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 — 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…

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The transactions will show that the St. Louis Cardinals come home tonight with two new players, each acquired in the last week. But the stats show something different.

There is a third.

Center fielder Rick Ankiel, making the most of some extra playing time with Colby Rasmus slowed by a heel injury, has been reanimated on the road trip. He finished the seven-game jag with an extra base hit in each of the…

SOUTH GRAND — The St. Louis Cardinals plan to get their starting center fielder back as soon as tonight, but that will force them to confront a looming decision about what to do with their … starting center fielder.

In Rick Ankiel’s absence to recover from his frightening crash into the outfield wall, rookie Colby Rasmus has started every game in center field. It is the position he’s earmarked to take, eventually, even as Ankiel’s replacement….

TOWER GROVE — Bruised and humbled by the surging Milwaukee Brewers, the St. Louis Cardinals welcome in their rivals comforted by what’s on the horizon. Reinforcements are coming.

During this three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals plan to welcome back starter Chris Carpenter from the disabled list — he’ll start Wednesday — and outfielder Rick Ankiel from the DL. Ankiel spent the weekend playing in extended spring training games in Jupiter, Fla. With the…

TOWER GROVE — Catcher Jason LaRue, racing from the bullpen to the left-center field wall, was one of the first St. Louis Cardinals to reach Rick Ankiel as he lay on the warning track Monday night.  He had a view of the catch, the stumble, the crash and then he was part of the dash of teammates to Ankiel’s side.

“The most significant part of what we all I saw, I think, is that it shows…

TOWER GROVE — The latest on St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel was just posted in Cardinal Beat, the place for breaking news on the Cardinals. There will be more news today from the ballpark, and Ankiel is expected to be there this afternoon. So check back at Cardinal Beat throughout the day for the latest.

The regularly scheduled 10@10 may be late in arriving, but it will be up ASAP — as soon as published.

Off…

DEMUN — This afternoon at Busch Stadium, the St. Louis Cardinals and Major League Baseball will launch many of the promotions for the coming All-Star Game and All-Star Summer in St. Louis. One campaign is already underway.

Witness Yadier Molina: All-Star Elect.

Last season, manager Tony La Russa — who usually chooses his causes carefully — championed Molina for what he viewed as an overdue invitation for his catcher. Molina, he argued, had added the offense to the…

TOWER GROVE — And you thought Chris Carpenter had a monstrous season debut for the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday. Check the minors.

Down in Springfield, Mo., Brett Wallace made quite a first impression.

Carpenter took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and won his first regular-season game since he was backed by a three-run homer from Juan Encarnacion and out-pitched San Francisco’s Matt Morris in September 2006. The Cardinals’ returning — no longer rehabbing — ace allowed…

TOWER GROVE — When St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa pulled outfielder Colby Rasmus aside early in spring training to tell him to take the tilt out of his swing, La Russa stressed that Rasmus could make the major-league team just by “hitting hard groundballs.”

Turns out, Rasmus would get his first major-league hit by hitting a hard groundball.

Rasmus, the Cardinals’ No. 1 pick in 2005 and No. 1 prospect the past three years, made…

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The best way that St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa believed he could keep Skip Schumaker’s bat in the lineup was to put his glove to use elsewhere.

The official pronouncements came in the past week from GM John Mozeliak and La Russa that Schumaker will open the regular-season as the Cardinals’ starting second baseman — will, in fact, be now designated on the roster as a capital-I Infielder. Schumaker openly…

JUPITER, Fla. — Take a moment to do some math. Pull out a calculator and consider if St. Louis Cardinals leadoff hitter Skip Schumaker had just 11 more hits against lefthanded pitching last season. Just 11. Say, maybe four bloop singles to left field, four grounders that found holes, and three well-struck liners, maybe even a couple for doubles.

With those 11 hits — just 11 — Schumaker would have finished the season with a modest…

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…

JUPITER, Fla. — With his first batting order of the spring pinned to the corkboard in the clubhouse, manager Tony La Russa met the media this morning to deal with some real lineup sticklers.

We read that lineup like it’s a horoscope, like the names fluttering here and there from spot to spot are so many tea leaves. Like it’s the Rosetta Stone to La Russa’s true feelings about his ballclub and the players that make…