Welcome back

'Twas an exciting win for the Cardinals against the Mets.

First of all, welcome back to Mark Mulder. After lots of rehab and frustration following two shoulder surgeries, the lefty came out of the bullpen to toss a scoreless frame in a 7-1 win. His velocity reached 92, which is a vast improvement over the 86-mph ceiling he was hitting before his surgeries. He pounded the bottom of the strike zone with good movement, and he also had the great curveball working that made him an upper-echelon starter. It was good to see him throw without any grimaces, and it was great to see him keeping the ball low in the zone. That shows that he's getting good extension, which he wasn't getting before. I'm really excited to see him progress.

Oh, and how about this line for the Cards' starter: seven innings, five hits, one unearned run and four strikeouts. This is a typical Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright line, but Kyle Lohse put together another fantastic start to earn his 10th win of the season. Dave Duncan has worked wonders with Lohse, convincing him to sacrifice velocity for movement and location. He may earn a ticket to New York for the All-Star Game.

Aaron Miles put together another three-hit night, and Albert Pujols knocked in a couple of runs while going 2-5. Pujols is now batting .474 (9-19) since returning from the disabled list. Troy Glaus also stung the ball, pounding two doubles and driving in a run.

I'm really excited to see how the rest of this series with the Mets is going to pan out.