It's not all the way to full-fledged baseball cliche, but it's a well-known part of the lexicon. Most pitchers can look good in a bullpen session, but it's a different matter when you go to face hitters -- even if they're minor league hitters, you're throwing behind a screen and it's Feb. 21.

And the hitters let Mark Mulder know that his stuff was pretty sharp on Monday. Mulder pitched to live hitters for the first time in a St. Louis uniform, throwing about 40 pitches to a group of hitters that included starting catcher Yadier Molina and minor leaguers. Molina hit a wind-aided opposite-field homer off the incoming ace, but otherwise there was little damage done.

After taking his first cuts at Mulder, Brad Cresse walked out of the cage marveling at the movement on Mulder's sinking fastball and changeup. Molina offered similar praise for the man he'll be catching this year. Mulder himself chalked up some of the darting action to the blustery conditions, but he had no complaints about the throw.

"I threw a sinker in to Cresse and it froze him, and he even knew it was coming," said Mulder. "To me, that's what I want to see. I want to be able to start that sinker at his hip and have it come back over the plate without drilling him. Those are the things that you try to work on. With the screen sometimes it makes it a little bit harder, but that's part of it."

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Mulder drew on essentially his full repertoire, and said he threw more offspeed and breaking pitches than he normally might in a game. He should take the mound again on Thursday, once again facing hitters -- though the caliber of opposition may take a step up once the full squad arrives.

As camp goes on, however, the task gets harder for the hitters, as well. In early "live BP" sessions, the catcher or coach supervising the competition lets the batters know what pitch is coming. As the days go by, that changes a bit, and the confrontations become more like proper at-bats.

"We'll see what happens once we start not telling them what's coming," Mulder said with a smile.

Man of many talents: John Mabry, already certified for backup work at first base, third base, left field and right field, is working on adding another line to his burgeoning resume. He's working out some as a catcher.

St. Louis expects to carry 12 pitchers, which would make it extremely impractical to have three catchers on the roster. Thus, the benefit of having Mabry available to catch in an emergency.

"It would be a real big plus for us to have protection for one of those funny games that comes up a couple of times a year," said manager Tony La Russa. "Maybe you pinch-run for Yadi and something happens and you've got to pinch-hit for Einar (Diaz) to win the game. Who knows? Somebody twists an ankle. It's just real good protection to have a third catcher, and John is so versatile."

Mabry has been working with bullpen catcher Jeff Murphy and Memphis manager Danny Sheaffer (a former catcher). He also talks on the phone regularly with three-time Gold Glover and former teammate Mike Matheny.

"I ask him about hand positioning, feet positioning, balls from different types of pitchers -- sinkerballers, left-handers," Mabry said. "Sliders, breaking balls bouncing back, just catching questions. If you were to change jobs, you'd ask the guy who did it before you what you needed to do.

"It's stuff that I might not ever use, but it's also stuff that I might use the first day. You never know."

Slimmer King: Lefty reliever Ray King has a noticeably slimmer profile this spring, and rest assured it has nothing to do with the presence or absence of performance-enhancing drugs. King, who was listed last year as 6-foot-1 and 240 pounds, says he's only dropped "four or five" pounds, but it's clearly visible that he's thinner through his midsection.

"I didn't do any more," King said. "The only thing I really changed was eating habits. ... I just cut back on fatty foods. I don't really like vegetables, but I've got a little girl and I'm trying to make her eat vegetables, so..."

So dad did what dad had to do, and saw himself trim down a bit to boot.

Quotable: "Most of the faces, the more of their face they hide, the better off we are. So I'm all for it. Like (Matt) Morris. I think it's the best looking I've ever seen Matt." -- La Russa, cracking wise in response to a question about players' facial hair.