After two series at Busch Stadium the Cardinals head to Toronto for their first AL interleague game Tuesday night, giving them their first shot at the designated hitter. Matthew Leach of the mothership has word of what that'll entail:
↵↵↵He can use the designated-hitter spot to give some of his players a partial day off.
↵One such player may be Ryan Ludwick, whom, La Russa has previously noted, plays a high-impact style and benefits from occasional maintenance days. But Ludwick likely won't be the only one. The Cardinals will probably rotate their designated hitter over their six games in Toronto and Kansas City.
↵"You look and see who needs to get off their feet," La Russa said. "Like a Ludwick might need to get off his feet one of those games. Who plays in his place? I don't know. That's the one plus I like about the six games, is that it gives our bench players [some chances to play]. Somebody's going to play."
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This comes as a blow to those of us who hold out hope that Allen Craig might someday leave the milk carton behind, but the chance to rest Ryan Ludwick—who seems to be playing at 150% right now—and Albert Pujols without losing their bats is a welcome one. As I wrote on Viva El Birdos, it seems like this means that Randy Winn will spend some time starting at right field, instead of Nick Stavinoha starting at DH, and that's a nice way to utilize the bench the Cardinals have, if not the bench I wish they had.