TOWER GROVE — The latest of the managers to experiment with the Tony La Russa-advocated lineup that has the pitcher batting eighth is none other than Los Angeles Dodgers skipper Joe Torre. During his visit to Busch Stadium in the past home stand, Torre even chided La Russa, saying that just as other managers are seeing the light of the Crazy 8 lineup, La Russa has abandoned it.

“Now that you’ve finally convinced me to hit to the pitcher eighth,” Torre said he told La Russa, “now you’ve got the pitcher ninth.”

Torre batted the pitcher eighth again Thursday night as the Dodgers faced the Atlanta Braves. It was the eighth time this season that Torre hit the pitcher somewhere other than ninth in the order. His reasoning, he explained at Busch, was that batting a hitter like Juan Pierre in the No. 8 spot took away from Pierre’s style of play. Torre, like La Russa, comes at the non-traditional lineup from an American League perspective where the No. 9 spot acts as a “second” leadoff. One of the first teams to toy with the idea of batting the pitcher eighth was Pittsburgh, where manager John Russell had a long talk one pre-game with La Russa about the benefits of batting the pitcher eighth.

The Pirates haven’t done it this season, but a total five NL teams have (and one AL team). Torre’s lineup Thursday was the 69th time this season that the pitcher has hit outside the ninth spot, according to Elias Sports Bureau. And while the Cardinals lead the league in that total, they haven’t done it since that remarkable day of July 21, and not once since acquiring Matt Holliday.

“Now all of a sudden we’ve pulled La Russa back in with rest of us by putting conventional lineups out there,” Torre joked. “We’ve convinced him to jump in with the rest of us.”

Seems like a good, quick place to start today’s 10@10 …

1. With 50 games remaining, at least we know the record is safe. The Cardinals open a three-game series at Pittsburgh tonight, and that starts a stretch of the schedule that pits the Cardinals against teams with losing records in six of the next seven series. (The only one with a winning record is Torre’s Dodgers, who host the Cardinals later this month.) It’s an opportunity to set the pace for the Chicago Cubs and the NL Central. It won’t be an opportunity to take a run at the Crazy 8 record. In 2008, according to Elias, the Cardinals set the record with 153 starting lineups that had the pitcher somewhere other than batting ninth. Here are the totals for such lineups from this season:

• Cardinals … 55
• LA Dodgers … 8
• San Diego … 3
• Cincinnati … 1
• Florida … 1
• Kansas City … 1

2. The Pittsburgh Pirates, tonight’s opponent for the Cardinals, was among the busiest teams this years, trading away stalwarts (Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, Ian Snell, and, much earlier, All-Star Nate McLouth) to radically re-shape their minor-league pitching depth. The Cincinnati Reds, in a move widely met with quizzical glances, acquired Scott Rolen for a couple minor-league pitchers and Edwin Encarnacion. The Houston Astros stood pat. And with the Pirates and Reds making up the next six games for the Cardinals, that’s today’s poll.

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3. Taken 17 picks ahead of Colby Rasmus in the 2005 draft — part of that talent-rich crop of outfielders that season — Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen is now taking a shot at tripping Rasmus’ run for the NL Rookie of the Year award. As Rick Hummel wrote recently in Cardinal Beat, Rasmus been through a grinder during his first major-league season, and as he’s dropped weight he’s also dropped points on his batting average. Meanwhile, McCutchen, who was promoted about the time the Pirates tipped their hand with the trade of McLouth, has soared. On August 1, McCutchen became the 10th player in Pittsburgh history to hit three home runs in one game. He was the first to do so in Pittsburgh since 1987, and he came a grand slam shy of the “homer cycle.” Entering tonight’s game here are how the two rookies, the two 2005 draft picks, stack up:

Andrew McCutchen … 55 games … .296/.358/.496 … 7 HR, 39 runs, 32 RBIs

Colby Rasmus … 99 games … .248/.305/.420 … 11 HR, 48 runs, 35 RBIs

4. If a quick glance at the radar gun implies that Cardinals gunslinger Jason Motte is taking a little off his fastball these days, then he has two explanation: One, don’t trust the radar gun (it recently said Jose Valverde fired a fastball at 88 mph, for example). Two, he is. Motte continues his learning on the job by test-driving new pitches even as he continues to serve in a relief role for the Cardinals. Motte is playing with a cutter, shown to him by bullpen coach Marty Mason and suggested to him by pitching coach Dave Duncan. “Sometimes my slider ends up looking like a cutter,” Motte said. “I’m messing around with a two-seamer, a cutter … I’m throwing them at different times, trying them out in different situations. I’ve had that fastball-slider, fastball-slider style. Maybe I can change it up a bit.” His target is to have something that zips in the upper-80s, lower-90s and gives a different movement than that arrow-straight 97-mph fastball that got him to the majors. Finding a fastball with movement on it has been something Motte has worked on since spring — and likely before. He’s got a grip on the cutter, and is just trying now to get a handle on when and how best to use it.

5. Albert Pujols is a .379 hitter with a .720 slugging percentage at PNC Park. It could be the park. It could be the Pirates. It’s most likely the Pirates’ pitchers. He’s 10-for-19 hitter against tonight’s starter, lefty Paul Maholm. So he’ll start and bat No. 3. Natch. Here are the other career numbers against Maholm to help you get a head start on just how La Russa will make up his lineup, and how Maholm should pitch around Pujols because of his success against those who will be batting around him:

Albert Pujols … 10-for-19, HR, 6 BB, 0 K … .526/.615/.895

Ryan Ludwick … 2-for-14, 0 HR, 0 BB, 0 K … .143/.188/.214

Mark DeRosa … 3-for-13, 0 HR, 0 BB, 5 K … .231/.286/.308

Jason LaRue … 5-for-13, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 K … .385/.429/.692

Yadier Molina … 2-for-12, 0 HR, 2 BB, 1 K … .167/.286/.167

Brendan Ryan … 2-for-11, 0 HR, 1 BB, 1 K … .182/.250/.182

Rick Ankiel … 2-for-10, 0 HR, 1 BB, 2 K … .200/.273/.300

and

Matt Holliday … 0-for-9, 0 HR, 0 BB, 1 K … .000/.000/.000

6. Spent some of the week working on an article that had me poking at attendance figures from around Major League Baseball. Commissioner Bud Selig said that baseball had experienced a 5-percent drop in attendance as of the All-Star break. Other reports had it pegged at closer to 6 percent. Some of that was attributable to the smaller ballparks in New York (do you really think the Yankees have experienced a drop of 14.4 percent for another reason?). Here are the teams that have seen the biggest jump in average during this recession, and keep in mind some still have a steep climb to reach the top 2/3 in attendance:

• Kansas City … +18.6 percent (renovated stadium)
• Texas … +14.2 percent (winning team? discount deals?)
• Tampa Bay … + 9.1 percent (AL champ)
• Philadelphia … + 4.5 percent (WS champ)
• Minnesota … + 2.8 percent (last year of ballpark)

7. FARMNIK REPORT: In what was originally viewed as his stopover on the way back to the majors to make the next start when the Cardinals needed a No. 5 starter, Mitchell Boggs scuffled. He allowed seven runs (all earned) on 10 hits in his five innings Thursday. The SLC Bees also cranked two home runs off of Boggs. Boggs walked two and struck out four. The Cardinals had said the decision for the August 11 start would come down to Boggs, who impressed in his previous big-league start, and Todd Wellemeyer. … Sugar Shane Robinson drilled a grand slam and drove in five runs for Class AAA Memphis in a 9-8 loss to the Salt Lake City Bees on Thursday. The grand slam was Robinson’s fourth homer of the season. He went 2-for-3 in the loss. … Third baseman David Freese scored twice and drove in a run. … Tyler Henley homered in Springfield’s victory. It was Henley’s 14th homer of the season. With three RBIs in the game, he has 60 this season for Class AA Springfield, and he’s batting .321. … Scott Gorgen (3-3) got the win after allowing just one run on four hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out four. … Righty Eduardo Sanchez got his fifth save with two innings of work. He struck three, but walked two. … Tommy Pham tripled in a run and scored a run in the eighth inning of Palm Beach’s 8-7 victory. Adron Chambers stole his 20th base of the season in that same inning and then was thrown out for the 11th time this season when he tried to steal third a few moments later. … Edgar Lara went 2-for-3 with two RBIs in the first game of a doubleheader for Johnson City. Lara, a right fielder, was signed out of the DR in 2005, one of the first notable free-agent signings for the Cardinals as they built their campus there. Shortstop Yunier Castillo also went 2-for-3 in the game with a double and a run scored. The JC Cards went 6-for-12 with runners in scoring position in Game 1. … Leadoff hitter D’Marcus Ingram went 2-for-2 with two walks, two runs scored and three RBIs in Low-A Quad Cities 11-4 to victory.

8. The Cardinals acquired more than a left fielder, more than a cleanup hitter and more than a heavy to hit behind Pujols when they traded for Holliday this season. They got themselves another blogger. Matt Holliday has a blog on the MLB.com network of blogs (Matt’s Blog), joining Rick Ankiel (Ank’s Blog), whose started up recently. Holliday’s last entry was about the trade and playing at Busch for the first time.

9. It wouldn’t be a Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees series without a circus, and this time it’s David Ortiz that’s putting up the big top. On Saturday, in what could be one of those mile-marker press conferences for the Steroid Era (like, say, Alex Rodriguez’s this past February) Ortiz will meet the media to discuss his 2003 positive test, which was first reported by The New York Times. Ortiz will be joined by new union head Michael Weiner in a pre-game press conference at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. Boston ownership has promised a comment after the press conference. “I’m going to let you know what I’ve got,” Ortiz said.

10. Because it’s the weekend and it’s good for a grin, here’s something from the Cardinals’ minor leagues that has already become a minor web hit (78,500 views): How Casey Mulligan, a catcher turned into a High-A reliever, passes the time during a rain delay in Jupiter, Fla.:

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