BARTON UNBLEMISHED
Rookie outfielder Brian Barton has started three games in the major leagues. All three came over the weekend when the Cardinals swept the Washington Nationals, and Barton had much to do with that, with four hits and a walk.
La Russa gave Barton his first start to rest struggling Skip Schumaker, who is nothing for 14. The other two he earned, although La Russa, not wanting to bury Schumaker either and wanting to upgrade his defense late in the game, inserted Schumaker roughly halfway through the game on all three occasions.
"Baby steps defensively," said La Russa of his use of Barton. "Next time he gets out there, maybe he (goes) seven and by the middle of the season, he’s playing nine innings. I think he’s done very well."
Barton said, "I’m a competitor and obviously, you would like to stay in. But at the same time, if we’re winning, everything is fine. I just want to win.
"I feel like Tony knows what he’s doing out there. If it’s time for me to come out, I come out."
La Russa said Schumaker would play considerably on the seven-game trip to Houston and San Francisco that starts tonight at Minute Maid Park in Houston. "I’m not worried about him losing his timing because he’s been in there for half the game," La Russa said.
There is a fourth consecutive lefthander, Wandy Rodriguez, pitching tonight, tempting La Russa to keep Barton in the lineup or more likely to restore lefthanded-hitting Chris Duncan as a starter.
Duncan, who has had a hamstring issue, hit only one of his 21 homers against a lefthanded pitcher last year, but it was an upper-deck, 420-foot bomb off Rodriguez a year and one day ago in Houston.
"My guess is (Duncan) will be ready to go (Monday)," La Russa said. "But that’s not official."
