TOWER GROVE — If reliever Brad Thompson received a three-game suspension for what the Major League Baseball pitch cops deemed “intentionally throwing a pitch in the head area of David Wright” then is it fair for the St. Louis Cardinals wonder what looms today for Pittsburgh Pirates closer Matt Capps?

What kind of punishment does the precedent demand?

Capps, who gave one of the more entertaining P-DQs earlier this season, smoked Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols in…

TOWER GROVE — As a tandem, they make for one productive player.

The St. Louis Cardinals are split-shifting third base with steady success so far this season, sharing the at-bats and innings at the position between Joe Thurston and Brian Barden. Colleague Joe Strauss reported in this morning’s newspaper that despite their length of time in the minors and sporadic appearances in the majors, both of the Cardinals’ utility infielders are considered “rookies” when it comes…

JUPITER, Fla. — As innings get more scarce and at-bats get more important late in spring training, some of the major-league players — or, more precisely, those battling for major-league jobs — have to find their swings and their pitches elsewhere. Enter the minor-league games.

The trip across the state and a couple other assignments put me a couple days behind on the Vuch Reports. How better to spend an overcast Sunday back here at the…

JUPITER, Fla. — The St. Louis Cardinals knew coming into camp who their two major-league catchers were going to be going into the regular season. Yadier Molina is the starter now, later and as long as the Cardinals can keep the Gold Glove-winning, rocket-armed Molina brother behind the plate. Jason LaRue was brought back — one of the first signings of the winter — to be his backup.

But after that …

One of the Cardinals most…

JUPITER, Fla. — After listening to their St. Louis Cardinals teammate Adam Wainwright spin tales for a reporter about How He Spent His Off Day as a star on an 18-hole tour, pitchers Kyle McClellan and Brad Thompson offered to write the headline for any article. Seeing as how we don’t write the headlines, a blog will have to do.

WAINWRIGHT BORED WITH BASEBALL, WANTS TO BE ON TOUR

Seeks Something More Challenging

McClellan authored the main hed, and…

JUPITER, Fla. — Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina has received his first Gold Glove award, has held it, has even thanked a Rawlings representative in person for it, but he won’t get to take it home for another couple months.

Molina was presented with the award during the annual Baseball Writers Dinner in St. Louis this past January. But he arrived at spring training on Thursday, a few days before pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report,…

TOWER GROVE — The arbitration wallop the St. Louis Cardinals have been bracing for this winter came into view Tuesday with the exchange of salary figures around baseball. The Cardinals two unsigned and eligible players, outfielders Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick, each are guaranteed to receive significant raises. The salaries that an arbitrator will choose between — if the two sides do indeed get to a hearing, that is — are there for everyone to…

DOWNTOWN — Brad Thompson said he was too nervous at his wedding to think twice about the unorthodox choice he and his wife-to-be had made when choosing someone to preside over their nuptuals.  He had other things on his mind and no time for smirking as he stood there, beside his bride and exchanged vows under the guidance of the “reverend” Randy Flores.

He was however concerned about Jason Isringhausen.

“Izzy was the only one I couldn’t look…

DOWNTOWN — The first wave of St. Louis Cardinals players have had their moments behind the media room podium here Sunday in Day 2 of the Winter Warm-up, and the Twitter feed (dgoold) has been the quickest way to get out the comments and the news (such as it is). But many are worth repeating here, like a shotgun look at what’s been said and who’s saying it here:

Snippets from the feed — the Warm-up in…

TOWER GROVE — With the subtraction of the salaries for Mark Mulder, Braden Looper, Scott Spiezio, Juan Encarnacion and Jason Isringhausen (though possibly only briefly for him), the St. Louis Cardinals have a raw total of about $29 million in expiring contracts from their 2008 payroll. But presented with the question on whether the Cardinals had $25 million to even $30 million of flexibility for the coming season, an organization official was direct with his answer:

“You might…

TOWER GROVE - The bountiful stats Ryan Ludwick put up this season, the career-high wins for pitchers like Kyle Lohse and even the radar readouts from rookie Jason Motte – as big as those numbers were, the digits that continue to define the Cardinals 2008 season are these: 31.

Everyone knows what that number is.

The first question of the Return of PostCards forces us to discuss what that number means. The Cardinals blew 31 saves this…

JUPITER, Fla. — On the second pitch of Todd Wellemeyer’s first throw to hitters this spring, Albert Pujols reminded him of the simple joy of a L-screen.

Pujols ripped a fastball right back at Wellemeyer, nearly singeing the righthander’s hair as it rocketed by his face. Wellemeyer got a glove up, but Pujols’ liner had already passed over second base on its way to the outfield.

“Moved me from bullpen mode to game mode, real quick,” Wellemeyer…