DOWNTOWN — St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Chris Duncan doesn’t think the titanium disc in his neck — the one that saved his career — will limit his aggressive style of play on the bases, in the field, or wherever that baseball may take him. But it does mean one thing.

“I’m definitely not going to dive headfirst into the wall like (Rick Ankiel) did,” he said Wednesday night after have the key hit in the Cardinals’ 4-2 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In his comments about Duncan’s two-run triple off lefty Zach Duke on Wednesday, manager Tony La Russa said the biggest difference this season for the left field is simple: Health. Health. Health. The manager said when Duncan went in for surgery to have his herniated disc replaced with a titanium one, the doctors told them all that if he was a football player his career would be over. But because he played baseball and could, theoretically, control his collisions, the artificial disc gave him a chance to play again. Duncan knows this: He wouldn’t have been able to play through the pain that shot through his left arm late last season like a brushfire and kept him from sleeping. There was no chance.

All it meant was no more running into walls, at middle infielders or through catchers.

On Wednesday he’s was confronted with this decision twice.

Seems like a good place to start the 10@10.

1. Duncan said earlier this season he slid headfirst toward first base, and instantly thought, “I probably shouldn’t have done that.” It has been suggested to Duncan that he avoid sliding headfirst as best he can. Avoid running into walls in the outfield, and avoid unnecessary mashups with middle infielders at second base. On his triple in the fourth inning, Duncan kept that in mind — don’t headfirst slide into third. Don’t headfirst slide into third. But it was really the next play that challenged his precautionary approach. On Khalil Greene’s flyball to shallow center field, Duncan was tagging up. That meant the possibility of a collision at home with the catcher. “Alright, here we go. Trick slide at home,” Duncan said. The throw from center was off line and Duncan didn’t have to slide, but he knows that going feet-first into plate and not shoulders-first into the catcher is his new path home. Not a bad tradeoff — protecting the disc that gave him the game back. “I think my days of leading with my head into the catcher are over,” he joked.

2. Albert Pujols upped his average against the Pittsburgh Pirates this season to .611 (11-for-18) and he’s slugging 1.000 against the Bucs this season. Wednesday was the first baseman’s first four-hit game of the season, and the 26th of his career. Since 2001, the Cardinals have had 121 games of at least four hits. Naturally, Pujols’ 26 are the most by any player. (Edgar Renteria is second with nine.) Of those 26, five are against Pittsburgh.

3. It took Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin a dozen pitches to work a perfect ninth for his eighth save of the season Wednesday — as many saves this year as he had blown saves last year. His ERA remains a spotless 0.00, and he’s made expedient work of his ninth innings. But that doesn’t mean the man of many pitches has stopped throwing a few of them. More on that tomorrow, but the prelude is today’s poll.

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4. KMOX sportscaster, Charles Johnson’s backup at Miami and a fellow World Record holder, Kevin Wheeler has started a new gig with Seamheads.com. His first missive takes a look at how the stolen base may be back in fashion. Carl Crawford probably will be mentioned a few times.

5. Houston first baseman Lance Berkman hit his seventh home run of the season in Wednesday’s loss to the Chicago Cubs and his 1-for-3 day raised his average this season to .194. It would seem that the switch-hitting Puma, one of the finest batters in the league, is poised for a thunderous May, a full-on, law-of-averages assault on the National League to restore order to his batting average and other statistical measures. But there is this trivial little matter about how he finished last season. Berkman hit .259 with a .436 slugging percentage after the All-Star break last summer. He had just seven of his 29 home runs after the break. Fuse last season’s finish and this season’s start and Berkman has just 75 hits in 315 at-bats.

2nd Half 2008 … .259 BA, .436 SLG … 7 HR, 33 RBI, 57 Hits, 96 TB

Aprilish 2009 … .189 BA, .411 SLG … 6 HR, 14 RBI, 18 Hits, 39 TB

Fused total … .238 BA, .429 SLG … 13 HR, 47 RBI, 75 Hits, 135 TB

It’s an oddly long cold spell for Berkman, who is a career .300 hitter with a career slugging percentage that dwarfs this 300-at-bat slump — a career slugging percentage of .558.

6. A day after the Philadelphia Phillies leave town have gorged for two days on the Cardinals pitching, Mets lefty Johan Santana nearly throws the first no-hitter in franchise history against that same lineup. During his pre-game comments Tuesday, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said you bet he’d have his best lineup in the game to face Santana and the rival Mets. You bet. Didn’t matter. Santana struck out 10 during his seven scoreless innings. He has struck out at  least seven batters in nine consecutive starts, and Wednesday’s start dropped his ERA to 0.91. That’s the third-lowest ERA in Mets history for a starter after his sixth start. Tim Lincecum may have the commercial and Zack Greinke may have all the pub, but is there any doubt who is the best pitcher in the game?

7. FARM REPORT: Brandon Dickson pitched a complete-game shutout in Game 1 of Class AA Springfield’s doubleheader sweep against Northwest Arkansas. Dickson held NW Arkansas to five hits in his seven-inning CG. He walked four but struck out five. … Steven Hill and Mark Hamilton each homered to provide Dickson two of the runs in a 3-0 victory. … In Game 2, the S-Cards rallied a few times to win 14-9. Daryl Jones drove in four runs, and leadoff hitter James Rapoport drove in three runs. … Third baseman Brett Wallace went 1-for-4 and drove in three runs. … Hill homered. Again. His seventh. … Pete Kozma went 2-for-3 with a couple runs scored and a RBI. … Lefty Tyler Norrick, who I spoke to after the game for a Baseball America article, got the save in the second game. … Nick Stavinoha’s two-run single in the ninth inning made a winner of Jess Todd in a 6-5 victory at Omaha. … Shane Robinson, fresh off the DL, scored three of the six runs and he went 1-for-3 with a walk. Jon Jay went 2-for-3 with a couple doubles. … In his return to the Triple-A rotation, P.J. Walters allowed seven hits and five runs (four earned) in six innings. He struck out four and walked one. … St. Lucie shutout the Cardinals’ High-A affiliate, 9-0. The Cardinals minor leaguers managed just three hits against the Mets’ affiliate, and starter Scott Gorgen gave up three home runs. … Shortstop Niko Vasquez went 3-for-5 with a run scored and a double. Charles Cutler continued cranking with three more hits, two runs scored and an RBI.

8. Shortstop Khalil Greene’s error Wednesday night was the Cardinals 23rd in 28 games this season, but it ended — is a part of? — and rather error-less run for the Cardinals. After a stretch of seven errors in four games, the Cardinals have committed just three in their previous nine games. In that span, they’ve turned in one wall-crashing catch in center, last night’s clutch double play turn by Joe Thurston and two skid-field-and-fire plays at shortstop by Brendan Ryan and his fielding doppelganger Tyler Greene.

9. Speaking of that wall-crashing catch … the hat that Rick Ankiel wore as he rammed into the wall on Monday night has earned a distinguished spot in La Russa’s office. With its brim bent sharply at a right angle, the hat sits on a shelf with two gloves from Mike Matheny, including the one he wore when setting the errorless-streak record; a shoe from Mark McGwire; a glove from Albert Pujols; a jersey from Darryl Kile and a souvenir from Pat Hentgen; and not too far from the burned fungo bat from the car fire after the 2006 World Series. The hat just may not stay there. Ankiel told La Russa that he may want it back. He has another display in mind.

10. What with Aaron Hill’s 24 RBIs and Marco Scutaro’s 28 runs scored, the Toronto Blues Jays boast what may be the most productive middle infield in baseball so far this season. The two infielders have combined for 11 home runs and they also each have an on-base percentage of .400 or better. The irreplaceable Onion offers up one speculation on what’s going on north of the border with the AL East-leading Jays: Higher math.

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