Cards still await the 'old' Mulder to take the hill

ST. LOUIS -- The high expectations that accompanied his trade to the St. Louis Cardinals, Mark Mulder insists, have absolutely nothing to do with his early 8.18 ERA.

"That's the furthest thing from my mind, the expectations," Mulder said. "I could care less. I'm out there pitching, I'm out there competing."

His pitching coach believes otherwise.

"He's never going to tell you if he is [feeling the pressure]," Dave Duncan said. "But it's only normal. You change teams, you want to do well. Sometimes that can be a little bit of a distraction."

In any case, Mulder's bottom line thus far resembles the left-hander in free fall the second half of last season instead of the top of the rotation hammer the team lacked while getting swept by the Red Sox in the World Series last fall.

The Cardinals paid a high price to pry Mulder loose from the Athletics, giving up promising starter Danny Haren, proven reliever Kiko Calero and catching prospect Daric Barton, and so far it looks like a steal for the other side.

Haren has already had two quality starts, and Calero has pitched five scoreless innings.

Wednesday's outing started fine, with double play balls from a groundball pitcher bailing him out in the first two innings. Then the Reds bunched four straight two-out hits for two runs in the third and five straight two-out hits in the fifth, capped by Austin Kearns' three-run home run, for four more runs.

"Mulder didn't seem sharp," Kearns said. "He left the ball out over the plate."

It is, however, early. There's plenty of time for the real Mulder to show up.

"Trust me," he said. "I'm not freaking out over this. "

La Russa still confident

Manager Tony La Russa is confident this was the right move for the Cardinals, who won 105 games last year but lacked dominant pitching for the postseason, especially after Chris Carpenter was lost with a nerve injury to his biceps. Mulder's track record with 72 victories and 22 complete games the last four seasons -- both second-best in the majors over that time -- is noteworthy.

However, he acknowledges that critics who link Mulder's second-half swoon last season to his shaky start with the Cardinals may have a point.

"Sure, it's fair," La Russa said. "But I have confidence he's going to be a winning pitcher for us, the kind of guy we were excited to get and we're happy to have."

Understandably, La Russa found a bright side of the Reds' pair of big two-out rallies against Mulder on Wednesday. The line went like this: Before they happened, Mulder got the two outs.

"He couldn't get the last out. You've got to finish the deal," La Russa said. "But I saw a lot of good things."

Mulder, 27, was the first 17-game winner in the majors last year and appeared on track for a Cy Young award. But his last seven starts were a disaster: a 7.43 ERA and 0-4 record.

A blowout loss with Mulder on the mound on the final weekend helped keep Oakland out of the playoffs.

Actually, the fade-out lasted a lot longer. Mulder was on top of his game in June, going 4-0 with a 2.74 ERA. He was 4-1 in July, but with a 5.11 ERA, and 3-1, 5.14 in August.

And he had an 8.10 ERA last September, numbers similar to the ones he has put up so far.

Duncan said Mulder's problem thus far has been an inability to locate his best pitch, the down and away sinker. Mulder also has had trouble controlling his curveball.

"He's not making the pitches he needs to make," Duncan said. "He's got to keep working on it until he gets it done."

Duncan theorizes that Mulder may be trying too hard to please his new constituency, and has a certain sense of relief that the third start will come in Pittsburgh today.

"Maybe getting him a start on the road will help,"' Duncan said. "Maybe he'll relax a little bit."

All winter, Mulder denied anything physical was at the root of his problems last season. He continues to maintain that stance.

"I feel good out there, it's just that I'm not getting into a rhythm where it's over and over, inning after inning," Mulder said. "It's just a matter of getting it done, and right now I'm not. That's it."