DOWNTOWN — For the first time in his young career and perhaps the only time in his career, St. Louis native and former Mizzou All-American Max Scherzer made a start for the Cardinals last night.

Scherzer, who grew up a fan of the hometown club, pitched 7 1/3 innings for the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday and held the Los Angeles Dodgers to one run on seven hits. He struck out four, and he collected his ninth…

TOWER GROVE — It was only last year, barely more than 13 months ago, that the St. Louis Cardinals were changing Mark Mulder’s arm slot and still waiting to see if Matt Clement could pitch his way to the majors. General manager John Mozeliak called Clement “a lottery ticket”, and really the description applied to Mulder as well.

The Cardinals banked plenty in 2008 on what the scratch of a coin revealed.

This year, as the Cardinals…

TOWER GROVE — Having already added an All-Star elite bat, a grinder third baseman and a second-chance middle infielder to his executive-of-the-year bid, St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak is poised this afternoon to add a future Hall of Famer to the club’s pitching staff. Righthander John Smoltz is expected to finalize a deal with the Cardinals if he clears waivers by noon today, Post-Dispatch baseball scribe Joe Strauss was the first to report last…

SOUTH GRAND — There were few, if any, members of the St. Louis Cardinals’ traveling party thrilled to be at Shea Stadium for a one-day, barnstorming trip in the final week of a disappointing 2007. But, as one Cardinal said in the clubhouse after the win: At least it was a fruitful trip for a teammate.

Joel Pineiro cashed in on that visit.

The frustration the Cardinals had for their late-season, one-game stop at Shea went beyond…

TOWER GROVE — Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre, whose easy manner and prominence has made him an unfortunate veteran of these steroid revelation press scrums, said Thursday that it is important to him that he continue trusting players, trusting his players, trusting what he’s seen, and trusting the game. He added that it’s important the game “get the trust back” of its fanbase.

How baseball does that with the slow-drip feed of steroid news is…

TOWER GROVE — Ignore the throwing error. Errors are going to happen. And Adam Wainwright pitched around it anyway as the Cardinals shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night. Ignore the throwing error and Brendan Ryan is putting on a defensive clinic at shortstop this week.

On one sharply hit groundball Tuesday night, Ryan sprinted to his left, snared the ball on the run past second base, went at least a stride — maybe…

TOWER GROVE — The player that inspired the St. Louis Cardinals’ biggest and costliest move yet into the international free-agent market came to Busch Stadium on Monday, taking a few souvenirs from the big leaguers and leaving an impression.

Outfielder Wagner Mateo, the Dominican Republic teen phenom that merited a record $3.1-million contract from the Cardinals, took batting practice at Busch and did hit a home run — an opposite field shot into the left-field bullpen….

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The transactions will show that the St. Louis Cardinals come home tonight with two new players, each acquired in the last week. But the stats show something different.

There is a third.

Center fielder Rick Ankiel, making the most of some extra playing time with Colby Rasmus slowed by a heel injury, has been reanimated on the road trip. He finished the seven-game jag with an extra base hit in each of the…

HOUSTON (for the moment) — The St. Louis Cardinals were scheduled to land in Washington D.C. for their one-game visit to the nation’s capital sometime around, oh, about now.

The wheels down time for the Cardinals’ charter flight from Houston to D.C. was around 4 a.m. according to folks as they packed up the clubhouse last night. Manager Tony La Russa said how smooth the hasty and late travel that a rainout forced upon the team…