Tony La Russa was predictably non-committal about what he will do with his rotation when Lohse is ready. He did note that Todd Wellemeyer “is not pitching as good as he can”. The manager is only telling Brad Thompson to “take the ball and help us win” and in terms of any implications is “leaving the other stuff out of it”.

On Jess Todd Brad Thompson: “He was already proven” as a starting pitcher, but “if we would have had five starters, he would have been a reliever”.

Word is that Memphis outfielder Joe Mather had wrist surgery in Phoenix the last few days after first having a procedure on his hamate bone last September. This makes 2009 a complete washout for a player about whom there were great hopes coming into the season.

I asked TLR about Rob Rains’ new book, “Tony La Russa: Man on a Mission”. “He put a lot of work into it,” was La Russa’s initial comment. “I read about 100 pages before I was tired of reading about myself.” He acknowledged he “read it in pieces” and offered several corrections. (Former ChiSox GM Roland) “Hemond and Dunc also read it as they were a part of it.” La Russa thought the recent years in St. Louis had less detail than his early years in Chicago and Oakland but overall seemed very favorable about the book. (Note: Scout.com forum readers can win one of three autographed copies of the book for the best message board post in each of the months of June, July and August. More details here.)

Cards GM John Mozeliak is with the club and spent time of the field before the game chatting with his Mets counterpart Omar Minaya along with former Cardinal Eduardo Perez. La Russa noted that Perez has a “good feel” for the game and is a “natural for field manager”. He also commented that when with StL, Walt Jocketty tried to hire Perez for a front office position. Perez recommended both Joe Thurston and Juan Gonzalez to the Cardinals.

First impressions of Citi Field follow. TLR noted it was “supposed to play big”, but it “may not play as big in summer. It is a very fair park.” Both Chris Duncan and Khalil Greene noted that Shea was louder. Greene added that the acoustics of the closed Shea created “more energy” for both clubs. Brendan Ryan said the infield plays “a little fast, but is good”. All comments were positive, especially the predictable ones about the improved clubhouse over the below-average facilities at the now-demolished Shea Stadium.

Ryan was aware that he received some negative attention for his relay home late in Monday’s game. I saw the Keith Hernandez version on SportsNet New York. Ryan was well aware that he should have taken the throw turned sideways instead of with his back to the plate, but said the throw was breaking away from him. The shortstop commented that his intent remains to play “aggressive smart”.

When asked about Colby Rasmus’ catch on Monday, the manager called it “just good”, suggesting that the rookie “did not get back as well as he should.” Rasmus is not starting again Tuesday.

As La Russa was signing a baseball commemorating his 2500^th win on Sunday and deciding which seat number from a block of tickets to select to send to a friend, he was asked about the feat. La Russa noted that two of his best friends, Tom Kelly and Jim Leyland “would have had 2500 or 2600 if they had been with my three teams. Both are outstanding.” TLR went on to reminisce about his “hellacious games” against Kelly’s Twins from 1987 through 1992.

La Russa was asked about the 1989 Oakland A’s reunion this evening, noting those three consecutive World Series clubs were “obscene” (ly good), winning 104, 99 and 103 games, respectively.

Rumors are that Troy Glaus is hitting down in Arizona, but having trouble making throws from third base. La Russa said that he had heard the same thing, but not directly. He made it pretty clear that Glaus won’t be back until he can play third base defensively.

The manager, an NL All-Star coach under Charlie Manuel, said he was told indirectly that Manuel “will talk to me and Joe (Torre) a lot about things.” He offered a quick “yes” when asked if he thought closer Ryan Franklin deserved a berth on the team. TLR also said that if Chris Carpenter “keeps taking the ball”, he should also be an All-Star. “I’ve seen many times when an injury is not held against a guy.”

Khalil Greene’s knee is ok. He was hit Sunday and Monday was the day if there was to be trouble. There was none.

Asked what characteristics make the ideal manager, La Russa mentioned leadership and personality as the two key factors. He would not name his ideal skipper, begging off by saying it would vary by the type of team provided.

The skipper stopped by Madison Square Garden during the day and was presented a jersey by New York Rangers general manager Glen Sather.

La Russa left four game tickets for Leslie West, famous as the guitarist and lead singer of the band “Mountain”. The skipper is interested in seeing the musical “Rock of Ages” on Broadway after his club’s current series ends.

Look for reports from MLB.com’s Matthew Leach and the Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold, who are both with the team here in New York. Cardinals fans should be thankful for the breadth and depth of coverage of their team.

Every year when I cover the Cardinals in our Nations’ Capital, I stay with my friend Trace Wood and his family. Trace is a good friend and a fine baseball writer and as such, it gives me another reason to anticipate this trip.

Yet I feel badly that I head off to the ballpark every day when here while Trace remains home, following a number of games simultaneously on MLB Extra Innings.

Even before my laptop’s monitor died on this trip, I suggested to Trace that we attend one of the four-game series as fans. That would allow us to talk more baseball together.

The designated day was today, Saturday, made even more appropriate given my machine malfunction made working at the ballpark impossible anyway. (OK, so I did take my camera with me and will share those shots once I am back to equipment normalcy.)

As we approached Nationals Park, Trace pointed out an underpass and street where parts of the Peter Sellers movie Being There were filmed. The lead character, Chance the Gardener, a.k.a. Chauncey Gardiner is one of my all-time favorites, hence this post’s title.

As it has all three games so far, rain threatened, but stayed away. While warm and humid, the cloudy skies kept the temperature bearable.

If only Saturday’s game had been as pleasant.

We sat in the third row, between the screen behind home plate and the Nationals dugout – excellent seats. It also afforded me a clear view into the Cardinals dugout.

Other than Albert Pujols and injured Khalil Greene, the Cards sent out their best men into battle. Chris Duncan moved to his “natural” position, first base, while Colby Rasmus manned left.

It was Hispanic Heritage Day at the park. I found it most coincidentally interesting that the battery was Joel Pineiro and Yadier Molina with Angel Hernandez the home plate umpire. Of course, many more Hispanic players competed in the game.

Among those seated in the $375 per person Lexus Champions seats right behind home plate was former Cardinal Bobby Bonilla, now an exec with the MLB Players Association. He shared a long conversation with Nats employee and former Blue Jays outfielder Devon White. White’s Toronto World Series ring was most visible.

The story of the game was starting pitcher Shairon Martis of the Nats, who first came into prominence when pitching a no-hitter in the 2006 World Baseball Classic for the Netherlands.

This game was all about the fifth inning.

Relying almost exclusively on a changeup and a fastball that topped out at 93 mph, Martis had pitched 4 2/3 perfect innings before Yadier Molina shot a clean single up the middle.

In the bottom of the inning, Molina made a stellar defensive play on a bunt by Martis. Yadi fired to second, nailing the runner Anderson Hernandez. Shortstop Brian Barden did a great job holding on after the hard, but clean slide.

Still in the fifth, Nick Johnson blasted a ball to deep center. Rick Ankiel had trouble adjusting to the slice as he ran full speed toward the track, Catching the ball to his left, then crashing into the wall, Ankiel was almost able to double the runner off first.

With two out, Ryan Zimmerman’s easy pop foul was dropped by Duncan. That opened the door for Adam Dunn’s three-run home run launched majestically into the second deck which gave the home team a four-run lead.

The Cards got onto the board with Colby Rasmus’ first career home run, a line drive shot that traveled as far as Dunn’s blast, though not as high. Sadly for the Cardinals, the bases were empty. It was on Martis’ first pitch of the seventh.

St. Louis had another chance in the eighth. With Joe Thurston on second, Khalil Greene pinch hit for Pineiro. The shortstop’s scorching liner to the left side was stabbed and turned into a double play.

Austin Kearns had a triple in the bottom of the inning off P.J. Walters as Ankiel inadvisably dived at a ball he couldn’t have reached. The ball rolled to the wall, giving Kearns another base. The runner on first scored easily. Kearns scored on an Anderson Hernandez single afterward.

By my count, the game would have been 2-1 with a better defensive showing. The three runs following Duncan’s drop were unearned and the second of the runs charged to Walters could have been avoided.

Still, you have to tip your cap to Martis. Despite only having two pitches working, he tossed the first complete game by a Nats pitcher since August 2006. Martis fanned six and walked no one in his 110-pitch gem.

Played in just two hours, seven minutes, despite its outcome, I liked to watch.

I spoke with P.J. Walters about his successful ninth-inning stint on Thursday. He and Ryan Franklin warmed up with Walters coming in since it is a non-save situation. P.J. says he can warm up quickly and can pitch on consecutive days as he did with State College back in 2006. Yet he is the only reliever shown as not available on Tony La Russa’s Friday lineup card.

Speaking of Franklin, La Russa finally broke down and admitted what we all could see. “At this point, he is the closer…. He was always the guy,” pronounced the skipper.

Spoke with Walters and Jason Motte about eyeglasses. Jason wears his trademark prescription specs on the mound and likes them because he can see all angles. P.J. had LASIK surgery two years ago and is very pleased with it, noting he experienced immediate improvement. Motte said he considered the procedure only for “a split second”. I may be a wimp, but I agree with him.

La Russa had penciled Jason LaRue into the lineup initially because catcher Yadier Molina “had a tough night, threw up” on Thursday. Yet when Yadi reported to the park, he told the skipper he was ok to go.

Thursday night’s home plate ump Jim Reynolds was not as fortunate. Beaned by a Blaine Boyer warmup pitch, he was unable to answer the bell on Friday. Substitute umpire Kevin Causey took over at third.

La Russa noted that his team’s fast start “has to do with what the players put in during spring training“ both in terms of drills and game experience.

TLR on Todd Wellemeyer (pre-game): Not as sharp as he can be. Will get better and better as he goes on.

TLR on Rick Ankiel: Once he is sharp, he is a potent bat. Started out ok but not surging as well as Ryan or Chris. He can be a number four hitter in MLB. Last three game key hits means he gets another start. Really been overtrying. When he relaxes more, he has better focus.

TLR on Khalil Greene: Emergency player in the field only for the remainder of this series. Injury to throwing arm, but no consideration of DL because he is pretty good pinch-hitter.

Khalil spoke about the role of being a pinch-hitter actually requires him to concentrate more over the details of the game from the bench than when he is actually playing. He watches the status of the pitchers on both sides so he is not surprised when he is given the heads-up to get ready. When he is in the game, he is less focused on the opposing pitcher, since he figures he will be hitting either way.

As a result, Tyler Greene is again getting the start in day two of his MLB career. Having been a little busy, he was unaware of the other shortstop moves in the system resulting from his promotion. Tyler concurred that the Double-A step Pete Kozma is making is the toughest due to better control and fewer mistakes by pitchers at that level.

K. Greene told me that in his first impression, he likes the new ballpark in DC. He was injured when the Padres traveled there last season and was not with the team. Khalil also liked the hitting background in the old RFK Stadium despite its large dimensions.

TLR on playing Joe Thurston vs. Brian Barden at third: Jokingly flipped an imaginary coin. Seriously, he mentioned he looks at how the opposing pitchers perform against right-handed batters (like Barden) and left-handed (Thurston). Both will continue to play a lot. Need extra pen man with 35 games in 36 days to start season.

TLR on his emergency catcher: “Probably one of the young, aggressive guys, maybe Thurston.” He said a definitive “no” when I jokingly suggested former catcher Motte.

Thursday’s winning pitcher Chris Perez says his heel still is giving him no problems at all, but expects his spring training shot will wear off soon. When he feels pain again, the plan is to do the injection on an off day.

On all the televisions in the clubhouse was the Marlins-Cubs game. I happened to catch Denise Richards do such a terrible rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” that it made Ozzy seem good.

A team official noted the club has sold about 29,000 full and partial season tickets, which was kept flat by the added attraction of the 2009 All-Star Game. As noted elsewhere, the higher revenue premium tickets and corporate spending are down.

Mitchell Boggs was not surprised by his nine strikeouts Friday as he noted the Nationals are an aggressive team. He was surprised when I told him that he took over the 2009 team single-game lead from Walters, who had seven against the Cubs. Mitchell noted that he expects Adam Wainwright to claim the lead sometime very soon.

Albert Pujols mentioned his wife Deidre is heading to the Dominican Republic later this month to deliver the rest of the 200 beds he is donating to needy families.

I mentioned to Ryan Ludwick Thursday evening that La Russa said he would be starting here on Friday. Ryan said he expected it, but admitted that in the two games in Atlanta, he did not feel good at all.

Forgot to mention that Chris Duncan almost choked on his chewing gum in the dugout before the game. I asked him how many months it has been since he used tobacco. He counted out to nine. Great for him! Duncan took a lot of heat in some quarters for his use, so he deserves kudos for quitting.

Wellemeyer credited Dave Duncan with a mechanical adjustment with his hips that he said helped with his better outing on Friday.