JUPITER, Fla. — A time-honored tradition here at Roger Dean Stadium for a few members of the copy klatch is keeping a stopwatch on the National Anthem. It’s spring training for the vocalists, too, and some can run a little … say, showy … with their interpretations. A similar exercise could be done with the questions that make up The PD-Q.

As mentioned before, some click through the questions and others ponder. And then there are…

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — During his daily morning briefing with the media today, Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon said he was reading a copy of Branch Rickey’s book last year and realized that before Rickey, Rogers Hornsby and Sam Breadon came along the Cardinals weren’t much. And, yet, Maddon went on to say the Cardinals now standout as one of the most successful franchises of the past century.

“It’s very complimentary” that people now talk…

JUPITER, Fla. — Less than 50 feet from his locker in the St. Louis Cardinals clubhouse and on his way to the kitchen for a snack, outfielder Colby Rasmus cannot help but walk by a stack of copies of Baseball America. It’s right there by the shelves of bubblegum and sunflower seeds.

The current issue might be of especially interest to Rasmus as it’s the annual rankings of the Top 100 Prospects in baseball. One of the…

JUPITER, Fla. — The St. Louis Cardinals all-time leader in saves has yet to throw a pitch in a game for his new club, the Tampa Bay Rays, but manager Joe Maddon said Jason Isringhausen already feels like a fit for his bullpen.

“I’ve known him for about two weeks now, and you feel like you’ve know this guy for 10 years,” the Rays manager said this morning at Roger Dean Stadium before the Rays played…

TOWER GROVE — About a week ago, Baseball America slipped me the information that for the first time since they began publishing their rankings of overall minor-league systems the St. Louis Cardinals would reach the top 10, finishing eighth in a poll and discussion of editors there at BA. Since then, there has been a, ahem, tsunami of questions and criticisms.

The general theme of those comments has been: What does it mean, and what does it…

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…

LAS VEGAS — In a conference call with reporters the day his deal was completed with the St. Louis Cardinals, lefty reliever Trever Miller only alluded to the fact that he would have to reclaim the original value of his contract by pitching for it. He said it was up to him to make the deal worth $2 million.

It will take him 70 appearances to get there.

The tear the Cardinals discovered in Miller’s left shoulder during…

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 — So far the readers are 3-for-3 with their votes for the postseason awards, and the Baseball Writers — those convenient and favorite targets (hunting season opens every November) — are, ahem, getting it right. Today, with the leagues’ Manager of the Year awards set to be announced, there is another award everybody will get right and one that is ripe for a misfire.

First, a recap.

Tim Lincecum aced the Cy Young Award vote…

TOWER GROVE — One of the most intriguing and up-for-grabs awards this side of the National League MVP award is the league’s Cy Young award. It could be viewed as a referendum on what voters value.

Want change? Well, you might get a sea change from those standard triple-crown stats that have been such handy guides to a Cy Young-worthy pitcher. Wins just won’t do it this year.

Even ERA (gasp!) might not reveal the most worthy…

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…

TOWER GROVE — Baseball should thank Carlos Pena for rescuing the World Series from a faulty rule.

Sure the Series could end Tuesday night with a Philadelphia Phillies victory and it’s likely the Phillie that gets that tie-breaking hit won’t need to take a wallet when he goes out to eat on Broad Street. But no matter how many balls Ryan Howard pulps out of the ballpark in the rest of this Series, no matter how many…

SOUTH GRAND — With his hulk having whiffed his way through Game 1 of the World Series, Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel dared the media, the fans at home and maybe even the Tampa Bay Rays to doubt the power of Ryan Howard.

“Take him for granted,” Manuel said. “Start throwing to him. See what happens,”

What has happened in the past three games of the World Series is Howard, the local boy done good, has found…

SOUTH GRAND — Would have had the weekly PostCards posted much earlier this morning if the first question — from the sharp, witty and ever-adept keyboard of regular Frank Fuhrig, of course — had not been as much a homework assignment as a question.

It’s written less for a mailbag and more for a syllabus.

One element of the St. Louis Cardinals’ interest/chances in landing San Diego ace Jake Peavy is the amount of money the Cardinals…