LAFAYETTE SQUARE — As a result of having so many officially retired numbers and several unofficially retired numbers (See: 25, 51 and 32), the St. Louis Cardinals sported a lineup that at times resembled an offensive line. The team simply did not have enough lower numbers for Chris Perez, Joe Mather, Jason Motte, et. al., to score anything lower than Skip Schumaker’s 55 for their backs.

There were a lot of swingin’ 60s out there, and there…

TOWER GROVE — As one of a sweeping series of moves the Chicago Cubs made this morning as possible prelude to reviving a Jake Peavy deal, the Cubs’ signing of infielder Aaron Miles dredged up a familiar refrain, heard before from former Cardinals like him.

“I’m excited to be a Cubbie,” Miles told Chicago Cub beat writers on a conference call this afternoon. “Being a Cardinal was great and that part is over now. Now I’m ready…

LAS VEGAS — While wrapping my ears around Chinese Democracy, replaying Snow Patrol’s addictive new album and, for kicks, spinning ZZ Top’s cover of “Viva Las Vegas” on the trusty iPod, I also brought along a little research for this trip to the Baseball Winter Meetings. You never know what golden nugget of information you’ll find from one page to the next on the latest edition of The Bill James Handbook.

Picked up the 2009 edition, with…

TOWER GROVE — The title of the blog doesn’t really scream baseball or blink flashing lights that this is a place for a take straight from the front office. But over at “It Might Be Dangerous … You Go First”, that’s exactly what Paul DePodesta does with the San Diego Padres.

This evening, DePodesta chimed in on the deal that sent shortstop Khalil Greene to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for the funky (and irked with exceptional…

TOWER GROVE — The Cardinals are close to acquiring a new face while continuing a familiar trend.

Late last night the news broke, by Joe Strauss here at The Post-Dispatch and by Padres beat writer Tom Krasovic over at the San Diego Union-Tribune, that the Cardinals had traded for San Diego shortstop Khalil Greene. Greene will become the St. Louis Cardinals’ fourth different everyday shortstop since the start of the 2004 World Series. And, his contract gives every…

TOWER GROVE — This evening at the stroke of midnight on the East Coast the prices for many of the best free agents in baseball will be set by teams deciding whether or not to offer arbitration. Some players are sure to be offered arbitration because of the bounty of draft picks their signings will bring (A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia, for example). Others certainly won’t be, like shortstop Edgar Renteria (the Detroit Tigers made it…

SOUTH GRAND — Trying to get better at the shorter, punchier, quicker entries when possible. So while working on an entry that will appear in a few minutes, I realized that these bits of notes I collected this morning were just sitting there. Sooner rather than longer, here goes … Some quick Riffs:

Today is Stan Musial’s 88th birthday. Play a tune on the nearest harmonica, mimic the swing, look at those statistics, find your favorite…

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 — Back in 1997, a young shortstop named Edgar Renteria was still a few days away from a defining moment in his career — that title-winning single to center field in the 11th inning of the World Series’ Game 7 — when he took a seat at a press conference. Renteria and the upstart Florida Marlins were the surprise winners of the National League pennant, the wild-card team made good, and  they came…

TOWER GROVE — Six members of the 2008 St. Louis Cardinals were among the 65 players who filed for free agency on the first day they could, according to a release from the Major League Baseball Players Association. Filing is a formality that all players, even those pondering retirement or weighing an offer from their previous team, usually do just to be sure the appropriate paperwork is filed if necessary.

The six Cardinals who filed Thursday…

TOWER GROVE — As Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre describes it: A few weeks ago, at Coors Field, he pulled his shortstop, Rafael Furcal, into a meeting to discuss whether or not the switch-hitter’s body would cooperate and let him be a factor in October. As MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick and the player describe it,  the tone of that meeting was a tad different: Furcal quit.

The Dodgers are not the only team pleased he reconsidered.

“We started…

DOWNTOWN — Not to be missed amidst a quick burst of roster moves Sunday morning was a tall lefthander striding through the Busch Stadium outfield to do what he hasn’t done in nearly a year.

Mark Mulder was off to throw a bullpen.

Cast as a reliever in his return to majors after two years of rehab from shoulder surgery and several failed attempts to start again, Mulder is back in the rotation, Cardinals manager Tony La…

TOWER GROVE — The timing might have been as awkward as the inquiry, but Aaron Miles was game after last night’s loss to consider a question about the Cardinals recently called-out offense: Would it surprise him that they topped the league in scoring during June?

“Really?” Miles said. “I don’t know. I guess, I guess it does. It seems like so many of the questions the last few weeks have been about the guys left on-base….

TOWER GROVE – Naturally, Albert Pujols comes off the disabled list this afternoon to have (ho hum) another four-hit (yawn) day and (no big whoop) drive in the go-ahead run seconds ago here in the ninth inning.

So if you had Pujols in the pool about which would return first — the MVP or the P-D mailbag — you win. But only by five plate appearances.

After a sabbatical of sorts to get the inbin good and loaded…

TOWER GROVE — At one point this season, manager Tony La Russa approached Brendan Ryan to assure the young, live-wire infielder that some people just had it wrong. No matter what he heard or read or inferred from any comments, La Russa told Ryan he really, really did like him, 3-0 swinging and all.

Now it’s time to show him.

With shortstop Cesar Izturis on the 15-day disabled list with a sore hamstring, there is an opportunity here for…