ӣ����Ƶ

Be cautious and embrace the off-day.

As Nootbaar returned to the lineup Tuesday night in Pittsburgh after two days to tame irritation in his left ribcage, third baseman Arenado was written out of it. Arenado started at designated hitter Monday night and played through a sprained right index finger that remained painful as he batted. Arenado said he had X-rays taken of the finger Monday and they did not show any fracture, but the discomfort made it difficult to rest at a bat against the finger and impossible to throw a baseball.

He may get Wednesday’s day game off to pair with Thursday’s off-day. That would buy a full three days before returning to the lineup Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

“I don’t want to keep pushing through something and giving it a chance to linger as much as just give them the full day,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “And then hope we’re on the other side of it.”

Arenado and Nootbaar are two of a handful of Cardinals attempting to play through or return from various aches and injuries. After allowing seven runs for the second consecutive start, Erick Fedde was asked late Monday if he was physically fine, and he insisted he was “good enough to go out there” but “at this point, everyone is dealing with something.”

Marmol echoed that sentiment.

“It’s July,” he said.

And in comes the calendar page after a stress month the Cardinals plotted and planned for as far back as spring training because of the one off-day between June 3 and Wednesday.

“The doubleheaders. No off-days. All of it,” Marmol said. “Guys have done a nice job of competing well regardless of how they’re feeling. They’re banged up, and they could use an off-day.”

Despite the schedule, the Cardinals went 14-14 in June. They exited the month closer to first place in the standings than they entered, trimming the first-place Cubs’ lead down from four games on June 1 to three games on June 30. The Cardinals weathered the schedule — and some storms along the way — but also spent stretches of the month without Ivan Herrera (hamstring), Jordan Walker (wrist) and recently Nootbaar (ribcage).

“Our ability to kind of still grind through the schedule with missing Noot at times, missing Herrera for a good period of time, and guys not feeling their best but still competing and wanting to be in there,” Marmol said. “There’s some positives to grinding through that and then the emergence of (Alec) Burleson and what he’s doing and (Nolan) Gorman looking more like what we want him to look like.”

Nootbaar received an anti-inflammatory shot a week ago to tame inflammation in an intercostal of his left ribcage. That required 48 hours of inactivity, and upon returning to the lineup this past weekend he winced on a check swing that gave the Cardinals renewed concern. Nootbaar tested his torso and swing Monday night at PNC Park and based on how he felt waking up Tuesday and going through workouts was placed in the lineup.

Nootbaar walked in his first plate appearance that night.

His hope was the treatment a week ago had more time to take full effect.

“And move forward as normal,” Marmol said.

Walker checks in, rehab ahead

Walker rejoined the team Tuesday in Pittsburgh to meet personally with the Cardinals’ medical staff and athletic trainers as he recovers from appendicitis. When the Cardinals head to Wrigley Field for the holiday weekend series against the Cubs, Walker will return to his rehab assignment instead of coming off the injured list when eligible Friday, Marmol said.

The Cardinals want to be extra cautious with his return due to the nature of the illness and how it’s not a recovery similar to a muscle strain or wrist pain.

“I’d like to make sure he’s feeling good and we’re all in a good spot before firing him back in there,” Marmol said.

The goal is for Walker to return to a minor league affiliate and get at least two more games on his rehab assignment in the coming week. In two games with Class AAA Memphis this past week, Walker went 1 for 8 with two RBIs and three strikeouts.

Remembering Cobra

Before his brief tenure as hitting coach for the Cardinals during the remarkable summer of 1998, the late Dave Parker was a familiar and productive foe during his Hall of Fame career. Parker hit a fitting .314 in 190 games against the Cardinals, all of them with either Pittsburgh or Cincinnati. He slugged .510 against the Cardinals, and he hit 29 homers against them, second only to San Diego (38) in his career.

Parker died this past weekend — one month shy of his induction to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025. Parker was 74.

The Cardinals lured Parker from the Angels ahead of the 1998 season to be their hitting coach on Tony La Russa’s staff for that power-packed summer. The Cardinals’ magazine put Parker on the cover with a headline, “Looking Toward Cooperstown.” (It would be almost another three decades before a veterans committee elected Parker.) That summer, Parker was the former star and coach with one of the best views of Mark McGwire’s swing for a record 70 homers to surpass the previous high, Roger Maris’ 61.

At the end of the year, Parker expressed an interest in returning, but the Cardinals sensed a hesitance in his commitment to the long hours of coaching. Parker was also growing a Popeye’s fried chicken franchise in Cincinnati.

In 2013, Parker disclosed he had Parkinson’s disease.

Marquee games hit the airwaves

The Cardinals’ Friday night home games against the Cubs and Yankees will be broadcast over the air to regions in Missouri and seven other states, the club and its broadcast partner announced Tuesday. The Cubs’ visit to Busch Stadium on Aug. 8 will be broadcast on KMOV/Channel 4, Matrix Midwest and Gray Media-owned affiliate or syndicated TV stations. When the Yankees open a series Aug. 15, the game will be available on KMOV and those same outer-market affiliates in Cape Girardeau and Springfield, as well as markets in Illinois (such as Quincy, Springfield and Peoria), Iowa, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Indiana.

The Cardinals urge fans to check local listings to be sure of channel.