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…

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 major-league season is, oh, not yet two innings old as I start to write this, but all around Roger Dean Stadium and the Cardinals’ complex there’s a quickening of the pace.

The big-league Cardinals are settling into the roster they’ll take north — the brass is having a meeting with the coaches this morning — and the minor leaguers are making their final pitches for a spot on the highest level possible. On Monday,…

FORT MYERS, Fla. — After Brad Thompson has had a particularly difficult inning or just returned from a disastrous at-bat, Aaron Miles will eye the righthander from down the bench. Thompson knows he’s watching, waiting … for the fume.

It just hasn’t been there this spring.

“OK, I like it,” Miles tells him. “I like it.”

Thompson admits he’s been known to be a bit hotheaded on the mound or in the dugout. His body…

JUPITER, Fla. — The Cardinals raced the rain by rescheduling their minor league games for early Saturday morning. They had more than quick games, they made quick work of the Marlins’ affiliates and swept all five games.

Nobody worked quicker or more effectively than Mitchell Boggs. The righthander came to spring training as one of the young pitchers the organization wanted to get a look at in a big-league setting. He was also one of…

FORT LAUDERDALE — Cesar Izturis is the Cardinals starting shortstop and short of a catastrophic conclusion to what’s been a slow spring, he’ll continue to be the Cardinals starting shortstop right up until and after Opening Day.

The numbers say competition. The Cardinals say otherwise.

Izturis, who has two hits in his first three at-bats today against Baltimore, entered the game with more errors in the field (six) than hits at the plate (five). Contrast that…

JUPITER, Fla. — And so Colby Rasmus and Joe Mather leap from the frying pan of the major-league camp into the fire, a free-for-all in the Memphis outfield.

When the two outfielders join the Triple-A team Wednesday for the first time this spring, they will see a scrum already underway for playing time at the Cardinals’ highest affiliate. As mentioned earlier today, Rasmus and Mather are locks for starting jobs with the Redbirds. That leaves…

JUPITER, Fla. — The news that George Kissell was making a visit to Roger Dean Stadium this past week, prompted a quick Google search just to see what, if anything, Kissell had been up to recently. It was while Googling that I came upon this quote from Kissell, which ran in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

“As far as consistency and durability goes, (Albert Pujols) has been like a righthanded Stan Musial,” longtime Cardinals coach and instructor…

JUPITER, Fla. — On the backfields of the Florida Marlins side of Roger Dean Stadium, there was sighting of an elusive and once feared lost Redbird on Thursday.

He came sporting heat.

Mark McCormick, the fireballing prospect who was as much a riddle as a talent, made his first game start of spring training, throwing for Double-A Springfield against the Marlins’ affiliate. Less than a couple years ago, McCormick was considered the organization’s top pitching prospect…