TOWER GROVE — Of all the statistical bubblegum that is packed into Bill James’ annual Handbooks, among the best to chew over and stretch to the point of popping is the predictions for the coming season.

ACTA Sports recently emailed me the 2010 predictions for several members of the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals — predictions that are featured in Bill James Handbook 2010 — and while it doesn’t take a “statistical oracle” (as The Wall Street Journal…

TOWER GROVE — The first edition of this offseason’s PostCards mailbag begins with a favorite parlor game of the press box: Take the best player on the team. Put him on the trading block. Wonder just what it would take in return to make a deal happen. Stir and … Presto! Instant debate.

In the St. Louis Cardinals’ case, that’s Albert Pujols, the best hitter in the game, and a fine place to start when we peer…

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…

LOS ANGELES — By all accounts, there is no truth to the red-eyed reports that the St. Louis Cardinals, when they jetted away from their nightmarish turn of events Thursday, left behind a few players, marooned at Dodger Stadium …

(wait for it)

… stranded on base.

The Cardinals continue to have tremendous success against the Los Angeles when it comes to inflating their on-base percentage in this best-of-five National League Division Series. The Cardinals are getting in…

LOS ANGELES –For Troy Glaus, it has been seven years. For John Smoltz, it’s 17.

The two St. Louis Cardinals veterans know a thing or seven about what it takes to be successful in the postseason, and they each have personal hardware as an October spoil. Glaus won the World Series MVP in 2002 with the Los Angeles Angels, and Smoltz, the winningest postseason pitcher ever, won the National League Championship Series MVP back in 1992….

TOWER GROVE — More than a year ago, Walt Jocketty, freshly installed as the Cincinnati Reds general manager, used an odd word to describe an upcoming series against the St. Louis Cardinals. He said he and manager Dusty Baker had chips on their shoulders. That they each had a “vendetta”.

Turns out it wasn’t that weird of a word choice at all. It was prophetic.

In 2009, the National League Central has only gotten spicier when it…

TOWER GROVE — While the St. Louis Cardinals have plenty to busy themselves with in the final five games of the regular season — see today’s game story for, oh, a few things to be spruced-up — and no reason to look beyond October, there are traces of 2010 in many of the comments coming from the club.

The front office and chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. have talked about the importance of re-signing outfielder Matt Holliday, sure, but…

DENVER — Former Colorado Rockies face-o’-franchise outfielder Matt Holliday held court in the visitors’ dugout for the first time in his career, dutifully answering questions about his first trip back to Coors Field, what being back feels like and how Albert Pujols is the best player ever.

Yes. That’s what he said. Pujols: Best. Player. Ever.

Actually, “all-time” may have been his exact words.

Asked to clarify the statement, Holliday didn’t take the the chance to equivocate.

“I’ve never seen…

DENVER — St. Louis Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, as he is often apt to do as a Dugout Socrates, answered a question with a question.

“Let me ask it to you in this way,” he said the other day in Houston. “If we were to face Roy Oswalt at his best today and then face him again next week, is facing him today an advantage for us?”

The answer-and-question was in response to an inquiry about the pluses and minuses…

TOWER GROVE — There are many examples of a player storming toward his leagues Most Valuable Player award with a strong September that, in most cases, elevates his team to a postseason berth.

See: Ryan Howard.

Enter Tim Lincecum.

The San Francisco Giants righthander Lincecum struck out 11 and muscled his team to a pivotal victory Monday night against the Wild Card-leading Colorado Rockies. Lincecum skipped his previous start because of back trouble and returned to throw the…

TOWER GROVE — The weekday 10@10 appear below in this spot, a tad late (for that I apologize), but together nonetheless. Scroll down for the daily list. A poll posted earlier as a place-holder continues.

Even though the St. Louis Cardinals were the only area team to score Sunday, a couple runs weren’t enough to soften the uncertainty that comes with a series sweep by Atlanta. The sweep was the first of the Cardinals since their…

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 — A year ago at this time, Mannywood was sweeping the nation as the Los Angeles Dodgers and their flamboyant outfielder were surging toward a playoff berth. Manny Ramirez, acquired in a stunning deadline deal with the Boston Red Sox (with an assist from Pittsburgh), had 43 RBIs and 14 home runs in his first 42 games as a Dodger. He had propelled the team to a 24-18 record since his arrival and…

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 — John Smoltz, the St. Louis Cardinals’ recent booster shot for their rotation, freely admits that he’s had a lot of time to think about things in his highly decorated major-league career, and one day he decided to figure out his personal odometer.

For every year of his big-league career but this one, Smoltz had the same route to the ballpark. It was a 70-mile round trip from his house to the parking lot…