TOWER GROVE — Rick Hummel’s look at how Milwaukee has adopted the “Crazy 8″ lineup to such success that catcher Jason Kendall is leading the league in hitting jogged my memory about a email received earlier Tuesday. This one comes from ACTA Sports, the publishing house of Bill James and others, and it’s John Dewan’s “Stat of the Week.” This week’s topic:

Whose batting slot is the best in baseball thus far?

Using on-base-percentage-plus-slugging (OPS), Dewan ranks the best…

GRAND CENTER — Albert Pujols looms as the fourth hitter for the Cardinals in the next inning, but he won’t have his favorite Houston closer around to test. Brad Lidge collected his first save for the Phillies this afternoon, and he’s left his intro music and his role to Houston’s new closer.

And quite a closer he is.

Jose Valverde had 47 saves for Arizona last season, and he finished 14th in the MVP voting….

GRAND CENTER — On the first or day of spring training, with his full squad warming up in the background, manager Tony La Russa insisted that this year’s team would be a better defensive group. It took a few March weeks of fumbles and foibles, but …

So far, so good.

Todd Wellemeyer just escaped the third inning with consecutive defensive gems by his infielders. Troy Glaus gambled with a throw to second base to…

TOWER GROVE — A little more than a year ago, the Cardinals’ starting rotation was stringing together a ludicrously long streak of scoreless innings. The starters’ ERA for the month was less than 1.00, and dropping because of what one righthander was doing to the Minnesota Twins.

Opposite Johan Santana and facing a lineup that included MVP Justin Morneau and batting champ Joe Mauer, this Cardinal pitcher kept throwing up zeros. He held the Twins to…

DOWNTOWN — Manager Tony La Russa either pulled off a great bluff, or a few of us totally ignored his tell. Probably it’s more of the latter than the former, as the Cardinals manager sided with experience, service time and the obvious when he made out his lineup for Opening Day.

With a caveat that he could flip-flop two hitters before tomorrow’s first pitch, La Russa planned to post the following lineup for the Cardinals’ opener against NL…

JUPITER, Fla. — Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse didn’t have his best stuff Thursday, but he had enough stuff to continue the club’s sizzling close to its Florida schedule and he had the kind of stuff he’d take in any regular-season start.

Lohse worked five innings against Florida and pushed the Cardinals halfway to a 2-0 victory against the Marlins on Thursday. The Cardinals finished Grapefruit League play on a seven-game winning streak and 12-1-1 over…

JUPITER, Fla. — Still bothered by muscle discomfort in his ribcage, Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan will remain in Florida after the team leaves for its two-game trip to Springfield, Mo. The club is packing a couple different options as insurance.

Ryan had to cut short his work in the batting cages Wednesday, manager Tony La Russa disclosed Thursday morning. Ryan is allowed to participate in activities “as tolerated”, and he had no hesitation during baserunning drills this morning. But…

JUPITER, Fla. — The end is nigh.

The Cardinals look to leave Florida on a weeklong winning streak with only one stop and two games between them and the regular-season opening Monday at Busch Stadium. Most of the decisions have been made. Only two questions remain for the roster:

1. Is Brendan Ryan healthy enough to be active?
2. Anthony Reyes or Kelvin Jimenez for the last bullpen spot?

Looks like both of those questions will be answered in…

JUPITER, Fla. — Opening Day and the opening home stand is clearly on the Cardinals mind as they begin the sprint toward Springfield this afternoon against Washington. Today’s game against the Nationals forces Braden Looper to a minor-league game — he’s facing the Nats on his first turn of the regular season. And today’s starter for the Nationals, lefty Odalis Perez, allows the Cardinals to test-drive their Opening Day lineup. 

Give or take a couple players….

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Cardinals stuffed their bus with outfielders for the trip across Alligator Alley to the opposite coast of Florida. Not just the major-leaguers are this trip as Colby Rasmus continues to tagalong days after he was assigned to the minors.

With a designated hitter available and first base unoccupied, the Cardinals can cram into one lineup all five of the outfielders they plan to take north.

Actually, they are the first…