TOWER GROVE — The wealth of information available on Baseball-Reference.com offered an intriguing kernel yesterday when I was digging around the numbers for today’s article on St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Ryan Ludwick. The goal was to find a snapshot of his consistency in 2008 vs. what he called a “real hot-cold season” in 2009 (check that .200 average in June). Not too far away from those stats, I found this:

Ludwick in wins 2008: BA .373…

TOWER GROVE — One look at the between-the-legs, behind-the-back fielding tricks that St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan does during practice and it’s easy to see the influence of his beloved Los Angeles Lakers and the reflection of their Showtime ways.

Or, so it would seem.

Sure some of the inspiration for Ryan’s acrobatics comes from the basketball court and his older brother’s suggestion that he should enjoy his game the way Magic Johnson enjoyed his game,…

TOWER GROVE — The St. Louis Cardinals have developed their own way of celebrating a walk-off home run, too. When the hero for the moment steps foot on home — sometimes taking a cannonball-like leap onto the plate — the Cardinals overwhelm their teammate and attempt to land some kidney shots with playful uppercut blows. There’s punching. There’s some grabbing.

You get the sense that it’s not unlike the bottom of a dog pile in the…

TOWER GROVE — The St. Louis Cardinals have trailed their opponent 49 times this season entering the ninth inning. And 46 times whoever the Cardinals are facing goes on to win the game. Earlier this season the conclusions were often as quick as they were inevitable.

Three times — three times in 49 — the Cardinals have rallied to win.

All three have been since Matt Holliday arrived.

The Cardinals concluded a lengthy and wet day at the…

DOWNTOWN — New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was the unofficial host of the 2008 All-Star Game as it visited the Bronx, the spotlight barely found him because of the big cement, facade-famous goliath that was the true star of last year’s main event — Yankee Stadium. Still, he had some advice for the mayor of this year’s All-Star Game, as it came to St. Louis and Albert Pujols was the most famous monument around.

“Enjoy it,”…