DOWNTOWN — A new spin on a couple old attempts here at the blog: We’re going to splice the pseudo-chat from the old days (before the advent of the new-fangled chats) with the live blogging from a couple weeks ago.

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-