CREVE COEUR — It didn’t take long for the Bird Land Community Top 21 to throw its first curveball. Not that it’s a surprise lefthanded starter Jaime Garcia won the No. 1 spot in the readers’ rankings of St. Louis Cardinals’ prospects. It’s just wasn’t close.

That was unexpected.

Garcia pulled away from first-round fireballer Shelby Miller and had more than twice as many votes. As of last check — a few seconds ago — Garcia had…

TOWER GROVE — In his office after Tuesday night’s loss, Milwaukee Brewers manager Ken Macha told a group of us reporters that the “second-most important” at-bat of the Cardinals’ 7-6 victory was by St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.

Apparently, Molina was the first to recognize that.

Of course, the most important at-bat of the game was Matt Holliday’s immediately after Macha opted to “pick his poison” and walk Albert Pujols ahead of the Cardinals’ cleanup hitter….

TOWER GROVE — A bark will do it. But not any old bark. It’s got to be a good, hearty robust, UGA-worthy bark that gets Adam Wainwright’s attention.

The past couple years, before each spring training the paper dispatches me to write a travel story about St. Louis Cardinals spring training in Jupiter, Fla. And an annual part of the story is getting hints and suggestions on how to land a player’s autograph. Most subscribe to the…

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Had they given him more warning, St. Louis Cardinals’ closer candidate Jason Motte probably could have got his Sutter on and grown out a beard both the Cardinals Hall of Fame closer and ZZ Top would have been proud. Motte has featured this spring almost as many looks with his beard as he has experiences — casual beard, Grizzly Adams, King Tut tuft, etc.

And for a commercial with the Cardinals he and…

JUPITER, Fla. — After listening to their St. Louis Cardinals teammate Adam Wainwright spin tales for a reporter about How He Spent His Off Day as a star on an 18-hole tour, pitchers Kyle McClellan and Brad Thompson offered to write the headline for any article. Seeing as how we don’t write the headlines, a blog will have to do.

WAINWRIGHT BORED WITH BASEBALL, WANTS TO BE ON TOUR

Seeks Something More Challenging

McClellan authored the main hed, and…

JUPITER, Fla. — With cameras rolling early this morning, infielder Brendan Ryan continued his turn as the comic foil in the St. Louis Cardinals latest commercials. Ryan, following the script, walked by Albert Pujols’ locker and did a double-take. Sneakily, he reached into the locker and pulled out a cape draped from a hanger.

Cue Adam Wainwright.

“We don’t talk about that,” said the starting pitcher, entering from stage left.

The last day of filming for the Cardinals’ “Play…

JUPITER, Fla. — There’s one every spring training. Unless there are two.

One of the time-honored traditions of spring usually happens huddled around the batting cage as we watch live batting practice for the first time. Passing the time while they work on pickoff throws and mechanics, the media plays simple parlor games — all about predictions. Today there were questions about the starting outfield in Triple-A Memphis, the potential lineup for the 2010 St. Louis…

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…

DOWNTOWN — Brad Thompson said he was too nervous at his wedding to think twice about the unorthodox choice he and his wife-to-be had made when choosing someone to preside over their nuptuals.  He had other things on his mind and no time for smirking as he stood there, beside his bride and exchanged vows under the guidance of the “reverend” Randy Flores.

He was however concerned about Jason Isringhausen.

“Izzy was the only one I couldn’t look…

DOWNTOWN — Back on Oct. 8, just a little bit after pitching coach Dave Duncan agreed to his new contract, a poll went up in this blog asking the simple question: Who closes? Some 1,300 readers voted and “anointed” Chris Perez the closer with 42 percent of the vote. (Brian Fuentes finished third, one spot behind where the Cardinals finished for his services.)

That poll, meant as a prelude to the St. Louis Cardinals’ search this winter,…

TOWER GROVE — Earlier this week, St. Louis Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan did the radio rounds and spoke about the closer role, closer candidates, the rotation and how so much hinges on the shoulder of Chris Carpenter. He also had a telling comment about his retooled bullpen. Asked in an interview on 101 ESPN if he was confident with the new-look left side of his bullpen, Duncan answered plainly, realistically.

He said he does not…

TOWER GROVE — After taking him in 39th round of the most recent draft, the St. Louis Cardinals couldn’t get Curt Smith into the rookie-level lineup because of a visa issue. Once the paperwork snarl was loosened, they couldn’t keep him out of the lineup.

Smith, fresh from Curacao by way of the University of Maine, got a hit in his debut and didn’t stop hitting until he had earned a promotion to Low-A Quad Cities. The…

TOWER GROVE — Back during those 100-win salad days of 2004 and 2005, the St. Louis Cardinals’ tremendous success at the major-league level was a facade for what anyone with an eye on the minors knew, and knew well: It all could be fleeting.

A sobering reminder of the situation they put themselves in came the winter after the Cardinals juggernaut run to the National League pennant and World Series in 2004. Baseball America, viewed by…

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 — While reading the coverage of the deal sending Colorado Rockies outfielder and recent Cardinals-target Matt Holliday to Oakland — from the news of the trade, to the players headed to Denver, to Drew Litton’s cartoon — one thing stands out.

There isn’t a Ryan Ludwick in the bunch.

Any time there is a deal of this nature, especially one that we know the St. Louis Cardinals were interested/involved in, it offers up an opportunity to truly…