TOWER GROVE — Say this about St. Louis Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter as he makes a backstretch bid for an invitation to the 80th All-Star Game — he’s doing it with an increasing degree of difficulty.

Carpenter will face his fourth different former Cy Young Award winner in his past seven starts tonight, and the punctuation at the end of this streak has more trophies than the other three combined. Carpenter started the run of Cys against…

TOWER GROVE — When the St. Louis Cardinals left Cleveland having lost a three-game series to the momentarily resurgent Indians, manager Tony La Russa dialed up general manager John Mozeliak and left him a short, succinct voice mail. The exact words have been forgotten in the weeks since. But the message was clear:

If we can get him, get him.

Him was Cleveland Indians third baseman/outfielder Mark DeRosa. On Sunday night of that series, DeRosa homered off…

TOWER GROVE — Bruised and humbled by the surging Milwaukee Brewers, the St. Louis Cardinals welcome in their rivals comforted by what’s on the horizon. Reinforcements are coming.

During this three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals plan to welcome back starter Chris Carpenter from the disabled list — he’ll start Wednesday — and outfielder Rick Ankiel from the DL. Ankiel spent the weekend playing in extended spring training games in Jupiter, Fla. With the…

TEMPE, Ariz. — If St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols scores the National League Player of the Week award for the first week of this season it will be the second consecutive P-O-W award he’s won dating back to the last week of last season.

It will also be an upset of sorts

The Cardinals present two candidates for the weekly award: Pujols, who had that seven-RBI Saturday, and Kyle Lohse, whose Easter Sunday shutout punctuated…

JUPITER, Fla. — That 2005 draft that the St. Louis Cardinals have billed as transformative for the organization had its first player make his major-league debut last year, could produce its first major-league contributor officially this weekend (see: Colby Rasmus), and it passed another milestone within the past couple weeks. One of the picks is coming out of retirement to try again.

Josh Wilson, a righthanded pitcher taken 70th overall, had his agent contact the Cardinals…

JUPITER, Fla. — St. Louis Cardinals reliever Chris Perez had a lot of down time during the week he couldn’t pitch because of soreness in his shoulder, so he found other ways to busy himself. One was by listening in on some of his teammates answer The P-DQ list. He said he loved quizzes and puzzles and other time-passers of that ilk, and he wanted to give it a try.

And then he realized it was…

JUPITER, Fla. — A time-honored tradition here at Roger Dean Stadium for a few members of the copy klatch is keeping a stopwatch on the National Anthem. It’s spring training for the vocalists, too, and some can run a little … say, showy … with their interpretations. A similar exercise could be done with the questions that make up The PD-Q.

As mentioned before, some click through the questions and others ponder. And then there are…

TAMPA, Fla. — After slicing eight more names from his spring-training roster, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said a scheduled meeting with him, his coaches and the front office “probably wasn’t still necessary” for Tuesday’s off day.

“This took care of it,” he said. “We have a good idea.”

The most notably cut Monday was outfielder Brian Barton. The former Rule 5 pick had struggled recently — 1-for-16 — and the Cardinals decision to option…

LAKELAND, Fla. — With each passing transaction this winter, St. Louis Cardinals reliever Ryan Franklin’s rank within a rebooted Cardinals bullpen moved another year or two away from the average age. Gone is Russ Springer. Gone is Jason Isringhausen. Still relatively new to this whole relieving thing himself, Franklin enters this season as mentor, sage and the longest-tenured consistent member of the Cardinals bullpen.

That role he was ready for.

But there’s another role the Cardinals may ask…

JUPITER, Fla. — They had already survived the ridicule of their teammates for dressing in their home whites on a day there was clearly no game to be played, but wait until the clubhouse gets a look at the picture below. Four Cardinals sporting game-ready jerseys and pants as white as they will be on Opening Day and each wearing a straw hat.

Hey, they could have been the ones who had to wear the fake…

JUPITER, Fla. — Young righthander Fernando Salas was throwing his first round of live batting practice this spring and some of the veterans stepping in against him were taking swings as if they had seen him dozens of times before. Catcher Jason LaRue was in the group that hit off Salas, and after drilling a fastball over the fence in left field he explained why as he stepped out of the cage.

“That’s what happens when you…

JUPITER, Fla. — What with its keystone combination of Rogers Hornsby and Ozzie Smith leading the way — batting .346 and .325, respectively — and center fielder Jim Edmonds topping the team with 10 home runs and 47 RBIs, the St. Louis Cardinals would appear to be a virtual juggernaut in the virtual world of Seamheads.com’s (simulated) Historical League.

And, yet, the ‘Birds are struggling. Could be that injury to Stan Musial.

Hall of Famer Rick Hummel is at…

JUPITER, Fla. — Having removed the rockstar hair from his chinny chin chin the night before, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter rubbed his shaved face and pondered what he saw as a developing theme of spring training.

“What’s with all the facial hair?” he said.

Hey, he started it.

Carpenter arrived at Winter Warm-up with a shaved-slick dome and a tuft of hair to make King Tut envious. What’s followed is a parade of hairy — er,…

JUPITER, Fla. — Back when Triple-A Memphis used to be a depot for depth and journeymen minor leaguers, the list of non-roster invitees read like a Who’s Who of Who Was Who. Previous NRIs* made good included Scott Spiezio, Bill Pulsipher, and, most recently, Ron Villone. And then there were the NRIs who didn’t have the staying power — Juan Gonzalez, Greg Vaughn, Quinton McCracken, Jeff Nelson, and so on.

Now that the Cardinals have transitioned…

DOWNTOWN — Cardinals’ closer candidate Chris Perez came to St. Louis this winter to have a scan taken of his achy ankle, and while the joint doesn’t hinder the work he’s trying to do on his delivery it has made his other offseason goal a tad trickier.

Perez said an MRI taken in November of his left ankle revealed a bone spur and bone inflammation. Surgery was considered, but because it doesn’t bother him when he…