April 6: Pirates (0-0) @ Cardinals (0-0)

Well, the snow has stopped falling. The skies are cleaing up a bit. And despite a current temperature of 39 degrees (wind chill at 29), there will be baseball here in St. Louis at 4:15 p.m. ET. The other option was a day-night doubleheader on Tuesday, and since the Cardinals only have one other day off this month, they have every reason to want to get Monday’s game in on Monday so their pitching schedule stays on track.

Before the festivities get going here (they began outside the stadium hours ago, despite the frigid temperatures), just a few items of interest:

• Jeff Karstens threw five innings (63 pitches) in a simulated game on Sunday at Pirate City. All went well, and Karstens will make his first start of the season on Friday in Cincinnati.
• Third baseman Andy LaRoche just found out that it was salmonella he had last week, which forced him to miss a handful of games. LaRoche did get in Saturday’s final exhibition game and said he was feeling just fine before Monday’s opener.

Pirates lineup:

1. Nyjer Morgan (LF)
2. Freddy Sanchez (2B)
3. Nate McLouth (CF)
4. Ryan Doumit (C)
5. Adam LaRoche (1B)
6. Andy LaRoche (3B)
7. Brandon Moss (RF)
8. Jack Wilson (SS)
9. Paul Maholm (LHP)

Cardinals lineup:

1. Brendan Ryan (2B)
2. Rick Ankiel (CF)
3. Albert Pujols (1B)
4. Khalil Greene (SS)
5. Ryan Ludwick (RF)
6. Yadier Molina (C)
7. Chris Duncan (LF)
8. Brian Barden (3B)
9. Adam Wainwright (RHP)