Carpenter bounces back
By Joe Strauss
JUPITER, Fla. - Forget the overwritten babble about spring's sweet sounds of ball meeting leather and ash. Friday, as pitchers and catchers reported to Roger Dean Stadium, early arrival Chris Carpenter provided the best possible welcome of all when he cursed a misplaced fastball.
Twelve months ago Carpenter held his breath every time he let loose a pitch.
Now, one season after winning a career-high 15 games but only four months after missing the playoffs and World Series with a bruised nerve near his right biceps, Carpenter holds higher expectations.
Recognized as the Players' Choice recipient for comeback of the year, he feels well enough to cut himself little slack even during a bullpen session two weeks before the team's first exhibition.
"Ever since I got down here and started throwing, I've basically felt like I did at the end of last season before I had that stupid injury," he said.
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Saturday in Camp: Morris turns heads
BY DERRICK GOOLD
Bearded Matt Morris threw off the mound for the first time this spring -– sock-less, that is. And he promptly provided folks something else to ask him about besides his new gray-flecked grizzly look.
Earlier this week he took the mound with a sock over his right pitching hand. The sock allowed him to go through his full motion and fire off a pitch without the full strain.
On Day 1 of camp, he was zipping the ball, feeling loose and looking smoother than he did most of last season. He made 40 “heaves” today and several Cardinals’ brass took note. He’s eager to see how his right shoulder feels Sunday.
While hesitant to let him accelerate his return from shoulder surgery -– as detailed by Rick Hummel in Saturday’s Post-Dispatch -- the Cardinals were struck by how he looked on his first trip up to the mound.
“I feel loose,” Morris said. “I can feel the difference. It’s amazing that people can see the difference.”
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Walker arrives early in camp
By Derrick Goold And Joe Strauss
JUPITER, Fla. - Before reporting early, though not quite as early as he usually does, Cardinals outfielder Larry Walker winged his family off to the Bahamas.
"For six days," he said. "It's the last time with Dad before I turn into an ogre for eight months."
Walker, who lives about a half-hour drive from the Cardinals' spring training camp, arrived Saturday morning and said he wasn't sure how many days early that is.
"At least they know I'm here," he said.
The only player in camp born before 1967, Walker, 38, altered his offseason training somewhat and plans to ease into April, all while looking for the right blend and a healthy season.
"(I'm) just going to try and pace myself through this," he said. "When we do running exercises, you're not going to see me leading the pack to try and show the young guys this is what you've got to do. I'm going to pace myself. I'm smart enough to know I'm not here to win a job. I don't need to turn heads in the first couple weeks of spring training."
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Still nursing foot, Pujols eases into camp
By Derrick Goold
JUPITER, Fla. - Pujols targeted the ball atop the tee, tapped the plate twice, took a tomahawk whack at it, watched the ball sail to the opposite side of the cage and then sprinted after it.
All while his dad watched.
A.J. Pujols, 4, was at his father's aching heels as the Cardinals' All-Star slugger took his first spring cuts Sunday at the Cardinals' practice facility at Roger Dean Stadium. In a cage alongside his father, A.J. did as much to mimic his father as possible. And it was a close impersonation.
All except for the running after the ball.
His pop will measure his running carefully this spring.
"One thing that I need to take easy - that I have to have in the back of my mind - is running," Pujols said.
The Cardinals' annual MVP candidate played through foot pain half of last season. It continues to be nettlesome and will take continued attention this season. "At least for the first two weeks, be careful what I do with running," he said.
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Mulder takes aim at return to top form
By Joe Strauss
General manager Walt Jocketty had approached A's general manager Billy Beane about Hudson and Mulder before December's winter meetings. While Hudson was perceived by some in baseball as the larger catch, Jocketty was equally pleased with obtaining Mulder.
"Actually, Mulder was more appealing to us for a number of reasons," Jocketty said. "He's signed through the end of this year with an option for next season. Plus, he's lefthanded. And he's been as good as anybody in the game for the past several years."
"I don't think he has to think about dominating," La Russa said. "If he takes the ball 30-plus times, what he's shown throughout his career will be enough."
Mulder's 72 wins the last four years trail only Boston's Curt Schilling. Johnson is the second-most prolific lefthander in that span with 67 wins. In the 78 major-league starts in which Mulder has received at least four runs from his lineup, he is 65-4.
"He'd be the perfect guy for any team, but it should really work well here because we score runs," Isringhausen says. "It's a great fit."
Checking things out
The Cardinals were concerned enough to have their medical staff pore over Mulder's medical records before approving the deal. Concern was raised by stat-based consultants retained by the organization, citing Mulder's heavy workload and increased walks. Jocketty even phoned Isringhausen for his opinion.
"Everybody was talking about his hip or this or that, but look at the innings he's thrown," Isringhausen said. "At some point it's going to catch up to you. He doesn't come out of games (early) very often. He's fine. We're lucky to have him."
Jocketty said there now are no concerns about Mulder's health.
"We were very satisfied with what the doctors had to say about all the physical issues," he said. "Everything was fine."
Mulder says he stopped reading newspapers last September but no longer feels a sense of dread every time a reporter approaches. Just as he has left behind a franchise, he has left behind the uncertainty that chased him from last season.
"I can honestly say I couldn't be happier," Mulder says. "I'm going to a better team. I'm going to a better organization. I'm going to a better city. Everything is better, and that's how I'm looking forward to it."
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Game of baseball is strong enough to survive steroids
By Bernie Miklasz
... The new policy includes year-round random testing and a 10-day suspension for first-time offenders. The latest version still doesn't go far enough - a violator isn't suspended for a year until his fourth offense - but progress is being made. This incremental crackdown on steroids, plus the fallout from the BALCO scandal, should continue to normalize home-run totals.
And just wait until the first few cheaters are caught in the new testing web; the public shame and humiliation will serve to scare other potential 'roidheads straight.
Sorry if my optimism goes against the grain. I realize the trendy thing to do is to grandstand from a column space or talk-show desk and screech that the sky is falling and that baseball as we know it will perish from the face of the earth because steroids have ruined the game.
But baseball is tackling the problem. And that's the crucial first phase in the counterattack. A larger concern is the lack of trust. Those who hit long, frequent home runs will be viewed with suspicion.
"We have to make sure that when a fan brings his kid to the game, they feel good about what they're seeing," said Phillies first baseman Jim Thome, to the Philadelphia Inquirer. "When a guy hits a 500-foot homer, you don't want a kid asking his dad, 'Do you think he uses steroids?' It's unfair to the ones who have busted their butts to achieve. It's unfair to the guys who are in the gym all winter grinding."
Baseball eventually will overcome the Steroids Era. Baseball has survived so many defects: doctored pitches, the DH rule, erratic strike zones, shrunken ballparks, deadball eras, liveball eras, the Black Sox scandal, the advent of free agency, the 1980s cocaine binge, expansion, and institutional racism and segregation. Through it all, baseball remains a strong and resilient game.
