DOWNTOWN — One of the elements of his decision that preoccupied Tony La Russa as he considered whether to return as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals was message vs. messenger. He mentioned that this afternoon as he explained how he came to weigh whether his message had grown tired or if the players had grown tired of the messenger, no what he had to say.

In his press conference, the video of which is below,…

TOWER GROVE — As detailed in the first of Joe Strauss’ post-season autopsies on the St. Louis Cardinals, manager Tony La Russa said a year he enjoyed with a team he professed a fondness for “from Day 1 of spring training really” left a sour, morning-mouth taste because of the way things finished. Not just the sweep in the National League Division Series, but specifically the performance in Game 3 of the playoffs.

“The first two games…

DOWNTOWN — His losing battle with the mechanics of his delivery and that 105-pitch slog through Game 1 of this National League Division Series was so uncharacteristic of the St. Louis Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter that he can speak with some authority about how he’ll pitch Sunday.

“I’ll be better,” he said.

Manager Tony La Russa announced this afternoon that if Cardinals stave off elimination tonight and force a Game 4 for Sunday afternoon Carpenter will get…

TOWER GROVE — As St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak has been describing it recently, he and manager Tony La Russa have been in “constant contact” over the past week or so about the playoff roster. Mozeliak has said that La Russa carries an informal final say with the roster because it is La Russa who will pull the levers and push the buttons and deploy the pinch runners available to him on said…

TOWER GROVE — More than a year ago, Walt Jocketty, freshly installed as the Cincinnati Reds general manager, used an odd word to describe an upcoming series against the St. Louis Cardinals. He said he and manager Dusty Baker had chips on their shoulders. That they each had a “vendetta”.

Turns out it wasn’t that weird of a word choice at all. It was prophetic.

In 2009, the National League Central has only gotten spicier when it…

TOWER GROVE — St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan believe not all pitches are created equal. That is why La Russa often bats away questions about a pitcher being on a short-leash with a pitch count or a pitcher being allowed to blow by the mythical (and misleading) labrum-barrier of 100 pitches.

There are high-stress pitches. There are breezy innings. They do count the same.

Both are part of the internal…

TOWER GROVE — Asked Sunday morning if his lineup would look a little different if the St. Louis Cardinals were playing a team out of contention, manager Tony La Russa paused, rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, and finally acknowledged: Probably.

If he didn’t offer a complete answer, he’ll start today.

Of the five teams either in the playoffs or in the playoff picture (looking at you Colorado and Atlanta), the Cardinals are the only team that…

DENVER — St. Louis Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, as he is often apt to do as a Dugout Socrates, answered a question with a question.

“Let me ask it to you in this way,” he said the other day in Houston. “If we were to face Roy Oswalt at his best today and then face him again next week, is facing him today an advantage for us?”

The answer-and-question was in response to an inquiry about the pluses and minuses…

TOWER GROVE — Even though his team has gone unbeaten in 11 consecutive series and will be visiting a division rival that is 24 1/2 games back in the race, manager Tony La Russa will have that familiar, unsettled, and caustic sensation in his gut before tonight’s game at PNC Park.

Blame those Baseball Gods.

As if delivering a sermon from the mount atop the NL Central standings, La Russa has invoked the phrase “baseball gods” at…

DOWNTOWN — For the first time in his young career and perhaps the only time in his career, St. Louis native and former Mizzou All-American Max Scherzer made a start for the Cardinals last night.

Scherzer, who grew up a fan of the hometown club, pitched 7 1/3 innings for the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday and held the Los Angeles Dodgers to one run on seven hits. He struck out four, and he collected his ninth…

TOWER GROVE — This past offseason, switch-hitting utility infielder Aaron Miles — a member in good standing of the 2006 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals — grew frustrated with a third consecutive winter of being non-tendered by the club he had hoped to call home. And though an 11th-hour offer eventually came from the Cardinals, Miles made the difficult decision to jump to a rival, the Chicago Cubs.

Far from excommunicating him (check out his initial…

DOWNTOWN — The difference this season between Houston Astros switch-hitter Lance Berkman batting from the right side of the plate and batting from the left side of the plate is 100 points in his batting average.

The difference Wednesday for the Cardinals was having a pitcher to trust when turning him around.

Book-ended last night by Joel Pineiro’s seventh consecutive winning decision and Ryan Franklin’s third save in as many games was a brief one-out appearance from…

TOWER GROVE — The way Todd Wellemeyer describes it, he joined the St. Louis Cardinals at a vulnerable time in his career. He could not figure out why good stuff was getting bad results. He had just been hammered by the Detroit Tigers in consecutive games against them, and he was about to face the Tigers for a third time in four appearances after being a Cardinals’ waiver claim out of Kansas City’s pitching staff.

He…

TOWER GROVE — A few seasons ago, the St. Louis Cardinals veteran relievers Russ Springer, Ryan Franklin and Jason Isringhausen presented what one of them called a save-your-bullets approach to spring training. The theory, as Springer explained, was their high-mileage arms had only so many throws left, why waste those precious “bullets” on live batting practice or exhibition baseball when there was a whole season ahead of them?

The fewer throws they made in March, the…

TOWER GROVE — The St. Louis Cardinals have trailed their opponent 49 times this season entering the ninth inning. And 46 times whoever the Cardinals are facing goes on to win the game. Earlier this season the conclusions were often as quick as they were inevitable.

Three times — three times in 49 — the Cardinals have rallied to win.

All three have been since Matt Holliday arrived.

The Cardinals concluded a lengthy and wet day at the…