TOWER GROVE — A day after watching on television as Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen riddled the Houston Astros with sinister curveballs for his fourth save of the season — another in a line of what were no-sweat saves — I was in Houston and asked Isringhausen why so many curves?

“I think it was only five,” Isringhausen said. “Not that many. But now if it jinxes me, I know who to blame. If it’s going…

DOWNTOWN — As this Sunday night game careens toward a save situation, it’s fitting that we talk late picks who made it to the majors. Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen wears No. 44 because that’s where he was drafted by the New York Mets — as a position player promptly flipped into a pitcher, a Gen-K pitcher.

That was the spirit of the PCQ asked with last week’s mailbag.

The highest Cardinals’ draft pick to make…

DOWNTOWN – Not too often the Cardinals wake up on the last day of April with a chance to make a little franchise history. But that’s the case today.

The Cardinals won their 17th game of April last night against the Reds. It came in a 7-2 victory that saw manager Tony La Russa tinker just enough with his lineup to add depth of power and watch it work. That win tied a franchise record for…

DOWNTOWN — For parts of four decades Cardinals’ pitching coach Dave Duncan has been a coach at the big-league and this season is his 29th a pitching coach, the most by any person every to hold the position. Manager Tony La Russa is fond of saying that most of the game is pitching and that Duncan handles all of the pitching decisions.

So when La Russa goes into Cooperstown, Duncan will surely go …

Fishing….

TOWER GROVE — A little more than a year ago, the Cardinals’ starting rotation was stringing together a ludicrously long streak of scoreless innings. The starters’ ERA for the month was less than 1.00, and dropping because of what one righthander was doing to the Minnesota Twins.

Opposite Johan Santana and facing a lineup that included MVP Justin Morneau and batting champ Joe Mauer, this Cardinal pitcher kept throwing up zeros. He held the Twins to…

THE GLADES — Talk about multi-tasking. As only a Hall of Famer can, Rick Hummel is driving us across central Florida, while making a radio appearance (unless, that is, he has friends who call him to breakdown the option rules on Anthony Reyes and the backhand plays of Cesar Izturis). I have the laptop out and am cranking away, tethered even this far off the Interstate to the Internet.

This kind of coverage takes creativity.

While making the…

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…

JUPITER, Fla. — Brendan Ryan hopes to return the field sometime next week, but that doesn’t leave much time for the Cardinals to plan for his absence just in case a ribcage injury prohibits him from being available opening day.

That is why Aaron Miles starts at third base today.

The Cardinals take their next-to-last road trip this Easter to Port St. Lucie, where they will face the New York Mets. Orlando Hernandez will be…

JUPITER, Fla. — The moves made at the major-league level Monday began to have their ripple effect on the minors Tuesday. The Cardinals placing Colby Rasmus and Joe Mather on the Memphis roster makes for a crowded house in the Triple-A outfield, where Cody Haerther, Nick Stavinoha and Amaury Marti were already slugging it out for playing time.

Rasmus and Mather will play, no doubt. Rasmus in center. The others …

The Cardinals also expect the infield…

JUPITER, Fla. — The question was posed in the comment section of the previous Vuch Report, and the answer to just who Carlos Pupo is begins with a simple rule.

Location. Location. Location.

The strapping first baseman lives near Jupiter and he worked out often with the Gulf Coast League team last summer. So much that he made an impression on coach Dan Radison and the Cardinals signed him for this season. Pupo has pop…