Less than 24 hours removed from throwing seven innings in Game 5, Chris Carpenter did his usual post-start workout at Busch Stadium on Tuesday. He got in a run. He played some catch.

And he declared himself ready and willing for whatever is next.

"I think everybody is available for the rest of the year, don't you?" Carpenter said. "Whatever he (manager Tony La Russa) needs me to do."

La Russa offered no hints about his plans for who will start Game 7 on Thursday, if the Cardinals are able to win tonight and force the winner-take-all finale to the World Series. He smiled when asked if Carpenter would be available for Game 7, offering only that the Cardinals "need to get there first."

The timing is tricky for Carpenter.

This evening's game will be less than 48 hours removed from his last pitch, and any appearance in a potential Game 7 would be with less than three days of rest. Both would be pushes, one just more extreme than the other.

Carpenter has already thrown a league-high 237 1/3 innings during the regular season this year, and with 30 innings this postseason has eclipsed his career-high for any one year with 267 1/3 innings.

Most starters throw a between-start bullpen session two days after their start. Carpenter has not thrown a side session like that for several months. He said that he prefers to 'save his bullets" for the game and only throw a side session if he needs to correct a flaw in his mechanics. If he threw side sessions it would be scheduled for today. Starters like Kyle Lohse and Edwin Jackson have been considered available in relief on their days for side throws.

Rain is in the forecast for tonight, and any delay could push a potential Game 7 back to Friday, four days after Carpenter's previous start.

"Whatever they need," Carpenter said.

Carpenter allowed two runs on six hits and two walks in Monday night's Game 5. He received no decision as the Cardinals lost 4-2 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. It was only the third time in 14 postseason games started by Carpenter that the Cardinals have lost. He threw 101 pitches and said that he was "in more control of my delivery, and it showed. My command was better."

Earlier this postseason, Carpenter made his first career start on short rest — on three days of rest, instead of the standard four. He struggled in Game 2 of the National League division series. Carpenter walked three and allowed four runs on five hits in three laborious innings against Philadelphia. He said the first time offered valuable lessons that he'll use if called upon to go on even shorter rest and reappear in this World Series.

"I chalk up (the short-rest struggles) to two things. One, mechanically I wasn't very good," Carpenter said. "Two, being the first time, my stuff wasn't as sharp. You learn from that experience. ... Because I felt physically good I was trying to pitch like I do on my fifth day, instead of realizing, 'Wait a minute, this is a day that my stuff is not as sharp, so we've got to make stuff up to get through these things.' Make sure you back off instead of put more on.

"I think that was just the situation," he concluded. "That's something that I could take into the next time if it ever happens again."

LINEUP PUZZLES

Cardinals center fielder Jon Jay is nothing for 14 in his first World Series and only eight for 51 (.157) in the postseason. On Monday night, he didn't start for the second time in the Cardinals' 16 postseason games, although he did finish the game.

"It's tough," said Jay. "You definitely want to be out there helping your team. But Skippy (Skip Schumaker) did a great job out there. I'm just ready for whatever role I've got.

"It's no big deal to me. Hopefully, we can win this. That's all that matters right now."

If Jay does not start the game, he most likely will appear. He led the club with 159 games played this season.

Manager Tony La Russa wasn't tipping his hand Tuesday afternoon on the off-day before tonight's Game 6, although he gave indications that Schumaker would play somewhere, either center field or second base, and that he might bat at the top of the lineup. This would mean that shortstop Rafael Furcal, who has a .233 on-base percentage for the postseason, could drop to eighth.

"That's what off-days are for," said a still pondering La Russa.

Jay, a .297 regular-season batsman, said he had spent some extra time in the batting cage trying to find an answer.

"I still have confidence in myself," said Jay. "Hopefully, I get another chance to show what I can do."

GAME 7 STARTER?

Although it would be the turn of Kyle Lohse, the Cardinals' leading regular-season winner at 14, to get a Game 7 start, La Russa was circumspect Tuesday

"I had a conversation with Dave (pitching coach Dave Duncan)," said La Russa. "We have a really positive feel how we would pitch that game ... we need to get there first and then we can talk about it.

"There isn't any part of me that doesn't want to have a Game 7, but every part of me says, 'Let's think about Game 6 first.'''

Jake Westbrook, a 12-game winner whose 33 starts ranked second to Carpenter's 34, finally got into a World Series game for the first time, and his first postseason game as a Cardinal, when he pitched a scoreless eighth in Game 4 on Sunday. He threw a double-play ball on his trademark sinker to end the inning.

"Oh, yeah, I was nervous. Real nervous," said Westbrook.

"It felt like my major-league debut and ALCS Game 7," said Westbrook, who started Game 7 of the 2007 American League championship series while pitching for Cleveland against Boston. "I was able to handle it and it felt good."

Westbrook probably will be in the bullpen for whatever games might be remaining of the World Series. "I'll be ready. I know that," said the 33-year-old Westbrook.

Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this story.