TOWER GROVE — The St. Louis Cardinals are 15 wins away from becoming the fourth franchise in baseball history to win 10,000 games and only the second to do so without changing their address. Unless, that is, you asked the Cardinals.

Entering this season, the Cardinals and their opponent tonight, the Los Angeles Dodgers, were in a race to reach 10,000. The Dodgers, with a 29-win head start, got their more than a month ago and…

HOUSTON — St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Mark DeRosa didn’t see his first hit for his new team as a relief. He described it as progress.

In DeRosa’s first at-bat Monday night at Minute Maid Park, he stung a single to left field and a couple at-bats later he had his second hit of the game and his second hit as a Redbird. Like the first one, DeRosa’s hit went to the left side of the…

DOWNTOWN — Asked who he would pick to win the Home Run Derby, New York Mets third baseman David Wright said it was difficult to choose any hitter other than Albert Pujols. But not just because the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman had home field advantage — he had an advantage at any field, to all fields.

Wright joked that he had seen Pujols put on a show at Citi Field a few weeks ago during…

DOWNTOWN — In his final start before racing home for the All-Star Game, St. Charles native Mark Buehrle allowed eight runs (all earned) on 10 hits in a dismal 3 1/3 innings for the Chicago White Sox. He heard all the jokes. American League manager Joe Maddon called and told him to stay home. His teammates asked him if he was going to use his bad game as his bid to compete in the Home…

DOWNTOWN — New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was the unofficial host of the 2008 All-Star Game as it visited the Bronx, the spotlight barely found him because of the big cement, facade-famous goliath that was the true star of last year’s main event — Yankee Stadium. Still, he had some advice for the mayor of this year’s All-Star Game, as it came to St. Louis and Albert Pujols was the most famous monument around.

“Enjoy it,”…

DOWNTOWN — As Major League Baseball begins tonight the accepted definition of the second-half of the season, Milwaukee Brewers closer Trevor Hoffman doesn’t see any of the NL Central contenders shaking loose any time soon. The division leaves the All-Star break with five of its six teams within five games or less of the lead. Hoffman’s Brewers trail the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals by 2 1/2 games, and the defending division-title champ Chicago Cubs are…

DOWNTOWN — Whenever Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre has had a reason to return to St. Louis — which was oh so rarely when he skippered the New York Yankees — he makes a point to visit Stan Musial, the St. Louis Cardinals great and St. Louis icon. He also keeps every message he gets from Musial.

Every one.

Torre, meeting with the media Monday during the All-Star workout day interviews in downtown St. Louis, said…

DOWNTOWN — New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said he doesn’t need to see the numbers from the National League to know what Albert Pujols has done in the first half of this season. Players are talking about it.

They are also talking about what’s impossibly possible.

On Monday, during the American League player availability in downtown St. Louis hours before the Home Run Derby, Teixeira talked about how much fun it is to play with…

ST. LOUIS — Told this afternoon that while he’s been out on the road defending the St. Louis Cardinals’ lead in the NL Central, someone went and fixed the light bulbs that made the “I” on “BIG MAC LAND” glow, the mayor of this year’s All-Star Game, Albert Pujols, had one response:

“Best thing you can do is knock it down again,” he said.

Pujols joined the seven other Home Run Derby contestants in a press conference…

ST. LOUIS — Chicago White Sox lefthander and St. Charles native Mark Buehrle said he went south on Interstate 55 as fast as his truck would carry him Sunday night, headed home to the St. Louis area not just for the All-Star break but to be an All-Star.

“Eighty-three mph,” Buehrle said. “That was as fast as my truck would go.”

Buehrle, an All-Star for the second time, met with the media a few moments ago here…

DOWNTOWN — One of the kaleidoscope of statistics kept throughout the year in baseball are “Park Factors”, a comparative way to judge how hitter-friendly or pitcher-supportive a ballpark is from year to year. The stat is based on comparing how different the hitting, the slugging and the pitching is for teams at said ballpark compared to how those teams fair on the road.

The ratio reveals the ballpark’s characteristics.

Busch Stadium III, while not the national park…

ST. LOUIS — Farm director and vice president/player procurement Jeff Luhnow was on hand to greet all three of the St. Louis Cardinals prospects competing in Sunday’s Futures Game and he told each the same thing: He’s happy to see them here, and he’s eager to them here again shortly.

Luhnow had two of his draft picks and one of his international signings featured in the annual showcase of the minor league’s top prospects. On the…

DOWNTOWN — The St. Louis Cardinals’ Class AA affiliate eased outfielder Daryl Jones back into action from the disabled list this past week as much to tend to his ailing quad muscle as to assure he wouldn’t miss Sunday’s Futures Game. Jones arrival on the national stage as one of the Cardinals’ top prospects has been a long time coming — and the left fielder has come a long way from that .217 average in…

DOWNTOWN — St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith never imagined himself managing a game at Busch Stadium but couldn’t turn down the invitation to suit up for the first event of All-Star week here in what he called “Baseball Mecca.”

Smith skippered the U.S. team in the Futures Game on Sunday at Busch Stadium, and he played to the home crowd by starting top Cardinals prospect Brett Wallace at third base and batting him…

TOWER GROVE — It used to be a pitch that St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin would reserve for playing catch with fellow reliever Russ Springer. Franklin would try to time it just right, right when Springer would least expect it and then — whiffle! — he’d get the knuckleball. It became tradition, Springer said, for Franklin to throw two or three before he call it a day.

“He’s superstitious,” Springer explained.

Franklin had fooled around with…