TOWER GROVE — The St. Louis Cardinals hope to leave their first nine-game homestand of the season with a different roster than the one they take into this 10-day defense of Busch Stadium against the likes of Milwaukee, the Cubs and resurgent Kansas City Royals.

Three of the Cardinals’ wounded will be eligible to return during the home stand, and a fourth is expected to be well on his way back to the lineup before the Cardinals leave. The parade could start as early as today. The Cardinals limp back from a 2-4 road trip through two historically congenial NL Central outposts, and each of the hosting teams delighted in seizing on faltering elements of the Cardinals’ early surge. One day is was starting pitching. Another day it was defense. A few times it was offense. Some days it was just all of it and more. But most of all it was health. As mentioned before, the Cardinals have had a majority of their offense deleted by injury in the past three weeks.

Now, they could be getting healthier. Seems like a place to begin today’s 10@10.

1. Brendan Ryan went 0-for-3 and is still hitless in his rehab assignment with Class AAA Memphis. He’s eligible to come off the disabled list today. Rick Ankiel is said to be progressing well in his recovery from the crash into the outfield wall during the previous homestand. He’s eligible to come off the DL in the middle of the next week, and the Cardinals are optimistic that he will do so. Ryan Ludwick (hamstring) was moving better Thursday and will increase his activity so that he’ll be ready to come off when eligible — during the next road trip. An APB is out for Troy Glaus. And, then, of course there’s today’s bullpen event: Chris Carpenter, Round 2. The righthander is scheduled to up his pitch count and his intensity during a session this afternoon at Busch Stadium. If he comes out of it well, feeling strong, in command of his pitches, he’ll be scheduled for a start in the coming week.

2. Hard not to eye the leftover Free Agents still out there in the market and wonder if there are any wannabe Kyle Lohses to be found even this late into the season. If the Cardinals continue to scuffle as they get healthy — or, scuffle when healthy — are there are any run-flat additions that could help this puncture bunch? That’s the poll.

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3. Those untuckin’ Milwaukee Brewers come to Busch Stadium as one of the hottest teams in baseball, surging into a first-place tie atop the NL Central. The Brewers have won 17 of their previous 22 games. In that span, the Brewers are averaging 5.63 runs per game and allowing two full runs less per game than that. They have hit 31 home runs in those 22 games, and the pitching staff has a 3.27 ERA. While the Cardinals will face the budding ace of the Brew Crew, Yovani Gallardo, this evening, one of the other reasons Milwaukee is cookin’ is who awaits opponents at the end of games: Trevor Hoffman. The Cardinals were not alone this offseason in their opinion that Hoffman gave off some warning signs last season — the mph on his fastball had dipped alarmingly close to the mph to his devastating changeup, for one. Age, for another. Etc. Hoffman had saves in each game of the Brewers three-game sweep of Florida this week, and he’s 8-for-8 with a 0.00 ERA. Opponents are hitting .103 against him. It’s the best start to a season in his career.

4. On the road trip, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols went 4-for-23 and his batting average dropped from .356 to .323. (The horror!) But each of his four hits drove in a run. Two of the hits were home runs, and then there was the RBI single Wednesday in Pittsburgh and his two-run, sigh-of-relief, seeing-eye single Thursday against the Pirates. More on Pujols’ “pace” of RBIs below. … Helping to keep the Karmic balance of the Cardinals’ lineup was Skip Schumaker. The Cardinals’ leadoff hitter had four multi-hit games on the road trip, going 10-for-22 and raising his average from .289 to .321.

5. Can’t think of a left fielder the Cardinals have seent his season who has played better defense than Nyjer Morgan. In fact, the Pirates put on a defensive showcase this week at PNC Park. It offered a stark contrast to the local nine, who have had their difficulties defensively — and we’re not just talking errors. There were missed plays, missed outs, miss fly balls, that don’t go into the box score as errors. They go into the box score as additional innings lumped onto the pitching staff. Recently, Bill James Online revealed the Fielding Bible’s plus/minus defensive numbers for 2009, and the Cardinals have two regulars who are even or better when it comes to the plus/minus: Pujols and left fielder Chris Duncan. The totals with early-season league leaders:

• 1B: Pujols + 2 … Ryan Howard, two others +5
• 2B: Schumaker -9 … runs saved -7 (35th) … Ian Kinsler +9
• 3B: Joe Thurston -1, Brian Barden +2 … Ryan Zimmerman +12
• SS: Khalil Greene -4 … runs saved -3 (30th) … Marco Scutaro +11
• LF: Duncan even … runs saved even (18th) … Matt Holliday +6, Morgan +5
• CF: Ankiel -6 … runs saved -3 (32nd) … Chris Young +8
• RF: Ludwick -2 … runs saved -1 (27th) … Ichiro Suzuki +7

Early defensive numbers can be skewed, as you can tell. That Ankiel number is particularly interesting. The plus/minus — which is essentially a plus for play outside of assigned zone; minus for miss within assigned zone — says Ankiel is a minus-6 on deep fly balls. Colby Rasmus, by contrast, is a plus-4 on deep flyballs. It’s a helpful statistic, but it’s only one. Bernie Miklasz has a much deeper look at shortstop defense in his 5 Minutes.

6. A habitually slow starter at every level in his career, Colby Rasmus appears to be gaining traction in the majors. He became the 18th player in PNC Park history to put a home run in the Allegheny River last night (on the bounce, of course), and he brings a five-game hitting streak into tonight’s homestand opener. Rasmus has six hits in his past 18 at-bats. Rasmus started his turn at Low-A Quad Cities with a 1-for-26 skid, and pulled out of it by hitting .351 in his next 171 at-bats and earning a promotion. That was 2006, and led all Cardinals minor-leaguers with 85 RBIs. In 2007, he hit .340 with 24 RBIs in 29 games in May for Class AA Springfield. That helped him pull out of an April scuffle and protected him from a .158 midseason skid. He finished that season with 29 home runs, leading all Double-A players. What has often been perceived as a matter of the calendar for Rasmus — slow-starter, give him a month — really should have been seen as a measure of at-bats. Now getting that regular shot in the lineup, Rasmus is getting closer to being Rasmus. “He’s still learning pitchers,” manager Tony La Russa told reporters after the game Thursday night. “First time (through), it’s been impressive.”

RHP Adam Reifer, Palm Beach closer.

7. FARMNIK REPORT: Nick Additon, a finesse lefty, pitched six shutout innings for High-A Palm Beach in the PB-Cards 2-0 victory Thursday. Additon allowed three hits and no walks against three strikeouts in his start. He has pitched 18 consecutive scoreless innings. … Samuel Freeman, another lefty, pitched two scoreless innings in relief, and fireballer Adam Reifer changed the pace of the game with a couple strikeouts and a scoreless ninth for his fourth save of the season. … Outfielder Adron Chambers, a toolsy outfielder, drove in both of the PB-Cards’ runs. … Curt Smith, however, did have two more hits. He’s batting .322. And, is he the answer for the Cardinals’ best righthanded-hitter prospect in the organization. He’d have to leapfrog David Freese, Allen Craig, Steven Hill, Tony Cruz. … Outfielder Daryl Jones has an OBP of .408 and an OPS of .840 for Class AA Springfield. Hard to say even on a roster with Brett Wallace and Pete Kozma – two first-round picks — Jones isn’t the best prospect. He came in a raw athlete, all tools no feel, and is now a ballplayer. He had two hits Thursday, raising his average to .324. Mark Hamilton had three hits for the S-Cards, and the aforementioned Hill had two hits. Hill’s 1.011 OPS ranks fourth in the Texas League. … The S-Cards had 13 hits, yet only scored two runs because of a 3-for-12 run with RISP. They lost, 4-2. … Daniel Descalso had his 13th double in the loss. … Las Vegas tipped the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, 3-1. … Jon Jay had a couple hits, and he’s 5-for-9 in the past couple days. … Mark Shorey drove in Memphis’ lone run with a solo homer. … Blake Hawksworth struck out seven in 7 1/3 innings of work. He allowed three runs on five hits and one walk. Only one of the five hits he allowed went for extra bases. … Quad Cities split a doubleheader with Peoria. In the top of the eighth inning — an extra inning when it comes to doubleheaders — the River Bandits scored three runs. Three doubles in the inning fueled the rally, including — get this — a two-run double by Osvaldo Morales. The first baseman has 31 RBIs already this season. Who is he?  Well, he’s a 2006 signee and a product of the Dominican Republic campus. Like Smith, Morales is a big chap — a thick first-baseman specimen. For an organization that boasts Pujols, the Cardinals are collecting quite a few big bats that project as first baseman (yes, you can include Wallace in that list, provisionally).

8. Game 7 Reunion: Instead of backing him up as he did in one of the best games in recent memory, Adam Wainwright will be opposite Jeff Suppan on Saturday at Busch Stadium. Milwaukee’s No. 2 starter, Suppan, is scheduled to pitch opposite the righthande who closed out the Cardinals’ victory at Shea Stadium in 2006 and helped cinch the NLCS MVP for Suppan. Wainwright will making his first start since identifying a problem with his arm slot. He hasn’t felt right about his delivery since during spring training, but a film session with Chris Carpenter identified a five-inch lift in his arm path — and he planned to use his bullpen at PNC Park to correct the swing of his arm so that he can have better success with his fastball.

9. Rates and “on pace” things are always dicey, and a little unfair. But — for entertainment purposes only — it’s worth mentioning that Pujols is hitting a home run every 11.38 plate appearances, good enough to be “on pace” for 59 this season. And that’s not the most impressive “on pace” number. Pujols has an RBI every 4.23 PA, putting him “on pace” for 159 this season — which would be the third-most in NL since Hack Wilson’s 191 in 1930.

10. And this just in: According to the running count Baseball-Reference.com keeps on a variety of franchise cummulative statistics, the Cardinals passed a milestone this season, on April 22 against the New York Mets. Picking back through the box scores, I was able to ascertain that on that night, in the first inning, when Pujols drove in Schumaker with a sacrifice fly that was the 89,000th run in Cardinals’ franchise history (since 1882). Hope somebody remembered to keep the ball.

The Cardinals have outscored opponents, 89,091-86,127, according to B-R.com. But they still trail the Chicago Cubs by nearly 2,500 runs.

Of course, the Cubs had a six-year headstart (est. 1876).

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