SOUTH GRAND — The second (big) batch of questions posed to Cardinals vice president and draft director Jeff Luhnow will be up shortly. Got to give the guy time as he flew from Texas to Venezuela to Jersey to Florida to … well, wherever his passport and scouting reports will take him, apparently.

In the meantime, you’re stuck with this, no exclamation points earned or needed.

Solid wave of mail hit the PostCards address in the past week, and, incredibly, all of the questions weren’t about the Closer of the Present, the Closer of Concern and the Closer of the Future. There’s a question about Memorial Day, about how hitters recover from line drives that cause injury, a look at the fewest pitches ever thrown in a complete game, and a novel way for relievers to keep their pitch counts down by letting their fingers do the (intentional) walking.

Mining the mailbag is a lovely way to spend a surprise holiday off-day, even in uncertain weather.

Up with the umbrella, and on with PostCards:

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Q: I can’t believe there isn’t a game on Memorial Day! Who put that schedule together? When is the last time the Cards didn’t play on Memorial Day?

– Steve K.

DG: Neither can I, but it gives me some free time to flip through The Retrosheet Project and find out just when was the last time the Cardinals did not play on Memorial Day. There for awhile it seemed like the Cardinals had an annual date with Colorado on Memorial Day — so, of course, you have to go back to before Colorado came into the league. The answer: 1985. By my count, this will be the first for some college graduates that the Cardinals have not played on Memorial Day in their lifetime.

Chris Perez wasn’t yet born the last time the Cardinals skipped Memorial Day.

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Q: Albert Pujols said when he came to the plate after hitting Chris Young that he got flashbacks the rest of the night when he batted. My question is: in baseball history, this has happened many times in the past, does it usually cause problems for the batter having flashbacks or does the batter normally put it out of his mind?

– Terry Orr

DG: It’s almost impossible to generalize these situations and offer a concrete answer. San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Tim Sullivan wrote a column exploring the event from the other point of the view — that of the pitcher, hit and now trying to cover, physically and mentally. From the batters, point of view, let’s take a look at comments from three of the most recent incidents …

Aaron Miles hits a foul ball that shatters Juan Encarnacion’s orbital (2007):

Miles was among the first Cardinals to get in touch with Encarnacion and visit Encarnacion as he recovered in a St. Louis hospital from an injury that is likely to end his career. Miles was shaken after the game, but regained his comfort soon after with help from teammates and manager Tony La Russa insistence that Miles play through any hesitancy. “It’s not a good feeling right now,” Miles said after the game. “To be here and know that a teammate is hurt, really hurt and struggling somewhere … you just hope he’s all right.”

Carl Crawford’s liner hits Boston’s Matt Clement in the head (2005):

Crawford said immediately after the event that he was comforted by the doctors and medical staff letting him know exactly how Clement was doing, even letting him see the reports. In August of that same season, Clement pitched against to Tampa Bay’s outfielder and Crawford flew out to center. “I’m glad to see him back out there pitching,” Crawford said. “I was mostly scared for his health. He is important to their team. You hate to see somebody go down like that.”

Yankees’ Ryan Thompson’s hit nails Sox reliever Bryce Florie in the nose (2000):

Thompson was clearly shaken by the damage done by his liner, saying after the event: “I can’t watch it. I won’t. It will make me feel worse.” He was frozen a few times at the plate in subsequent at-bats, and he took to wearing a facemask a few days after Florie’s injury. He remained in contact with the pitcher, though neither career was really the same. Florie made seven appearances the next season with the Red Sox, his last seven appearances in the majors. Thompson, never a regular, last appeared in the majors in 2002. The liner crushed Florie’s nose and several of the bones around his eyes. Thompson heard that Florie’s career could be in jeopardy, and he reportedly said: “Oh no. I hate to hear that. We’re all warriors out there, man. We all play hard and we want to win, but you never want to hurt the other guy. You never want to see something like that.”

Last year, after Encarnacion’s injury, colleague Rick Hummel took a look at how such events impact both players’ careers. Hummel wrote that Miles’ foul ball “brings to mind a handful of like occurrences in baseball, none of which had a particularly happy ending professionally for either the victim or the other player involved.” Tough but true when you consider Florie and the oft-cited Herb Score incident. But it also calls to mind a phrase Troy Glaus quoted when talking about getting his swing in order: Batters are producers not directors. Produce the hits, not direct where they go. There is “no joystick on the ball”, as Glaus said. There is no intent.

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Q: Thanks for keeping us Cardinal fans in Iowa up to date. I have two things on my mind. Does anyone else wonder whether Chris Duncan is truly healthy? I don’t ever remember him swinging under the ball and popping it up to the left side as much as he has this season. I appreciate his home run potential, when he’s healthy. But he seems to be getting close to becoming an automatic out. With Ryan Ludwick killing the ball, I wonder if it’s time to send Duncan down.

I also don’t understand the issue with Jason Isringhausen. I’m reading that he may be out six weeks. Obviously, this mysterious “infection” in his hand can’t keep him out that long. Although, those other “infections” seemed to shut down Scott Spiezio. Six weeks seems to be a long time just so Izzy can “get his head straight”. Do you think there are legitimate concerns about his hip? Or is it something else the less-than-forthcoming team is not telling us? Thanks a lot for your great work!

– Dave P.

DG: Infections can be nasty buggers, but we all know Isringhausen is on the disabled list to heal his confidence, not just his hand.  The Cardinals insist that the hip has been checked out and that it is fine. You talk to enough people around the Cardinals and around the game and there is concern — because, as Troy Percival said, Isringhausen looked like a guy who was shielding an injury, guarding against pain, when he pitched. Isringhausen said protecting the hip has just become part of his standard schedule and, during spring, he said he felt stronger with it then than in years because he wasn’t recovering all winter, he was strengthening and conditioning. That said, Isringhausen’s hip will continue to be a question asked. And asked. And asked again.

Duncan is coming off hernie surgery that ended his 2007 season, and perhaps too little was made of the severity of that injury and the time it takes to recover. While Duncan is healthy, the hernie did change his swing. Duncan altered his swing to guard against pain — whether he did so subconsciously or not is irrelevant. His father and his hitting coach have both said that the soreness he felt for the latter half of last season infected his swing with some bad habits. He lost time this spring with back trouble and had to rebuild his swing on the job. He’s starting to do that. Hitting No. 2 has helped. It’s debatable whether sporadic playing time has hurt.

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Q: What pitcher holds the record for pitching a complete game by throwing the fewest pitches? (name, how many pitches) What pitcher holds the record for throwin the fastest (mph) pitch?

– Herb Tobias

DG: Two fascinating questions. One I knew the answer to, and the other I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find, but did. Darn this World Wide Web thingymagig is resourceful.

THE MOST ECONOMICAL GAME EVER: On August 10, 1944, at Crosley Field, Boston Braves pitcher Red Barrett needed just 58 pitches to throw a complete game against the Cincinnati Reds. Read all about the other record set that night over at Baseball Almanac. For context, consider Mark Buehrle’s no-hitter in 2007 took 106 pitches. Jon Lester’s this past week — 130 pitches.

THE FASTEST PITCH EVER: There is a lot of debate on this record because scoreboard radar guns vary from park to park and level to level. The Guinness Book of World Records (which has some curious records in there, right? wink, wink) had Nolan Ryan’s 100.9 mph as the fastest ever recorded. Mark Wohlers is more the accepted velocity king, at 103. Though, Justin Verlander — in his no-hitter, no less — was said to have thrown 102 and tested Wohler’s record. Other legends assert that Bob Feller threw pitches that had to go faster than that (his fastball outraced a motorcycle, for goodness sake). Again, Baseball Almanac has a fascinating collection of 100-mph pitches (Perez next?) and a list of the “fastest observed speed”.

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Q: How long before Joe Mather is brought up to the Cards? Chris Duncan needs to play everyday-he could at Memphis or make a deal with Cleveland for Barton and move him to Memphis. Mather is tearing up things and needs to come up.

– Joe Cardinal

DG: Three more hits Sunday and his 12th home run of the season sure has Mather swinging for the majors, but there doesn’t appear to be any hurry to get him there. La Russa told reporters in Los Angeles that he didn’t see room on the big-league roster for Mather, not now. The roadblock: Brian Barton. The Cardinals’ Rule 5 outfielder isn’t getting that much playing time because of the play of the other four outfielders, especially Ryan Ludwick, who has all but taken over as an everyday player. But he must remain on the roster for the Cardinals to retain the rights to him after this season. Or, they could trade for them.

The way for the Cardinals to get Mather to the majors and stick his power on the bench is to work out a trade with Cleveland that compensates the Indians for Barton and allows the Cardinals to option the outfielder to Class AAA where he can play everyday. The catch: The Indians, who apparently thought knee surgery would scare away any interest in Barton at the Rule 5 draft, don’t want to give him away for good tidings.

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Q: We are removed St. Louis cardinal fans living in Sarasota, Fla., and are able to watch/listen to all of the cardinal games. We were wondering what has happened to So Toguchi.

– Laura E.

DG: Ah, lovely Sarasota. Turtle Beach. Windjammer. (Though, I’m told the latter doesn’t exist anymore … ) is now with the Philadelphia Phillies. And he’s struggling. Taguchi would fit as a platoon partner for somebody in the Phillies outfield, but Taguchi is hitting .100 against lefties, and just .163 overall. Jayson Werth’s play took some at-bats from Taguchi, just as Werth’s current stint on the disabled list will probably open up time for Taguchi to regain his game.

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Q: TLR says the bullpen is overworked. The Cardinals (like most teams) lack inning-eating starters, so how about splitting the 25th roster spot between/among two or more minor-league pitchers with options? Then shuttle them up and down depending on the state of the bullpen.

– Mike, New York City

DG: Not unreasonable, though it’s more likely the Cardinals would employ this strategy in practice if not in name. There are rules regarding how long a player must remain in the minors when optioned there — but the unlimited options during any one season of a player’s three option years does allow for some, well, taxi-cabbing from Triple-A to the majors. Something like this has developed before, though again, not by design, necessarily. The 2006 October bullpen grew out of a swapping of arms at the Triple-A level and both Kelvin Jimenez and Hugo Castellanos are valuable to the major-league team because of such spot-relief needs. Right now, however, the bullpen has a nice blend and until one of the arms out there blows his role it doesn’t make sense to juggle for juggling’s sake.

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Q: This thought has crossed my mind for quite a while now. In the major leagues, you can not just wave someone to first for an intentional walk like you can in high school and other levels of play. You have to actually throw 4 pitches. However, if you go to your mouth while on the mound it is a ball. What is to stop a pitcher from going to his mouth four times to intentionally walk a batter and never having to throw a pitch? Is there a rule in the big leagues that prevents the four mouth walk?

– Steve Terry, Lexington, Mo.

DG: Chapped lips? The same reason managers continue to bat the pitcher ninth — tradition? Why defy convention when it’s just four more tosses? Other than it’s never been done there doesn’t seem to be a reason why it hasn’t been done. Oh, and there’s this: Earlier this season, La Russa said reliever Ryan Franklin was probably unavailable that night because he had thrown 36 pitches, or something like that. I asked Franklin about that, and he said: “Thirty-six pitches? That must count the four I threw for the intentional walk. That shouldn’t count. I can throw those lefthanded. I probably would have if I knew it would keep me from throwing tonight.”

Next time, I’ll tell him, why go lefthanded when you can do the Tootsie Pop Walk. How many licks does it take to get the batter to first?

Ah, one.

Ah, two.

Ah, three …  

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PCQ QUESTION

Put the following significant events from baseball-cultural history in chronological order, including the one that is celebrating its 100th anniversary:

• The New York Herald debuts a “box score”, designed by Henry Chadwick.
• Honus Wagner’s famous T206 card is printed.
• Babe Ruth is born.
• “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is written.
• “Casey at the Bat” is first printed, in a San Francisco newspaper.
• Baseball is first described, in print, as “the national pastime”.

Write PostCards@post-dispatch.com with the answers, and – as usual – correct answers, with additional twists of detail or anecdote, will be posted here next week.

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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.

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