Cardinals gear up for restart

ST. LOUIS -- Four hours on the field Saturday helped the St. Louis Cardinals get back into a baseball frame of mind.

The team practiced for two hours followed by a seven-inning intrasquad game, with Matt Morris and Woody Williams the starting pitchers. It was an effort to get geared up for Monday, when major league games resume after six days off in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

"Everything feels strange," manager Tony La Russa said. "But the games are going to count, so you've got to dig deep."

Players were looking forward to being a diversion for America.

"We're still trying to win something, even though it seems shameless and useless," reliever Steve Kline said. "I'm ready to take my mind off this whole circumstance."

La Russa got a good look at his pitching staff, using 10 of them in a stadium that was empty except for a handful of media and a tour group allowed in for the first half-inning.

Players appeared a little bit looser than earlier in the week. On Mark McGwire's last at-bat, center fielder Jim Edmonds climbed over the center field wall and then stationed himself in the grassy area between the bleachers as if ready to catch a long fly ball.

When the games resume, the Cardinals will be one-half game behind the Giants in the wild card race with 19 games to go. But the games will have a reduced sense of importance, players said.

"Baseball really doesn't mean too much when you think about what's been going on around the world and what took place," second baseman Fernando Vina said. "You see some of these people that don't know if their husbands or wives or family members are alive that were in the twin towers, it makes you put everything in perspective."

When the team returns for a three-game series against the Brewers, with estimated crowds of 30,000-plus each day, there will be heightened security. The measure that will most affect fans is the prohibition of coolers, which have long been allowed at Busch Stadium.

Other measures directed by major league baseball include increase use of uniformed law enforcement personnel, daily facility inspection, identification and inspection of all ballpark deliveries and restricted parking within 100 feet of any ballpark exterior.

Teams also were directed to train personnel in security awareness.

La Russa said he wasn't concerned for his safety.

"I'm going to concern myself trying to win the competition, period," La Russa said.

Although the Brewers have announced pitchers for the first three days, Ruben Quevedo, Jamey Wright and Jeff D'Amico, La Russa said he's still not sure who'll start Monday. He's hesitating partly because of the health of Darryl Kile, who had a stiff elbow examined after his last start but has been cleared to pitch, and because he's trying to figure out the best way to utilize Morris, who's one victory away from his first 20-win season.

If the Cardinals wait to start Morris on Wednesday, for instance, he likely could pitch twice against the NL Central-leading Houston Astros the rest of the way.

"I guess they're still trying to figure out how to set it up," Morris said. "We're all ready, so it really doesn't matter when I pitch again."