It was definitely a Happy Mother’s Day at our house. Hope it was at yours as well. This week, we’re looking back at the gems the Cardinals’ pitched against the Rockies this weekend, a marquee outfielder who can’t get going, and more. Here we go:

Who’s Hot?

Shelby Miller, St. Louis Cardinals

How do you pick which start was more impressive? I finally had to choose Miller’s since I’ve seen Adam Wainwright’s greatness before. I don’t think it’s a stretch at all to say that the 22-year-old pitched the single best game by a rookie starter since Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout masterpiece against the Astros in 1998. Miller struck out 13, walked NONE and allowed only a broken-bat base hit against the Rockies. Some of the strikeouts were absolutely jaw-dropping. Perfectly placed fastballs. Breaking balls that dropped right over the plate. You name it. Miller had it all working for him. He said after the game on MLB Network that it was the best game he had ever pitched. Among the many stats and charts I’ve seen over the weekend about the pure greatness of this start, this one really jumped out at me: in the past 10 years, how many starts have there been where the pitcher allowed one hit (or none), struck out at least 13 batters, while walking none? Three. That’s it.  Here they are:

• 5/18/2004 – Randy Johnson, age 40, Arizona vs. Atlanta (perfect game)
• 6/13/2012 – Matt Cain, age 27, SF vs. Houston (perfect game)
• 5/10/2013 – Miller

The fact that the Big Unit pitched a perfect game at age 40 quite a feat as well, but a subject for another day. This is a damn impressive list. Miller is 22 and just scratching the surface of his abilities. If you own Miller on your fantasy team, here are a couple of other stats that will have you patting yourself on the back: he has yet to allow more than three earned runs in a start and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is 51-to-11. That is dominating for any starter. Of course, it is important to remember that Miller has less than a dozen major-league starts under his belt and there is bound to be some adjustment as opposing teams become more familiar with him. It would be unrealistic to expect no regression. Then again, as he matures, he figures to get even better. So far, it appears that the #1 starter-like projections predicted for Miller are right on target. After Friday night, Rockies hitters are in position to argue that point.

Who’s Not?

Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers

When your most noteworthy accomplishment of the season is a post-game altercation with another player, you know you’re off to a bad start. Someone please alert Kemp that the 2013 season started over a month ago. Entering Sunday’s games, Kemp’s batting line looked like that of a fourth outfielder on a good team: 1 HR, 14 RBI, 5 SB, .268 average. Okay, the RBI total is a little better than that of a reserve, but that’s about it. He just can’t get on track. How much longer can fantasy owners keep saying, “it’s early – he’ll be fine”? Fantasy owners cannot be happy to see that he is on pace for 4 HRs and 71 runs scored. Kemp has driven in one measly run and stolen a single base since Cinco de Mayo. He might have had an 11-game hitting streak going, but those hits aren’t translating to other stats for fantasy owners (or the Dodgers). Since you likely paid big auction dollars or used a high draft pick on Kemp, you really have no realistic choice but to wait and hope that he gets going soon. Trading him now would be a pennies-on-the-dollar move.

Playing the Name Game

Player A: .298/.365/.632, 4 HR, 13 RBI, 10 runs, 1 SB

Player B: .285/.379/.551, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 10 runs, 0 SB

Player A is the Angels’ Mike Trout. Player B is the Indians’ Mark Reynolds. Trout is being viewed by some baseball analysts as a bust, while Reynolds is being hailed as the best bargain free-agent signing of the year. Both are incorrect. Trout is on pace for 27 homers, 112 RBI, 22 steals and 100 runs scored. Reynolds is not going to hit 50 homers and drive in 150, as he is currently on pace to do. But it’s a mighty nice hot streak for the Sons of Geronimo and fantasy owners to enjoy. Anyone who considers Trout a bust, or who thinks Reynolds is going to maintain his current numbers, is an idiot. Let’s check back in a month.

Player A: 1-0, 3.85 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 22 Ks, 14 IP

Player B: 2-0, 2.31 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 16 Ks, 11 2/3 IP

Player A is Yu Darvish of the Rangers. Player B is Ubaldo Jimenez of the Indians. I had to read those numbers three times to make sure I wasn’t mixing them up with, say, James Shields or another front-line AL starter. Jimenez has actually put together back-to-back quality starts for the Tribe. In fact, Jimenez out-pitched Justin Verlander on Saturday, his third straight win.  Results like that are more in line with what the Indians had in mind when they dealt two of their top pitching prospects to the Rockies for the former All-Star starter in  July 2011. Personally, I wouldn’t trust that Jimenez has made some sort of breakthrough, but his success and that of Scott Kazmir, Cleveland is on a roll the past couple weeks and is bearing down on Detroit for first in the AL Central. The Indians have plenty of hitting. If, by chance, Jimenez can continue pitching this effectively, the Indians will be a big step closer to being a genuine contender.

Random Thoughts

• One final note on Shelby Miller: he has been quoted as saying that he has not shaken off a single pitch Yadier Molina has called for all season. Not only do you not run on Yadi, you don’t shake off Yadi, either.

• Let’s not forget Jon Lester. He pitched a beauty of his own last Friday night against the Blue Jays. He allowed just one hit, a double by Maicer Izturis in the 6^th inning. For the season, Lester is 5-0 with a 2.73 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. It’s not a coincidence that he is pitching like an ace and the Red Sox are winning again.

• Wainwright’s shutout of the Rockies on Saturday was no slouch, either. He didn’t strike out as many batters as Miller did Friday, but he had dazzling command of that 12-to-6 bender that gets hitters bailing out of the batter’s box, only to watch the ball drop right in the zone. When he gets that pitch going, he’s as fun to watch as any dominant ace.

• Wainwright Walk Watch: 4. That’s four batters that Wainwright has walked this season (in a National League-high 58 2/3 innings), compared with 55 strikeouts. That’s a 13.75 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which is so far beyond ridiculously good that it’s, well, ridiculous.

• On the other hand, there’s poor Philip Humber of the Astros. First he was banished to the bullpen by Houston. Then, after getting hammered out of the pen Saturday night, his stats sit thusly: 0-8, a ghastly 9.59 ERA, 2.02 WHIP, 43 ERA+. When you see that Humber has allowed 14 hits and nearly four walks per nine innings, it’s no wonder he has been charged with the loss in eight of his nine appearances this season. How did he ever pitch a perfect game?
• I think enough has been said and written about how terrible Angel Hernandez as an umpire. On second thought, no, it hasn’t been enough – his continued employment in an embarrassment to baseball. Likewise with Bob Davidson. A scientific poll (read: not scientific at all) reveals that the overall quality of umpiring would double if just those two were pink-slipped.

• As incompetent as Hernandez’s blown home run call was, it pales in comparison to the fiasco the following night with Astros manager Bo Porter just making up rules regarding pitching changes. Botching a call is nothing compared to not knowing the stinking rule book. My idea for an outside-the-box punishment for those umpires? Having to umpire a game while wearing dunce caps.

• They could borrow them from the ESPN executives who think it’s a good idea to pay John Kruk a salary to talk about baseball on TV.

Follow me on Twitter: @ccaylor10

The last thing that you’d think would rule a weekend between the St. Louis Cardinals and Colorado Rockies would be pitching. But not only was that the case, it was a historical level of pitching effectiveness. Between Shelby Miller, Adam Wainwright and Jorge De La Rosa, 21 complete hitless innings were tossed, and in the two of the starts, no-hitters were far from speculative; they were within grasp of being real.

The Cardinals took home the first two games of the series behind the masterful performances of their ace in the making and current rotation captain, before not being able to mount any offense until a very overdue Rockies lineup took control of game three. Yet, the Cardinals still won their third out of their last four series, and continue to keep a share of the best record in baseball at 23-13. Here’s three points to how they made that possible.

1.  Once in a Century Shelby: Shelby Miller, a veteran of a mere eight career starts, is beginning to make everyone take notice that the hype was well worth it. On Friday night he authored one of the greatest starts in not only Cardinal, but baseball history. After surrendering a base hit to lead the game off, he shut the door for the rest of the evening and retired the next 27 Rockies to hold down a 3-0 win. And while he didn’t join the ranks of the no-hit or Perfect Game club, but he did dominate in a way that no pitcher has since at least 1900. His nine-inning, one hit effort, with no walks and at least 13 strikeouts was a one of a kind feat that no other pitcher has done. His record improved to 5-2, and his ERA on the season now sits at 1.58, the third best mark in the Majors.

2. Weekend Warrior: Adam Wainwright is usually not one to be outdone, and he nearly wasn’t. A day after Miller’s masterpiece, Waino continued the Rockies woes by keeping them off-base until a fifth inning Todd Helton walk, a streak of 50 consecutive batters. Nolan Arenado broke up the no-hit bid in the eighth inning, which ended a remarkable shutdown streak by the two Cardinal hurlers. The 49 consecutive hitless at-bats was the longest streak in 29 years. For Wainwright, his impressive weekend work at home continued: he now has two complete game shutouts, surrendering only six hits and one walk against 19 strikeouts.

3. Against the odds: Jaime Garcia’s home dominance is well known; his 2.41 ERA entering Sunday was the best in the history at Busch Stadium III. Yet for his career against the Rockies, he has sported his worst performance against any team, with an 0-3 record and an ERA of 10.53 to drive it home. Sunday’s performance wasn’t his worst, but he caught a mixture of the law of averages coming back around (Colorado is the NL’s best hitting team on the season), as well as a couple of bad situations. Troy Tulowitzki is one of the worst batters possible catch in the middle of the perfect storm of both issues the team was facing before hitting his third inning, three run homer (0 for the series, five strikeouts). Add in the fact that Jorge De La Rosa turned in a matching performance to the two Cardinal starters the day before nearly, and it wasn’t in the cards for Garcia in finishing up the sweep.

The St. Louis Cardinals knew rookie right-handed starting pitcher Shelby Miller had talent since they drafted him No. 19 overall in the 2009 draft, but others in baseball questioned if the Houston-native’s maturity level would allow him to succeed at the sport’s highest level.

Miller projected he would be the in big leagues within two years of being drafted. Well, it took an extra year, but Miller has made the most of his first opportunity with the Cardinals and has set a pace that could earn him the highest honor a rookie can receive.

Miller gave up just one hit and struck out 13 Colorado Rockies in a complete game Friday to move his record to 5-2 and drop his earned-run average to a rotation-best 1.58.

His five wins are tied for second-most among Major League Baseball pitchers, and his ERA is four among all starters who have pitched more than two games so far in 2013.

Those are the sort of numbers that made the Cardinals draft Miller so high and made fans yearn for the team to call him up nearly anytime another starting pitcher had a couple of bad games. However, Miller didn’t look much like a Rookie of the Year-caliber pitcher when the Cardinals had holes to fill in their starting rotation at this point last season.

Projected starters Chris Carpenter and Kyle McClellan suffered long-term injuries in spring training last year. That left a potential spot for Miller to make good on his two-years-to-the-show claim, but Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly filled those positions instead.

Meanwhile, Miller was in the midst of a season with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds that produced an 11-10 record with a 4.74 ERA, not nearly numbers that would inspire a call-up to the major leagues.

However, Miller won six of his seven final starts in 2012 with the Redbirds and pitched six games in relief with a 1.32 ERA as the Cardinals made their late-season run toward the playoffs.

He’s been even better in 2013 as part of starting rotation that has had one of the best starts to a season in franchise history, posting a 2.15 ERA in April. In fact, the entire Cardinals starting rotation would likely receive an invite to the All-Star Game if it was played in May instead of July.

Granted, the season is still young, and Miller will eventually have to face teams for a second time as the season progresses, but he has set a foundation for what could be one of the best rookie seasons for a Cardinals starting pitcher in more than a decade.

Remember, Adam Wainwright pitched too many games as a reliever in 2006 to be considered a rookie although he went 14-12 with a 3.70 ERA in 2007 as a full-time starter.

Before Wainwright, the Cardinals hadn’t had a dominant rookie pitcher since Rick Ankiel burst into the big leagues to be Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2000 with 194 strikeouts and a 3.50 ERA in 30 starts. Unfortunately, his dominance didn’t last very long as he lost control of his pitches with five wild pitches in a playoff game against the Atlanta Braves later that season and eventually switched positions to become an outfielder.

Matt Morris finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 1997, going 12-9 with a 3.19 ERA in 33 starts, but he suffered a major elbow injury midway through the next season and didn’t make a full return to the starting rotation until 2001.

Miller probably won’t maintain his sub-2.00 ERA throughout the season, but his first seven starts have set him up for a chance to go down as one of the best rookie pitchers in the history of the St. Louis Cardinals.

That could also be the first trophy on what could be a very full mantel by the end of his career.

If that’s the case, the Cardinals could be in the beginning stages of another decade full of good pitching, and that usually means many seasons with winning records.

Through the first three weeks of the 2013 Major League Baseball season, the St. Louis Cardinals have discovered some young talent in their pitching rotation. Shelby Miller, who had to fight his way into the rotation during spring training, has looked borderline dominant in his first four starts. The rookie hurler might be establishing an early case for the Rookie Of The Year Award.

The National League has a few rookies putting up notable numbers but few have shown the clear-cut edge of Miller. The right-hander has compiled an impressive 26 strikeouts, walked only seven batters, surrendered just one home run and six earned runs, over 25 innings pitched while winning three of his first four starts. His wins, earned run average, runs allowed, and home runs allowed rank first among all rookie starting pitchers.

His competition from rookie-level pitchers in the National League is sparse, but there are a few challengers that are not exactly falling flat to start the season.

To read about the competition for Rookie Of The Year in the National League, follow this link to the Yahoo Article.

A big thunderstorm helped the St. Louis Cardinals avoid a possible loss Tuesday when they trailed the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 after two innings in Pittsburgh, but they got an even bigger break by not having to play a doubleheader the following day.

The Cardinals and Pirates left the schedule unchanged and played just a single game Wednesday evening. They certainly had time to play another game that afternoon, but that would’ve been a minor disaster for the Cardinals pitching staff.

They wouldn’t have been able to bring Jake Westbrook back because he had already thrown the two innings Tuesday, so they would’ve had to find a replacement starter at the worst possible time.

See, the Cardinals are currently on a 10-day roadtrip and a 13-game stretch without an off day. They didn’t play April 11 before a three-game set with the Milwaukee Brewers, and they won’t have another scheduled off day until April 25 as they travel home from Washington to face the Pirates for three games.

So the Cardinals are already in a tough part of their schedule, especially with good teams in the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals up next, and a doubleheader Wednesday would’ve really hampered their pitching staff heading into those games.

Shelby Miller was going to be the Cardinals starter for Wednesday’s regularly scheduled game regardless, but the Cardinals would’ve had to scramble to find someone to start the make-up game.

Joe Kelly might have been an option, but he pitched two innings Monday, and the Cardinals probably wouldn’t have let him pitch very deep into the game since he is now supposed to be a full-time relief pitcher.

If not Kelly, the Cardinals would’ve had to bring somebody up from the minor leagues to make an emergency start, and that wouldn’t have been good for anybody. Sure, Michael Wacha or Seth Maness could fill in if necessary, provided they didn’t just pitch a day or two before for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, but the Cardinals would’ve had to make corresponding roster moves to make space for a one-day appearance by a minor-league pitcher.

Plus, the bullpen would almost certainly be strained because of a doubleheader early in the roadtrip.

Cardinals starters let the bullpen rest throughout the weekend against the Brewers, as the team needed just five innings from relievers in the three games against Milwaukee, but their workload would’ve changed instantly with a doubleheader.

None of the Cardinals’ options to start the make-up game would’ve been allowed to go deep into the game no matter how well the starter pitched, so the bullpen would have to cover significant portions of at least one game while still providing normal support in the nightcap.

All of a sudden the relievers would have racked up innings heading into four games against the Phillies. That, in turn, would put pressure on the starters to again pitch deep into games to try and save the bullpen from an overwhelming workload.

A major-league bullpen requires a delicate balance between not enough work and too much work, and the Cardinals bullpen almost certainly would’ve struggled to maintain that balance because the team simply had so many games in a relatively short period of time.

This wasn’t going to be an easy roadtrip in any case, but a doubleheader on the third day of the trip would’ve really made this part of the schedule difficult to survive. It certainly would’ve been difficult for the Cardinals to thrive in that situation and run off several wins against the Phillies and Nationials.

But as it stands, the Cardinals were given a respite Tuesday. They were already down two runs just two innings into the game, and Westbrook looked anything but sharp.

Of course, the game will have to be made up at some point, likely during a four-game series in late July when the Cardinals are scheduled to play in Pittsburgh.

A five-game series would surely create issues at that point in the season, but for now the Cardinals can attack the rest of the roadtrip without that potential loss on their record, and everyone got another day of rest leading into some important games on the road.

The St. Louis Cardinals finally made their most-anticipated decision of their 2013 spring training camp Monday when they announced Shelby Miller would be the team’s fifth starter to start the regular season. And while Miller truly might be the better choice, circumstances surely made the decision easier.

Miller began spring training in a competition with teammates Trevor Rosenthal and Joe Kelly to win the fifth and final spot in the Cardinals’ starting rotation.

The team quickly decided Rosenthal would be more of an asset in the bullpen after a couple of shaky starts early in spring training, but the battle between Miller and Kelly lasted nearly an entire month.

The competition lasted so long because the two pitchers had nearly identical stats throughout the spring. Both had one relatively bad outing, and each had several good appearances. Miller won the battle with a 3.94 earned-run average in five appearances with 13 strikeouts and five walks. Kelly posted a 5.54 ERA in five appearances, but he also allowed six walks and just two strikeouts.

But an injury to closer Jason Motte in the final week might have played as large a role in the final decision as anything. Motte fell victim to an elbow strain March 21 and will likely start the season on the disabled list.

That forced Mitchell Boggs into the closer’s role and opened up a spot at the front of the bullpen roster, which Kelly will likely fill now that the team has given Miller the starting job.

Kelly has experience in the bullpen. He was a closer while in college at the University of California-Riverside and made 15 relief appearances for the Cardinals in 2012 during the regular season and playoffs.

Plus, he performed well as a reliever. Kelly gave up just four earned runs in his eight regular-season relief appearances, and he allowed four runs in his seven playoff appearances.

The Cardinals were going to be in a difficult position if they gave Kelly the job and Motte hadn’t been injured. They wanted Miller to be a starter at some level, whether that be with the Cardinals or the Triple-A affiliate Memphis Redbirds, but they had groomed him as a starter in the minor leagues and were reluctant to put him in the bullpen.

Kelly, with his experience as a reliever, could more easily switch between the rotation and bullpen, but the Cardinals still might not have had a spot for him if Motte didn’t suffer his elbow injury.

The Cardinals already had plenty of righthanded relievers, including Boggs, Rosenthal, Edward Mujica and Fernando Salas.

That glut of pitchers might have forced the Cardinals to send Kelly to the minors if he didn’t win the starting job, but now they can keep both pitchers on the roster.

The Cardinals are taking a little bit more of a risk by choosing Miller as their fifth starter. Miller has pitched in just seven games as a major leaguer. He pitched well, posting a 1.32 ERA, but now the Cardinals will count on him to be a consistent starter for an entire season.

Kelly showed in 2012 he could be consistently effective for the better part of the season, and Miller will have to prove the same thing this year.

If he does, the Cardinals made a great spring-training decision. If not, they could be in for a long season that requires manager Mike Matheny constantly juggle his pitching staff, and those types of seasons rarely conclude with a playoff appearance.

Spring Training 2013 was not supposed to be an exciting one for the St. Louis Cardinals.  A team that had made very few offseason moves was primarily set for the upcoming season.  Then, an injury to a veteran starter opened up a door.

Cardinals prospect Michael Wacha

The injury to Chris Carpenter might have opened up a door but the depth within the organization has kicked it wide open.  The arms in camp are plentiful and it will result in someone finding themselves in Memphis waiting for their time to arrive.

Thursday was the showcase of that talent at a very real level.  The day started with all of the focus on the starting rotation and young hurlers Joe Kelly and Shelby Miller bidding to be the fifth starter for the club.  They both reached their pitch counts and there was more baseball to be played, so manager Mike Matheny opened the doors to the trophy case and gave the world a glimpse of the future in St. Louis.

The first arm behind Kelly and Miller was that of flame thrower Trevor Rosenthal.  Rosenthal recently was removed from the three horse race for the final rotation spot but has found himself strongly entrenched in the major league bullpen.  Matheny has been noted as saying that he can see using Rosenthal to help get closer Jason Motte some down time with full confidence.  The young man has wowed the crowds in Florida this Spring with pitches over 100 miles per hour and great control.  His breaking ball is sharp, his changeup is keeping guys off balance, and the heat is definitely there.

Once Rosenthal was done, however, there were two more innings left to play.  The surprise of the Spring has been the emergence of young Michael Wacha as another power arm that is close to ready for prime time.  Wacha would enter the game to pitch the final two innings and secure the win.  The young man proved his continued worth and helped showcase the future of the Cardinals with two solid innings of relief.

The showcase of talent led to some clarity after the game, however.  The Cardinals continued to trim their roster on Thursday with the official announcement coming Friday morning.  Wacha, as expected, was sent to minor league camp and placed on the Triple-A roster.  Joining him in Memphis will be reliever Eduardo Sanchez.

That adds yet another wrinkle to the competition in camp.

The question has remained the same: what happens to the starter that does not make the rotation?  Generally speaking, my opinion has stood that if Kelly is the starter, Miller will be in Memphis to start the year.  On the opposite side of the coin, if Miller was chosen to start, Kelly would most likely find himself in the St. Louis bullpen.  The challenge to all of this is the emergence of a solid Spring showing for Fernando Salas.  His four appearances this spring, which produced four innings, have been solid and have him laying claim to a bullpen spot this year.

As we enter the last few weeks of Spring Training, there are now three arms – Shelby Miller, Joe Kelly, Fernando Salas – for two spots.  One will be the fifth starter.  One will be in the bullpen.  One will be in Memphis.  The 2013 roster is shaping up with some interesting decisions.

The future beyond 2013 looks very, very bright.

Spring Training may be reaching the halfway point but the biggest battle in Jupiter for the St. Louis Cardinals will come to a close.

The Cardinals entered Spring Training attempting to put together the final spot of their rotation.  The battle has come down to the young right arms of Shelby Miller and Joe Kelly.  Today, one of those young men will take a big step forward towards the 2013 rotation.  The other will have some other questions to answer.

The issue here is the timing of Spring Training and the regimen that pitching coach Derek Lilliquist lays out for the pitchers.

Every starter is building his pitch count to be able to reach the 100 pitch threshold by opening day.  As starters get stretched out, and the rotation takes shape, it becomes harder and harder to get long outings for six starters.  The rotation will begin throwing every five days and stretching out higher and higher pitch counts.

Joe Kelly will start today.  Shelby Miller will be the first arm out of the bullpen.  At the end of the day, one of the young men will start again in five days.  The other, well, that is to be determined.

That may be the true question.  Not the question of who rounds out the Major League rotation but the question of what happens with the other one may be of equal importance.  Does he go to Memphis to start there?  Does he remain in St. Louis and in the bullpen?  What best serves the Cardinals in 2013 and in the future?

One question will be answered today.

The rest will develop soon.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at i70baseball.
You can follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

The St. Louis Cardinals have used three weeks of spring training to find their likely middle infielders for the upcoming season, but one big decision remains as to who will take the fifth spot in the starting rotation. Fortunately, the Cardinals should be in good shape regardless of who they choose.

Three contestants began the battle for the final starting spot at the beginning of spring training, and the Cardinals have already eliminated one contender. They told Trevor Rosenthal last week he would not make the rotation, but he would likely have a prominent spot in the bullpen.

So that leaves Joe Kelly and Shelby Miller to fight for that last spot. Not coincidentally, the Cardinals plan to have both pitch Thursday against the Atlanta Braves in a game that will most likely be the Cardinals final evaluation before they make their decision.

Kelly has made two starts so far this year. He went two innings in each outing and gave up just one run combined. However, his control has been erratic, and he has walked five batters in those four innings.

Miller has also pitched twice this spring, but just one was a start. He’s given up three runs combined, but he’s also walked just one hitter.

Cardinals management said earlier in the week that a decision is near because the winner would need the next three starts to build stamina for the regular season, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The odds favor Kelly for several reasons. He is two years older and has more experience in the starting rotation. Kelly made 16 starts last year, while Miller just came up in September to make a token two starts.

Miller is also a higher-rated prospect who the Cardinals hope becomes a cornerstone of the rotation long into the future. And although Miller has looked impressive in everything he’s done at the big-league level, the Cardinals have been burned plenty of times by bringing up a young pitcher who could’ve used a little more time in the minors.

And that’s where Miller figures to go if he doesn’t win the job. Kelly pitched eight times last year as a long reliever, and he could easily slide back and fortify the bullpen again. However, the Cardinals already have Rosenthal, Fernando Salas, Edward Mujica, Mitchell Boggs and Jason Motte as solid righthanded relievers they can bring in to shut down a game. Kelly would likely be wasted in mop-up duty if he went to the bullpen.

The bullpen also wouldn’t be the best spot for Miller because he is going to need to establish the stamina necessary to pitch as a starter for an entire season. He is much more likely to rack up innings with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds than in long relief out of the Cardinals bullpen.

Either way, Thursday will probably be one of the most interesting days of the Cardinals 2013 spring training.

This is what spring training is all about. Two players came into camp knowing they had to perform well to win a job, and one of them will likely walk off the mound Thursday at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., as part of one of the most exclusive clubs in St. Louis: the Cardinals starting rotation.

The St. Louis Cardinals entered spring training with the fifth starter position in the rotation up for grabs.  It appears that the spotlight on that competition will shine bright over the next few days.

Trevor Rosenthal – photo from FoxSportsMidwest

As the spring air was pierced by the sounds of pitchers and catchers warming up and early batting practice taking place, the Cardinals settled in for a competition for the final spot in the rotation.  The guys gearing up for that competition were Lance Lynn, Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal and Joe Kelly.

It did not take long for plans to change.  Veteran ace Chris Carpenter broke the news that he would not be able to compete this year and Lance Lynn was all but assured his spot as the number four starter.

Then there were three.

Miller appeared to be the favorite early on based on his performance last year, his off season work, and the perception that the top pitching prospect in the organization was ready to take the next step.  The trio of right handers have seen very little time to this point in the spring and, despite much speculation, the team has not been forthcoming with any news.

Meanwhile, Kelly and Rosenthal had proven that they could handle the pressure of the big leagues down the stretch and repeatedly in the post season last year.  Kelly specifically showed over and over again that he could pitch in the rotation after taking over for Jaime Garcia last season due to injury.

Rumors began swirling on Thursday morning, while the team was dealing with news about shortstop Rafael Furcal, that there had been progress in making a decision in the starter competition.  One report surfaced saying that the Cardinals held a meeting for their starting pitchers, a meeting that Rosenthal did not attend.

Possibly the most telling and interesting part of that case is that minor league starters were in the same meeting.  Signs are pointing to Rosenthal’s fate being decided and he may very well open the season in the bullpen for St. Louis.

Now there are two.

The two pitchers left in the competition will take their cases to the mound on Thursday and Friday with Kelly starting Thursday afternoon and Miller toeing the rubber on Friday.  While it would be surprising if these two starts formed the firm decision in the mind of the Cardinals management, it would seem that the spotlight is shining on the next few games to showcase the talent the Cardinals have available.

The decision could come as soon as this weekend.  It will most likely come sometime around March 15.  Ultimately, the decision is coming soon and it’s down to two young pitchers that have shown they can be successful at the major league level.

Soon, there will be one…

Bill Ivie is the editor here at i70baseball.
You can follow him on Twitter by clicking here.