In the span of a few games, Pujols showed the plus and minus of his aggressive baserunning.

At Coors Field last week, Pujols was on second base in the ninth inning with Rick Ankiel batting. Jose Oquendo, or someone in the dugout, gave him the steal sign before the first pitch to Ankiel. Pujols waited a few pitches.

“He had to catch his breath,” manager Tony La Russa said. “On a play like that only works if you get a good jump. He knew he had to wait like he did to get that jump.”

Pujols broke. Ankiel swung. He chopped a slow grounder to second baseman, and by the time the grounder was fielder, Pujols was rounding third. When Rockies’ second baseman Omar Quintanilla didn’t look to third … well, you know how this goes. Pujols scores. On one play, he ran further than the hit went that scored him. A few days later, Pujols made three outs on the basepaths, including twice being the third out of the inning. La Russa is careful to say he won’t “coach the aggressiveness out of a player” — even when it means he sometimes blows through a stop sign — and that Pujols’ aggressiveness on the basepaths pays off more than it costs.

This won’t surprise you: There’s a stat to verify that.

Some fun with numbers as the Pirates come in for a three-game series.

The Cardinals last year were not a fast team, were not close to a stolen base threat, were seemingly not much at all on the basepaths. Yet, no team in the National League went 1st to 3rd like they did. They were downright greyhounds 1st to 3rd. According to The Bill James Handbook, here were the top teams going 1st to 3rd:

1. LA (go-go) Angels … 277 chances, 100 1st to 3rds.
2. Minnesota Twins … 240 chances, 89 1st to 3rds.
3. Cardinals … 274 chances, 83 1st to 3rds.
4. Oakland A’s … 239 chances, 74 1st to 3rds.
5. NY Yankees … 263 chances, 73 1st to 3rds.

The Cardinals weren’t quite as good at the other running numbers kept — 2nd to home (195 chances, 111 scores) and 1st to home (62 chances, 24 scores) — and certainly did not rank high in the better number: Baserunning Plus/Minus. The number, called “BR Gain” in the Handbook, represents the number of bases gained or lost against the average, leveraged against the outs made on the bases.

The Cardinals were a minus-8. The Royals, for context, were +69. The NL Central:

• Milwaukee … +29
• Houston … -49
• Pittsburgh … -21
• Chicago Cubs … -28
• Cincinnati … -33

The stat is also kept on an individual basis. In my scorebook, I have a shorthand notation for extra bases taken. By no means is it enough to chart or calculate extra bases taken. But in the context of covering a game it’s helpful to see that arrow swooping around second base to designate the runner took third when his teammate knocked a base hit.

It terms of baserunning plus/minus (and the swooping arrows) Pujols has done well.

When different magazines and newspapers do their tools surveys – Best Power, Best Arm, Best Glove, Best Clutch, Best This, Best That — the best baserunners used to have a distinct Cardinals flare. Scott Rolen and Larry Walker, teammates with the Cardinals in late 2004 and 2005, were widely regarded by opposing managers and scouts as two of the savviest baserunners in the game. What our eyeballs told us, the numbers confirmed.

Again, going back to Bill James Online, Rolen and Walker had solid plus/minus:

ROLEN — +26 in 2004, +8 in 2006, +25 from 2002-07

WALKER — +21 in 2002, +39 from 2002-05

Using those same numbers, Pujols is a +36 from 2002-07. In his career, he’s gone 1st to 3rd in 39 percent of his chances since 2002. He’s scored from 2nd in 73 percent of his chances since 2002, and he’s gone 1st to home on extra-base hits 54 percent of the time since 2002. In total, BJO has Pujols taking 126 extra bases. According to this metric, Pujols has consistently been a plus baserunner.

Until this season.

So far, he is a minus-9.

-30-

The Chicago Sun-Times Gordon Wittenmyer reports this evening that:

… multiple Cubs sources said the team plans to pursue Edmonds, and one said Edmonds has told his agent to talk to no one before he talks to the Cubs. The Cubs have considered a left-handed bat a need for weeks.

 On The Chicago Tribune baseball blog, Hardball, Cubs beater writer Paul Sullivan (and noted Mizzou alum), posited the possible move to readers and was hit immediately by this comment: “Once a Cardinal, always a Cardinal.” Sullivan outlined a few reasons, like Edmonds’ 17 homers at Wrigley (including the one that left Carlos Zambrano yelling at him as he rounded the bases), and:

Looking strictly at the numbers, it doesn’t appear to be worth the risk. Edmonds hit .178 with a .265 on-base percentage for the Padres, and seems to be past his prime, turning 38 next month. On the other hand, he does have a .298 career average against right-handers, and they’d only have to pay Edmonds the major league minimum.

Some thoughts from the Green Room here:

Max Leinwand: “Jimmy Ballgame, playing for the Cubbies? … That’s like the Montagues playing for the Capulets’ softball team.”

Jim Hayes: “If Edmonds thinks he can still play and if somewhere deep down he feels he’s was wronged by the Cards, it seems like the move for them. … I texted him to find out what he’s going to do, and I’ve gotten no response. So I’m waiting. Jimmy if you read this blog, text me.

“Talking with Skip Schumaker and Anthony Reyes, who worked out with him in the offseason, said he looked like he was in great shape. They said, that he was determined to show he can still play. Supposedly that’s why he went to San Diego because he wanted to be a starting center fielder. So obviously he did think he was going to play.

“I did talk to a bunch of Cardinals in Milwaukee and they all feel he’ll show up somewhere, on somebody’s roster. That report (the Cubs) had not surfaced at that point.”

Aside: One of the reasons the Cardinals and Edmonds decided to part company this offseason was because Edmonds wanted to start and the Cardinals could not guarantee that the rise of Colby Rasmus or arrival of Rick Ankiel would not mean the shift to part-time status for Edmonds. Late last season, one Cardinals official said that as he looked at 2008 he saw Ankiel as the starting center fielder, even if Edmonds was still on the team.

Pat Parris: “As long as he doesn’t mind his restaurant and club closing because there is no way Cardinals fans will patronize a Cub-players’ establishment. … I do not think he has it in him. If the Cubs are trying to get some veteran guy in there to spell Pie, I think that’s a mistake. Pie just has to fight through the mistakes of being a young outfielder. Why would you take the at-bats away from Pie?”

Hayes: “All I know, is if it were to happen it would spice-up the next series. It would make for good theater. Now let’s talk about Team 1380.”

-30-

From August 9 until the start of tonight’s game, here is where Ankiel ranks in some statistics:

• 17 home runs … tied 22nd.
• 58 RBIs … 21st.
• 67 strikeouts … tied 35th.
• .515 slugging percentage … 30th.

Who he ranks with adds better context to the numbers. Starting with home runs, lead by Tampa Bay’s Carlos Pena’s 28 home runs since August 9. The others around Ankiel:

• Ryan Braun … 20 HR, 332 AB
• Mark Teizeira … 19 HR, 314 AB
• Dan Uggla … 19 HR, 311 AB
• Nick Markakis … 19 HR, 332 AB
• Raul Ibanez … 18 HR, 342 AB
• Alfonso Soriano … 18 HR, 229 AB
• Chase Utley … 18 HR, 281 AB
• Mike Jacobs … 18 HR, 288 AB
• Carlos Beltran … 18 HR, 302 AB
• Ankiel … 17 HR, 301 AB
• Nate McLouth … 17 HR, 284 AB
• David Wright … 17 HR, 316 AB
• Hanley Ramirez … 17 HR, 343 AB

Boston designated hitter David Ortiz leads the majors with 77 RBIs in that span, and the group around Ankiel includes: Ryan Howard (62), Miguel Tejada (61), Miguel Cabrera (60), Jim Thome (59), Markakis (59), Ankiel (58), Alex Rodriguez (58), Brad Hawpe (58), Troy Tulowitzki (57).

Ankiel is down a bit further in the slugging percentage, but the top 10 includes a predictable name (Albert Pujols) and not the Pirate that you’d expect, but the one off to a tremendous start this season:

1. Lance Berkman … .699 SLG
2. Chipper Jones … .652 SLG
3. Alex Rodriguez … .632 SLG
4. David Ortiz … 609 SLG
5. Chase Utley … .605 SLG
6. Matt Holliday … .598 SLG
7. David Wright … .592 SLG
8. Albert Pujols … .590 SLG
9. Nate McLouth … .588 SLG
10. Carlos Pena … .584 SLG

***

Q: My questions involve a couple of remarks regarding prospects in the last PostCards edition. You mentioned that Brian Barton was identified as “the guy” using the STOUT system of scouting. Can you maybe spell out that acronym and give us an explanation, or is that a trade secret? Is that more of a Jeff Luhnow/scouting thing, or do Tony La Russa/Deacon (Dave Duncan)/John Mozeliak use that as well when putting together the roster? They say that baseball is a game of inches, so I understand if that info shouldn’t be disseminated in a public forum, but still, I am curious as to how it differs from, say, Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projections or Szymborski’s ZiPS. Also, does it include any defensive metrics? There doesn’t seem to be much consensus on defining glove skills statistically amongst position players in the SABR world, so I wondered if maybe the pros have a different look at it that uses more scout/eyeball based ideas.

Second, you mention Ryan Ludwick as a “six-year free agent” I assume that is regarding how many years since he was drafted, which is why Luddy is 29 and just now getting his first full-time gig in the bigs. How many other older “prospects” do we still have kicking around down on the farm, and do any of them really have a chance at breaking the big league roster? We’ve already heard about Rico Washington and Amaury Marti, but are there any other oldsters still waiting patiently for that Crash Davis moment?

– Jon Witte

DG: The “STOUT” acronym stands for the fusion of “STats” and “scOUTs”. It’s a system that has been around longer than it’s nickname, but basically it’s the Cardinals attempt to splice the information from statistical analysis with the information harvested by the scouts who go out and see the players. The Cardinals have said it’s not a straight 50/50, that it leans more toward the scouts and the values they place on a pitch (yes, numbers are assigned).  The Cardinals system is based on runs — runs produced (hitting), runs stopped (defense), and, for lack of a better way to say it, runs not allowed (pitching).

A couple six-year free agents that are on the roster in Triple-A Memphis that could have a role this year are catcher Mark Johnson and depth starter John Wasdin. The number of six-year free agents the Cardinals have has dropped in the past two seasons — on purpose. They didn’t want Triple-A to only be a depth squad, as it had been, philosophically, before. During the winter before the 2007 season, the Cardinals made a decision to not sign six-year free agents and put them in as “blocks” for prospects. It’s a decision that frustrated some internally and led them to point to it as the reason why there was such a scramble for starters throughout the season (Tomo Ohka, anyone?). From an article printed in 2007’s spring training:

… The Cardinals pursued fewer six-year free agents and signed just one minor league veteran pitcher because of the wish to expose their rising prospects to big-league camp. That means fewer Blaine Neals, Chris Gissells, Dennis Tankersleys and Toby Borlands to dutifully handle innings, and more youngsters.

Ludwick, clearly, has been the gem of the six-year free agent mining.

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And already Max Leinwand has brought up a question to wonder:

Who is the emergency catcher on this year’s team?

Molina grounds out while Max is asking. So, As Rick Ankiel goes deep — clogging up the basepaths, eh? — for another home run off Dave Bush, here are the first round of questions:

Q: Unfortunately, an Jason Isringhausen question. … Izzy IS a good guy! However … a HUGE QUESTION, please! Does Izzy any longer have a 4th pitch?

1) Curveball - saved as an “out” pitch, but Izzy isn’t getting to a “curveball count” too often these days.

2) Fastball - “okay” speed still, but UP. What happened to Izzy’s SINKING fastball?

3) Slider - ain’t workin’. Under repair at the moment.

Did Izzy give up on his split-fingered pitch? Did he lose control of it, or what? Izzy needs something that SINKS … that he can control within the strike zone. Where’s the sinker (easier to control) or split-finger? Izzy’s stuff is no longer all that exciting, and his “arsenal” is just not that extensive.

– Roger Schutt, Grass Valley, Calif.

DG: This past spring training, Isringhausen spent some time with a softball wedged between his first two fingers on his right hand. Ryan Franklin showed Isringhausen the grip on a split-finger fastball and pitching coach Dave Duncan encouraged him to try it. Isringhausen thought it would be an effective alternative to his changeup, but he wasn’t comfortable enough with his command of it to bring the split into the regular season. Isringhausen’s “arsenal” is plenty expansive — fastball, cut fastball, changeup and curveball — and he has stopped throwing the curveball recently meaning his “arsenal” may be expansive but has not been exploited. 

***

Q: Good morning. Could you give an update on how things are going for our #1 pick in 2007, Pete Kozma? What are the realistic short-term and long-term expectations for him? Are they excited about his potential to bring an upgrade to the highly important SS spot? I appreciate your time & information greatly …

– Superdave4good, Tulsa, OK

DG: Kozma started off hot for Low-A Quad Cities, hitting .341 in April. He’s cooled in May and his average has dropped ot .293 entering play Monday. In Kozma’s early numbers for a full-season club, there are a lot to like: 11 extra-base hits, 24 strikeouts against 16 walks, and 34 runs created in 32 games.  Short-term: Expect him to go through feast-famine turns at his current level and maybe earn a spot for a callup later in the year, if the Palm Beach roster opens up for him. Long-term: He’s a first-round pick taken because the Cardinals believe his glove will keep at a premium position throughout his career. The bat needs to be playable-plus, perhaps showing he could be a No. 6 in the field and a No. 2 in the lineup. An ugrade? Over whom? It’s too early to tell if Kozma will be an upgrade because we don’t really know who he’ll be pushing. Brendan Ryan? Free agent? Check back when Kozma is playing shortstop and hitting toward the top of the order in the Texas League. Say, by 2010.

***

Now watching the second inning, Hayes offers this question: Why would you bunt over the guy on crutches?

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Voila! PostCards Live!

Will be joining the gang at FSN Midwest for tonight’s pre-game show. Then at first pitch, 7:05 p.m. St. Louis time, I will return here to ask questions and fire off thoughts (Max Leinwand promises to be witty; believe it when I type it). Figure the mailbag concept — so old and dusty in the days of JSL!!! and chatheads — needs a reboot. To ask questions or fire off comments, do so below or:

postcards@post-dispatch.com

dgoold@post-dispatch.com

And we’ll start off with a little music.

***

Q: Thought that was an interesting line — “10. Brady Toops, C (300th overall) … Retired to pursue singing career.” If you do a quick Google search you can find a video of him singing on American Idol. Maybe the Cardinals had him listed as a double threat. Play catcher AND sing the national anthem.

– Tom G.

DG: The Cardinals at one point did have a second baseman in their system who was married to singer who could belt out a fantastic anthem. That would have been a daily double. Tom’s email refers to the recent blog entry about the Lost Draft of 2004 — Behold! A 2004 Draft Class Sighting! — and specifically 10th-round pick Brady Toops, a native of New London, Minn., and a catcher. Toops got as high as High-A with the Cardinals before retiring to pursue a music career. Drafted out of Jess Todd’s University of Arkansas, Toops played in 119 minor-league games and hit .193, slugged .274 and reached base with an OBP of .286.

Inspired by Tom, I did a little YouTube search and found a little Before and After for the Cardinals’ 10th-round pick. Here is what the Cardinals drafted:

And here, from a station in Rochester, Minn., and its local American Idol , is what he’s doing now (notice how the screaming remains the same, it’s just gone up a few gazillion decibels and octaves here):

***

More this evening, during the game and as you submit them.

***

Every week during the regular season, The Post-Dispatch’s baseball writer Derrick Goold will answer fans’ emails in a mailbag blog called PostCards, a spin-off of Bird Land. To comment and discuss the mailbag visit the PostCards blog on StlToday.com. To submit questions write postcards@post-dispatch.com or file them as a comment on this blog. With all questions please include your name and hometown.

PostCards will run online exclusively at StlToday.com.

-30-

“I think it was only five,” Isringhausen said. “Not that many. But now if it jinxes me, I know who to blame. If it’s going good, I will use it. I’ll only go with it. There was only one of which didn’t break right for me.”

Only one — that didn’t break right.

Only one — about the number of curves he’s thrown recently.

As detailed in Joe Strauss’ game story today, the Cardinals are in a quandary not so much because the clubhouse feels for the backend of the bullpen, or because the officials plan to meet today to discuss their closer, but because the closer has doubts himself. In Colorado on Thursday morning, Isringhausen said he “not a quitter” and “there’s no way I going to walk away without getting myself through this.” Dinged by Milwaukee in the ninth inning Friday, he sounded like a pitcher who needs a break from the ninth:

“They can’t keep sending me out there when I’m pitching the way I’m pitching. We’re going to have to figure out some kind of remedy. I’m sure that remedy will give me some time off from that role and we’ll get somebody in who can do a better job right now.”

When he returns to the role, he has to be packing that curve.

On April 8, in Houston, Isringhausen breezed through the ninth. He faced three batters. Got three outs. Up. Down. Save. Cinched. Handshakes. Clubhouse. With Jason LaRue behind the plate, here is how he did it:

1. vs. J.R. Towles … 3 curves, F9.
2. vs. Darin Erstad … 1st-pitch fastball (93 mph). 2 great curves. K.
3. vs. Michael Bourn … 1st-pitch cutter (90 mph). 3 knockout curves. K.

Isringhausent threw 11 pitches in that inning, and eight of them were curveballs. Two others were first-pitch strikes on fastball — just as he likes to do to set up that curve. It’s rare for Isringhausen to use that many curves in an outing, but it’s just as rare for  him to go several outings with so few curves.

There have been some great recent studies done on the rapid decline of Isringhausen’s swing-and-misses and strikeouts, with different sides of the analysis done at cousin blog Bernie’s Extra Points and over at Viva el Birdos. Can’t hope to keep up with those soaring dissections, so let’s focus on one pitch: Isringhausen’s AWOL curve.

Using data available at Bill James Online, it’s possible to chart trends in Isringhausen’s selection of pitches. In 2008, according to the Web site, Isringhausen has thrown 286 pitches. Forty percent of them have been fastballs, 36 percent cutters and 20 percent curves. Of the pitches, he’s thrown to righthanded batters, 14 percent have been curves, and 32 percent of the pitches he’s thrown to lefties have been curves.

A look at his pitch percentages since 2002, show the steady use of a curve and the rise of his cut fastball:

2008 … Curve: 20 % … FB: 40 % … Cut: 36 %

2007 … Curve: 21 % … FB: 47 % … Cut: 26 %

2006 … Curve: 19 % … FB: 45 % … Cut: 29 %

2005 … Curve: 24 % … FB: 41 % … Cut: 21 %

2004 … Curve: 17 % … FB: 50 % … Cut: 5 %

2003 … Curve: 16 % … FB: 58 % … Cut: —

2002 … Curve: 14 % … FB: 70 % … Cut: —

A cool exercise would be comparing the above percentages to the info Bernie Miklasz provides about the swing-and-miss rates dropping over that same span of years. 

In many ways this data is based on the eye of the researcher, but the advent of Pitch F/X and other means of charting pitches has made it better and better at capturing the selection and assortment a pitcher has from game to game. It was using Pitch F/X, my own notes and going back this morning to watch some of the recent save opportunities that harvested this data:

He ain’t throwing the curve at 20 percent. Not even close.

Of the 13 pitches he threw to the Brewers on Friday night, not one was a curveball. He had several cutters, a couple 93-mph fastballs and a handful of other fastballs. Not one curve. In Colorado on Wednesday, Isringhausen threw 20 pitches to the Rockies as they rallied for his fourth blown save of the season. Of the 20, two were curves.

They were both thrown to the shortstop Clint Barmes, in a 10-pitch at-bat.

In the same at-bat, Isringhausen threw his cutter for two strikes.

That and the fastball are the pitches he’s leaning on most. The “back to basics” pitches discussed in an early blog entry and a couple articles in the paper over the past week or so. He trusts his fastball and believes in his cutter. Colorado players were stunned he didn’t throw anything off-speed to three of the four batters he faced. He got ahead of them with fastballs and … then offered more.

In the game story today he describes his curve as not a “throw-for-strike pitch.” Those other pitchers are, and when they’re not he’s not going to his curve. It’s an asset he’s pitched away from. It’s a pitch he shouldn’t neglect.

***

So who should be the temp called in to handle the ninth inning as Isringhausen reboots? The Cardinals have a few intriguing candidates, in and out of the major-league team, in and out of the rotation:

1. RHP Kyle McClellan – Precedence says he’ll get a shot because the Cardinals have been reluctant to move guys out of roles they’re succeeding in, i.e. Ryan Franklin now is eighth-inning Braden Looper in 2006. Plus, McClellan has a couple swing-and-miss pitches.

2. RHP Ryan Franklin – Has handled the eighth for more than a season now, could slide up to the ninth and see the other relievers fall in behind. Makes a lot of sense as the seasoned stage actor called in for the emergency spot appearance when the star goes down.

3. RHP Braden Looper – Is the only member of the Cardinals other than Isringhausen with 100 saves in his career. The former closer for Florida and the New York Mets was signed nearly three seasons ago to be the emergency replacement for Isringhausen. Instead, he’s found a new niche starting, and has said he won’t budge from it without a fight.

4. RHP Russ Springer – Veteran savvy. Steadying presence. Though a careerlong member of the bullpen has eight career saves, never more than three in a season.

5. RHP Todd Wellemeyer – Like Looper, is in a rotation that is headed for a shakeup when Mark Mulder returns, say, sometime in June. Wellemeyer has power stuff and the kind of plus-quality changeup that so many closers have been successful with in their careers. Leads team in strikeouts, has a strong K/9 rate and isn’t foreign to the bullpen. He, also like Looper, delights in being A Starter.

6. RHP Chris Perez – The prospect, the Next Closer. The Heir. Is 1-1 with a 2.16 ERA and eight saves for Triple-A Memphis. The more important numbers: He has 21 strikeouts against eight walks in 16 2/3 innings. Kid throws 98 mph, loves his slider, has been told to use his curve more and revels in being a closer. Has since college. Wouldn’t seem likely that the Cardinals would bring up a reliever and throw him immediately into the closer role, even if that’s the long-range idea for this righthander. Plus, promoting Perez means two moves — clearing a spot for him on the major-league roster and adding him to the 40-man (which, though a spot is easy to find, would start his clock).

7. Writey N. Candidate. Make a case.

So, who you got?

-30-

That, and the altitude.

“If I get beat with a bad breaking ball here,” Isringhausen said Thursday morning before the Cardinals concluded the series at Coors Field, “I’d feel a lot worse than with a fastball.”

Called into Wednesday game with the tying run at first, a two-run lead and four outs to get, Isringhausen allowed an RBI single and a two-run triple in the eighth inning. The Cardinals closer has blown three of his past six save opportunities and seen his ERA balloon from 0.00 on April 9 to 6.06 a month later.

The first batter Isringhausen faced, pinch-hitter Ryan Spilborghs, chopped a grounder through the left side of the infield. Isringhausen got the groundball he wanted, just not to a fielder. He said “that’s how things are going right now.” After the game, the Rockies mentioned they were surprised Isringhausen didn’t throw anything off-speed. His curveball has been an asset this season.

Isringhausen said it had as much to do where he was a mile above sea level than where he was with recent performance. The first three games of this series were each decided by one run and when told this afternoon’s would probably be the same, Isringhausen invited it, saying: “I won’t quit. Get me back out there.”

“Going to the basics,” he said. “If people get beat here, you get beat with flares. If you get beat with a bad curveball because it didn’t break, then you feel real bad. I didn’t want to get beat on a bad breaking ball.”

-30-

It’s also high enough to be one of several places you could tune in KMOX.

Had the phrase existed years ago it would have been called a Cardinals Hot Spot.

So many places have one.

The Stan Musial Society was created at the footsteps of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., because the founders started recognizing cars that came to the high point to tune in Cardinals’ games. In New Orleans, KMOX came in loud and clear and a pocket of Cardinal Nation received sustenance on the porches of the Garden District. From Boulder to the bayou to even Baraboo, Wis., a region of fans was planted and cultivated by the reach of KMOX.

Even today, Extra Innings packages on TV and the ever-expanding MLB.com universe allows the Cardinals’ diaspora to turn on, tune in and drop Shannonisms. In New York City, Dewey’s Flatiron — a bar in the shadow of Manhattan’s Flatiron Building — has become a hub for Cardinals fans to gather and watch games, as they did packing the place during 2006 playoff run, which came through their backyard.

So, what if there was a map, a redistricting of the United States not by red states and blue states but by Reds states and ‘Birds states? How vast would the Cardinals Nation be? The size of Texas? Larger.

Nike attempted to answer that question:

Found the above map while searching for a birthday gift for the little man. A larger picture of it is available here at Strange Maps, where I first came upon a discussion about its arbitrary take on each team’s fanbase. (Seriously? The Dodgers tightly bunched in on the left coast; like Massachusetts of the western divisions?) You’ve probably stopped reading already and are right-clicking it onto your desktop.

It’s a beauty, to be sure.

But it looks more like a broadcast coverage map than a true charting of fanbases. Where’s the Yankees’ stronghold in Florida? The Cubs hold on Las Vegas and the little island around Ho Ho Kam Park there in Arizona? The map was the illustration developed by Nike and MLB.com for their The United Countries of Baseball campaign, which was conducted last year. There’s a poll there designed to use Zip Codes to map allegiance, and if you haven’t done so already there’s a much larger picture of the above map there designed for desktop use.

CLICK HERE FOR THAT

It’s an unscientific poll — as much a piece of artwork, like this baseball map, as true cartography — but the span of Cardinals Nation has to surely take shape with the information provided. (There is, after all, a Cardinals’ blog based in Ireland!) One Web site attempting to do just that. Collect enough information to create what will be a census of fandom.

The Commoncensus Sports Map Project is gathering votes to define the geography of every fan base, from MLB to NFL to even college football. Nearly 26,000 fans have participated in the MLB voting at the Web site. Updated in August 2007, this was map produced:

Another page on that Web site allows for a detailed breakdown on different regions. Consider the 200-mile-diameter region that would include the “Scenic Overlook” described early. The Cardinals received the fourth-most from the straw poll in that region:

1. Colorado Rockies … 205

2. Boston Red Sox … 43

3. Chicago Cubs … 29

4. Cardinals … 23

5. New York Yankees … 18

A few years before the Colorado Rockies came to the Time Zone Baseball Forgot, The Denver Post ran a poll of its readers to adopt a baseball team. The Cubs were the odds-on favorite. Because WGN was available here, if you watched a game on TV it was probably on most days a Cubs game. One of the reporters who worked on the project said the response was so overwhelming it fritzed the phone system a few times. The overwhelming winner was a surprise to some.

The adopted team was the Cardinals.

So it’s with little surprise that last night in the press box a few of its denizens were discussing the partisan crowd that has come for a midweek series in Denver. School is still in session. It’s the middle of a work week. You wouldn’t think Cardinals’ fans are migrating just yet. So, why red-tinged and hearty cheers Monday when Albert Pujols slid home with the game-winning run? Just another Cardinals Nation annex.

Call it unincorporated.

Any other maps out there? Any precincts yet to report? Any other outposts to be counted?

-30-

Mulder experienced what was described as “shoulder fatigue” during his start Monday in Memphis. He was scheduled for one start on his rehab assignment, and then the Cardinals were going to have to decide what do with the lefthander when the 30 days of his rehab assignment expired May 14.

Wednesday’s diagnosis delays that decision.

“The bottomline is this is not a setback whatsoever,” Mulder’s agent Gregg Clifton said this afternoon. “It’s a hiatus for a week, and then after he’s re-evaluated he’ll be back out there. … Everyone feels a brief rest period will allow him to come back (feeling stronger).”

Mulder is coming off two shoulder surgeries in the past two seasons. The first was a repairing of his labrum and left rotator cuff. The second was needed last September to repatch a section of the rotator cuff that did not heal following the first surgery.

Through his rehab, Mulder has also been trying to break the bad mechanical habits that developed over the course of pitching several seasons with rotator cuff troubles. That has mainly meant restoring his arm slot to a higher, full-extension release than he ever had as a Cardinal.

The lefthander met with Dr. George Paletta in St. Louis in Wednesday morning. The evaluation discovered a “mild rotator cuff strain”, and a seven to 10 days of rest were prescribed. He will be re-evaluated at the end of the stretch.

Mulder made five starts on his rehab assignment, posting a 6.66 ERA and allowing 33 hits in 25 2/3 innings on his rehab assignment.

More later today here and on StlToday.com

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The first one beat one of the fastest runners in baseball by at least a stride to third base. The second, well, it, Larry Walker joked, traveled further from the outfield than Ankiel’s home run had traveled over the outfield in that same inning. Some of the names dropped in the conversations were grandiose arms such as Bo Jackson and, more than once, Roberto Clemente.

Leave it to Tony La Russa to find a compromise.

What was most incredible about the throws wasn’t anything about them individually, but that he made two of them — in the same game.

“I was pumped,” Ankiel said. “You don’t make throws like that all the time, no matter how many times you practice. For me, it was better than the home run. Those throws just don’t happen all the time.”

But they have happened before for Ankiel.

The throw Ankiel made to beat Willy Taveras to third base Tuesday night reminded me of another throw Ankiel made in the early stages of his reinvention. It was back in 2005, while Ankiel was with Double-A Springfield, and … well, this was the lede I wrote back then:

***

It took one start in center field and one dart from that treasured arm for Rick Ankiel to show why he remains one of the most enticing and enigmatic talents the Cardinals have, no matter his position.

Ankiel made his first professional start in center field Sunday, and just two innings into a Class AA game he made a play to help determine the outcome. With runners on second and third, a Corpus Christi hitter lofted a fly ball to center. As Springfield Cardinals manager Chris Maloney tells it, Ankiel had a bead on the ball, shifted naturally when the ball zigged, but instinctively kept his footing so that he’d come at the ball, snare it and be in position to throw.

Ankiel’s bee-line strike arrived at third base a step before runner Charlton Jimerson, who had 39 stolen bases last season in Class AA. The Cardinals won 2-1 in the 10th inning. If Jimerson had reached third and scored, Maloney said, the Cardinals would have lost.

*** 

Video of Ankiel’s throws against the Rockies are available over at MLB.com’s vast highlight collection. They are equally uncanny on third, fourth, seventh viewing. It’s like Ryan Ludwick described as he neared Ankiel on the eighth-inning throw that pegged Omar Quintanilla at third base: As the ball bounced up against the wall, Ludwick knew Ankiel had the better chance to make a play — not that Ludwick believed there was a play to be made. Ludwick started screaming “3! 3! 3!”

“Honestly, I thought he had no shot to throw him out,” Ludwick said later. “Best throw I’ve seen in my life. He just picked it up, turned and fired. And it was right on the money. Can’t make a better throw than that.”

Said Walker: “He was 3-foot-2. That’s how he looked. That’s how far away he was.”

“I saw him rounding for third and thought if I could get off a good, clean throw, you never know what could happen,” Ankiel said. “Maybe he trips.”

The two outfield assists were Ankiel’s fourth and fifth of his career (he had three in 2007). It was the first two-assist game for a Cardinals outfielder since Chris Duncan’s last August in Pittsburgh. Colorado manager Clint Hurdle swatted away a post-game question that wondered if it was bad base-running or incredible throws that led to the two third outs at third base. La Russa agreed that word is already out about Ankiel’s arm — is there a better one in the National League? a better one for a center fielder in the majors? — but that tonight he’d try to take the same bases against Ankiel. He’d test him on both plays. Again. Because what are the chances.

“I don’t believe he did it,” La Russa said. ”One, everybody on our side had never seen anything like it. Two? That just doesn’t happen. Who could believe it?”

Since major-league baseball came to this region — just a few years after Joey Meyer pelted Mile High Stadium with moonshots — the jab at altitude baseball was that the home runs soared here, that the ball carried farther in the thin air. Asked if the same thing goes for throws from center, Ankiel said:

“It might. For me, it was just get off a good throw, give it a shot, and let it eat.”

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