Tony La Russa on starting Colby Rasmus in center despite teasing earlier in the week about a Skip Schumaker return to the outfield: “It really came down to Colby or Rick (Ankiel) at center. And I think Colby earned the start. Rick’s close. We have a good team. We have a choice to make. At second, (Julio) Lugo goes a lot against lefthanders and I would expect maybe tomorrow; we’ll see how today goes. I felt like Schu was a good matchup for Wolf, and Julio has struggled against Wolf. In fact, quite a few of our guys have.”

Ankiel has been one of the Cards best pinch-hitters. “It’s one of those deals you don’t want to penalize him for starts and you give him starts,” La Russa said. “But he’s had some very good at-bats coming off the bench, and that’s an asset in these series, any series, expecially a postseason series. Like I said, I hate to penalize him because he’s a great pinch hitter, or a really good pinch hitter. But it’s a factor. I just think Colby’s been haveing a lot of consistent at-bats and earned the start.”