TOWER GROVE — The St. Louis Cardinals will play their final home game before the All-Star break tonight and they will leave town having played exactly half of their regular-season schedule. They’ve made a trade that should impact their lineup. They just got the best start from Adam Wainwright of the season. They continue to be a vapor-locked offense. They are rife with questions, especially for a contender.

But quietly, as July 2 and the halfway point to the season arrives, one bubbles to the surface in earnest: Can Albert Pujols win a Triple Crown?

It has been discussed in here before, but more in terms of the Decade Triple Crown or in the theoretically notion of Pujols being talented enough to hit for a high average while also slugging with the best of them. Yet, this morning, Pujols, who went 2-for-2 in the walk-off win last night for the Cardinals, wakes up with a .337 batting average. It’s just about his career average and it’s good enough for the third-best in the National League. He now leads the league in homers, leads the league in RBIs and trails only two NLers in batting average. Too early?

Is the All-Star break the appropriate time to talk about it? August 1? Sept. 21?

A National League player has not won the Triple Crown since 1937 when Cardinals’ Joe “Ducky” Medwick did it. The era of muscle-bound sluggers and heavy-bat mashers all but eliminated the idea of the Triple Crown because at the same time hit specialists like Tony Gwynn have consistently taken one of the jewels. Pujols has never led the league in homers or in RBIs. He has one batting title on his resume. He is on pace — there’s that word again — to take a run at something remarkable and that’s where today’s 10@10 starts.

(Note: And if you don’t want to wade through the 10, skip to No. 10 for a story on how Manager Tony La Russa’s last run in the majors set the stage for Colby Rasmus’ homer last night.)

1. Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez leads the NL with a .348 batting average and David Wright is second with a .340 average. Both are career .300 hitters, and Wright specifically has the look of a batting champ — especially at (big) Citi Field. But what if the top six batters in the NL all hit their career average from here on. Say they all get the 3.1 at-bats for the remaining amount of games their team has, and say Wright hits .312 over those at-bats, what would that do to the standings. Pulled out the calculator this morning and did the crunching for you:

• Hanley Ramirez … Batting: .348 … Career: .313 … Would finish: .329
• David Wright … Batting: .340 … Career: .312 … Would finish: .326
• Albert Pujols … Batting: .337 … Career: .335 … Would finish: .337
• Carlos Beltran … Batting: .336 … Career: .283 … Would finish: .308
• Brad Hawpe … Batting: .333 … Career: .288 … Would finish: .311
• Pablo Sandoval … Batting: .332 … Career: .337 … Would finish: .334

Sandoval, the San Francisco Giants third baseman, only has last year and this year to pull from, and Beltran figures to be a higher-average hitter than his career number says. But that gives you a snapshot of how Pujols has to stay healthy and keep a steady pulse, just a steady pulse, and the talk of the Triple Crown will find him. If he walks a bunch — and he’s going to walk a bunch — that average figures to hold fast and it’s up to the other hitters to keep up with him. No, batting average won’t be the hardest of the jewels to claim. That would be … Well, let you decide.

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3. Giving two reprieves in his 10th-inning at-bat Wednesday, rookie Colby Rasmus, the subject of today’s Bird Land Blogcast (click here), faced a full-count pitch from Bob Howry. Here’s one thing he wasn’t ready to do: Walk. The rookie has gone 104 at-bats since his last walk. He took four balls in the first inning of the May 25th game against Milwaukee. After the game, which he won with his first walk-off homer of his career (well, his first walk-off shot since the playoffs in Class AA), Rasmus said he’s supposed to think swing, not walk. He asked rhetorically, Isn’t that what people talk about? Isn’t the benefit of batting in front of Pujols seeing strikes? “I don’t like walking,” Rasmus said. “I’m trying to hit.”

4. The Cardinals got Adam Wainwright one run in the first inning and didn’t score again until closer Ryan Franklin (Bernie Miklasz prefers to call him All-Star Ryan Franklin) was in the game. Yet, Wainwright, a nine-game winner, has still benefited from the best run support in the National League of pitchers with at least 10 starts. With a career-high 12 strikeouts and only one run allowed in nine innings, Wainwright became the first pitcher to receive a no decision for such a gem since July 22, 2005, when Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano struck out 12, allowed only a home run to John “J-Rod” Rodriguez, and the Cubs lost, 2-1 to the Cardinals at old Busch Stadium.

5. To put Pujols’ June in perspective — he’s the favorite to win the league’s player of the month award, after all — the Cardinals’ media relations staff authored a handy chart that compares each of Pujols’ nine seasons with what his triple-crown statistics were through June 30:

• 2001 … .344 … 21 … 66 — wins NL Rookie of the Year
• 2002 … .283 … 16 … 54
• 2003 … .386 … 23 … 72
• 2004 … .300 … 20 … 52
• 2005 … .339 … 20 … 64 — wins NL MVP
• 2006 … .304 … 26 … 67 — sets career highs in RBIs, HR
• 2007 … .306 … 16 … 48
• 2008 … .357 … 17 … 47 — wins NL MVP
• 2009 … .332 … 30 … 77

6. Second baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir becomes the 15th rookie to appear on the Cardinals roster with his promotion Wednesday — and his arrival in the sixth or seventh inning of last night’s game. When Hoffpauir first went to Class AAA, they moved him around the infield to see if his was viable at third base and shortstop as well as second base. The motivation was to find a way for him to get to the majors if his bat was ready. Hoffpauir gravitated back toward his natural position of second base. When he debuts, wherever he makes it, Hoffpauir will be the ninth Cardinal to make his major-league debut this season. That’s two off last year’s mark, meaning in the past 242 games the Cardinals will have had 20 major-league debuts. Five more and that’s a roster.

7. FARMNIK REPORT: According to officials, Brett Wallace did not come up in conversation yesterday as the Cardinals braced themselves for the possible long-term loss of third baseman/outfielder Mark DeRosa. “Let him play,” manager Tony La Russa said. “If anybody cares about him being a Cardinal, just let him play first.” … Wallace extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a 1-for-4 day in Class AAA Memphis’ 9-5 loss to the Isotopes. … Catcher Matt Pagnozzi went 2-for-3 with two runs scored as the Cardinals discuss how to address Bryan Anderson’s shoulder injury (surgery most likely). … P.J. Walters slipped to 2-7 after allowing six runs on nine hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings. … Recent draft pick and hot-hitting third baseman Matt Carpenter was promoted to Low-A Quad Cities as part of a flurry of transactions at the Davenport, Iowa, affiliate. OF Kyle Conley signed to Quad Cities contract; RHP Nick McCully signed to Quad Cities contract; IF Brett Lilly unconditionally released; OF Paul Cruz unconditionally released; RHP Andres Rosales transferred to Batavia. … Charlie Cutler went 3-for-3 with an RBI in Quad Cities’ 12-5 loss Wednesday. He’s batting .400 in his previous 10 games. … Trey Hearne is the Texas League’s reigning player of the week. … Wednesday was also the Texas League’s All-Star Game. Hearne got the win after starting the game and pitching two scoreless innings for the North All-Stars. Lance Lynn and Francisco Samuel each pitched a perfect inning in relief. Pitching dominated the game, as Cardinals’ prospects like Daryl Jones went 0-for-3 with a couple strikeouts as the North’s leadoff hitter. Tyler Henley and Pete Kozma each had a hit.

8. The international signing period opens today and the Cardinals announced this morning that they have agreed to deal with outfielder Wagner Mateo. (Check C-Beat for news; read the original May 29 posting about him from Bird Land by clicking here.) Mozeliak flew to the Dominican Republic in person to see 16-year-old outfielder Wagner Mateo and meet the people helping the youngster make his decision. The Cardinals have an agreement in place that is expected to be a franchise-record $3.1 million bonus. The deal not only sets a record for an international investment by the Cardinals but it also tops any of the signing bonuses the organization has ever given a newly signed prospect. Throw in the draft picks, and here are the top bonuses in Cardinals history:

• Wagner Mateo … reported $3.1 million, 2009
• J.D. Drew … $3 million, 1998
• Rick Ankiel … $2.5 million, 1997
• Chad Hutchinson … $2.3 million, 1998
• Brett Wallace … $1.84 million, 2008
• Shaun Boyd … $1.75 million, 2000

9. Remember a few weeks after last season ended when the Cardinals discussed what to do with Pujols’ injured elbow and the torn ligament that was in there? The Cardinals and Pujols decided on a cleanup procedure that rid the area of debris and arthritis and relocated a nerve that was giving him problems. But they opted not to repair the torn tendon. The reason, as explained by one team officials, was why would you want to rob a player of his ability five, six or more months of his prime. Just think if they did: Instead of discussing how he was coming off the finest month of his career, we’d be writing about when he’d start his rehab assignment.

10. Rasmus’ walk-off homer was not the first walk-off win discussed Wednesday at Busch Stadium. Hours before the game started, during his chat with the writers in his office, La Russa described his one appearance as a Chicago Cub. It happened on April 6, 1973 and the Cubs trailed the Montreal Expos, 2-1, in the bottom of the ninth inning at Wrigley Field. La Russa had had a strong spring training and he joked the Cubs “couldn’t cut a guy who hit .400 in spring training.” But he wasn’t going to start. In the ninth, La Russa entered as pinch runner for Ron Santo, the second batter of the inning who had reached base on an error. Mike Marshall walked the tying run in and moved La Russa over to third base.

“The only thing I could think of was if the game is still tied, am I going to have to throw the ball?” La Russa explained yesterday in his office.

The Cardinals’ manager was making the final appearance of his major-league career. His arm ached. He could make the throw from third base, but only really with an on-the-run start. He worried that if the game went into the 10th inning, he would have to warm up and his throw would bounce off the mound, would skip a dozen times just to get to third base. His arm ached, and that worry kept him preoccupied as he took his lead off third base. Marshall walked Rick Monday and La Russa got to enjoy his 90 feet walk in as the walk-off winner.

“I styled all the way in from third,” he said.

That was the last of his 15 runs scored as a major-leaguer. His last appearance in a major-league game.

A few hours later he watched the first walk-off run of another major-league career.

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