JUPITER, Fla. — Two of the batters sent out “to get more playing time” — a common phrase these days as minor-league camp swirls into games — are thriving with the additional at-bats. One has continued his superb spring at the plate. The other may yet save his spring and put himself back on the cusp of the majors.

Both Allen Craig and Brian Barton homered for the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate in games Sunday….

JUPITER, Fla. — The St. Louis Cardinals bus pulled out of Roger Dean Stadium’s lot this morning and headed north for this afternoon’s game against the New York Mets at Tradition Field. They arguably left behind more recognizable Mets here than they’ll be facing up there.

The World Baseball Classic has picked apart the Mets roster, scattering David Wright over to Team USA, Jose Reyes down here for Team Dominicana, and Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado out…

JUPITER, Fla. — They’re calling it a campaign that focuses on a few “rising stars”, and representatives from Rawlings have made several surgical strikes into the Grapefruit League to film the four players selected to appear in docu-commercials. This morning, they visited Camp Cardinals.

Catcher Yadier Molina is one of the four. Have Gold Glove, will shine.

“His reaction upon receiving his first Gold Glove was really something that stood out,” said Lindsey Naber, a brand manager with…

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Down Gil Hodges Road and not too far from Tom Seaver Curve, the New York Mets have turned Field No. 7 here at Tradition Field into a replica of Citi Field, their new ballpark in Queens. The dimensions of Field No. 7 have been cut and reformed to the exact measure of Citi Field’s — right down to the quirky corner cut out of right field.

It was on this mini-Citi…

CAIRO — During the tour-bus caravan to Giza and the Pyramids, two British friends of mine sat near an American who recited that widespread legend of how the Sphinx lost its nose and  tsk-tsk’d the members of British military for daring to use the Sphinx for target practice.  Thanks to me, my friends were armed with a response.

That may be so, they said, but it was Americans who pelted it with baseballs.

Timed my reading of…

TOWER GROVE — According to the formula Major League Baseball and its member clubs use to determine a club’s overall payroll, the St. Louis Cardinals had the 11th-highest payroll in baseball last season and the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays had the third lowest.

The team with the highest payroll goes without saying. Check today’s headlines.

The payrolls for all 30 clubs were published this afternoon by The Associated Press, and the info is chocked with…

TOWER GROVE — The closer market gained sudden speed in Las Vegas at the Baseball Winter Meetings with the New York Mets landing Francisco Rodriguez to close and then elbowing aside contenders like the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit to trade for Seattle closer J.J. Putz, adding him as a setup reliever. At the same time, the Cleveland Indians pounced on Kerry Wood to handle their ninth innings and then …

Nothing. Silence. Impatience. Little more than whispers,…

TOWER GROVE — The big baseball headlines this morning on the West Coast cast a shadow here in St. Louis as that Orange County baseball club — the Angels of Anaheim — have officially withdrawn from the courtship of first baseman Mark Teixeira, the best ballplayer remaining on the free-agent market.

Numerous reports, including this one from Yahoo! Sports, say that the Angels have removed their eight-year offer to the first baseman. Boston reached a similar…

TOWER GROVE — In this crowded field of mailbags and Q&As and message boards and chats and blogs there are only so many questions about Skip Schumaker playing second base to fuel so many different give-and-take platforms. Good thing PostCards has Frank Fuhrig.

The mailbag was loaded with questions answered better elsewhere or answered often before, but on election day into the hopper Fuhrig fired this gem: Who manages the St. Louis Cardinals in 2010?

The poll…

SOUTH GRAND — In the middle of September, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez was in the midst of carrying his new team to a berth in October. He arrived at the ballpark one day to find a ballot waiting for him — officials from the Players’ Choice awards were there, asking each player to vote for such honors as Comeback Player of the Year and Most Outstanding Player. The ballot gave reporters a reason…

TOWER GROVE — St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Ryan Ludwick, fresh from the official announcement that he had won a Silver Slugger to punctuate his breakout season, was headed to the gym. The spoils of this season are swell, but he has no interest in being a one-hit wonder.

He even used this past week of rumors, reports and headlines to explain why.

“I think it’s an honor just to be named in the same place as Matt…

TOWER GROVE — As the doors to Major League Baseball’s free-agent marketplace swing open Friday, the St. Louis Cardinals plan a bee-line to the lefthanded reliever auction, where they will find plenty of other bidders looking to beef-up on that same side of the bullpen.

The Cardinals have been rather public with their plan to address holes on the left-side of the bullpen via free agency — because why deny what the depth chart reveals? Renovating…

TOWER GROVE — Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who guided the denizens of Wrigley Field to a league-best 97-64 record and their first back-to-back playoff appearances since 1908, won the National League Manager of the Year award in a vote of baseball writers announced this afternoon. The award is Piniella’s third Manager of the Year award, putting him one behind the record — jointly held by St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and Atlanta…

TOWER GROVE — Gentlemen, start your transactions.

General managers from around baseball are converging at AIG’s favorite hangout in Dana Point, Calif., today and all week for the first round of window-shopping and swap-talking. Unlike last year when the pitching market was headlined by Carlos Silva and trades were the currency of winter, this offseason has the high-watt free agents (CC Sabathia and Manny Ramirez) and the superstar trade chips (Jake Peavy and Matt Holliday). There…

TOWER GROVE — Incumbents Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina won the Fielding Bible awards at first base and catcher, respectively, according the annual awards that are decided by a panel of experts and featured each winter in the Bill James Handbook.

Pujols, the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman, has won three consecutive Fielding Bible awards and this is catcher Molina’s second consecutive. Unlike the Gold Glove awards, which are determined by a vote of managers and…