Opening act, closing act

ST. LOUIS -- Mark Mulder pitches the third game of the season for the Cardinals tonight, and it'll be every bit as big of an occasion as opening day.

The 17-game winner, the team's biggest offseason acquisition, gets to pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies amid the pomp and circumstance of the home opener.

"It's going to be fun," Mulder said. "The place is going to be packed with red and white and it's going to be a good time."

"We put a lot of factors together, and there's a lot of things that go into setting up that first time around," manager Tony La Russa said. "We try to figure out a way we can get off to our best start, and this is the game that Mark drew."

Mulder led the major leagues with 17 victories in mid-July last season before going 0-4 with a 7.27 ERA in his last seven starts. But La Russa doesn't feel the left-hander should be carrying extra pressure into his first career start at Busch Stadium.

"Does he have anything to prove?" La Russa said. "He has the same thing to prove that Carpenter, Jason Marquis and Jeff Suppan have to prove, that they can take the ball every fifth day and help us try to win a pennant."

"I feel great going into the season," Mulder said. "I've never had great springs, but I've felt each one of my starts this year got a little bit better, and I'm confident going out there."

This start carries almost as many trappings as a World Series game. Players arrive on the backs of vehicles, 2005 Mustangs this year, in a motorcade that circles the warning track and downtown has a festival atmosphere the entire day.

This year perhaps will have even more significance since the Cardinals will celebrate their first pennant in 17 years plus the start of the final season at 40-year-old Busch Stadium. Players representing each decade of baseball at the stadium will throw out ceremonial first pitches, including Bob Gibson, Bob Forsch, Tom Pagnozzi and a member of the current team.

Not counting 48 postseason games, over the years just under 86 million fans have attended regular-season games at the downtown stadium. There has been unprecedented interest for this season, with a franchise-record 2.7 million tickets already sold.

"Opening day is always a great time for players because it's the start of something special, and you try to put together another year like they did last year," new second baseman Mark Grudzielanek said. "It's going to be a treat."

La Russa has special fondness for the home opener, even if it's Game 3.

"I don't think you can ever take an edge off a home opener the way they do it in St. Louis," La Russa said. "They're all special and this is the last time it's going to be here, so it adds a little something extra."

Mulder, though, will be concentrating on the business at hand.

"A start is a start and I'm not going to see a lot of stuff that's going on, the hoopla," Mulder said. "I'm just focusing on what I'm doing."

The Cardinals split the first two games, getting strong starting pitching in both. The bullpen has been an early source of concern, allowing five runs in five innings.