There are reports floating around that Scott Rolen's DL stint will end this weekend, so let's look at how things have gone since Rolen ran into Hee Seop Choi:

Cardinals Record on May 10th: 20-12
Cardinals Record Since: 22-12

How about this:

Dodgers Record on May 10th: 20-12
Dodgers Record Since: 13-21

The baseball gods work in mysterious ways. The Cardinals expanded a 4.0 game lead over the then-second place Brewers, who also have gone 13-21 since May 10th, to a 7.5 game lead over the Cubs. Thanks go to Scott Seabol and Abraham Nuñez for some serviceable work at 3B (does everyone else want La Russa to do his infielder-in-the-outfield thing with Seabol rather than see Cedeño?) and thanks to an improved bullpen for picking up some slack.

Friday's game was a minor milestone in its own right, as the Cardinals played their first game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Rays had been the only team the Cardinals had never faced during the regular season. I always assumed the jokes about a lone heckler at Tropicana Field were exaggerations poking fun at the lack of attendance, but there really is a single individual who can be heard over everyone else. This being the 21st century, the guy's identity is known.

As for the game itself, the stats tell the story, or more precisely, the two stories. Mulder got 17 groundouts and that's the Good Mulder. On the other hand, Mulder had more homers, more walks and more hit batsmen than strikeouts (OK, 2 to 1) and a wild pitch for good measure. It seemed to me he was throwing a lot of slop below the knees and the Devil Rays were chasing and unfortunately for them making contact. While I can't dock Mulder points for attacking an opponent's weakness, that's not something I'd expect to work in the post-season.