attempted two hit-and-runs with Pujols in the first three weeks of the season, and neither developed. Usually aggressive with the H&R, La Russa didn’t believe he’s been any more so or less so this season. Aggressive so far has been the rule for the Cardinals — on defense, at the plate, on base, certainly at some point in La Russa’s postgame presser. Has it shown up in steals? Well, the Cardinals aren’t last in the league this April like they’ve been twice since 2005. The April theft reports, since 2004:

• 2009 … 13 steals, 3 caught
• 2008 … 11 steals, 5 caught
• 2007 … 6 steals, 8 caught (lowest steals in NL)
• 2006 … 16 steals, 5 caught
• 2005 … 4 steals, 3 caught (lowest steals in NL)
• 2004 … 21 steals, 7 caught (second-most steals in NL)

10. The LA Dodgers pulled ahead of the Cardinals for the best record in the National League and did so by setting a record with a 10-0 start their home schedule. They play again today with a chance to go 11-0 at Dodger Stadium, and then it could fall to a familiar face to keep the streak alive — Jeff Weaver is scheduled to start for the Dodgers on Tuesday.

We’ll close with a question about questions. Is there interest in reviving PostCards as a regular part of the 10@10?

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