KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Players have come back from retirement before, but not many have come back after three years away from the game to win a spot on a team that just went to the World Series.

However, 32-year-old Bill Pulsipher may be on the verge of accomplishing such a comeback with the Cardinals.

Though Pulsipher last pitched in a Major League game on Oct. 7, 2001, the veteran left-hander has pitched his way into contention for a spot in the Cardinals' bullpen. On Monday, he pitched a hitless seventh inning against the Braves. In seven innings this spring, Pulsipher has yet to give up a run and has allowed just five hits and one walk.

With camp winding down, Pulsipher has arguably pitched well enough to earn a job in the bullpen.

"I don't know if it's nailed down, but I know I've been throwing the ball good, and I'm getting positive feedback from the coaching staff," Pulsipher said. "I've done as well as I can, and hopefully they'll keep me around."

Pulsipher got two outs on two pitches Monday before walking Ryan Langerhans on a 3-2 pitch that just missed.

"I was kind of upset with myself for walking a guy with two outs," Pulsipher said. "I was hoping to go all spring without walking anybody."

The former second-round pick of the Mets in the 1991 draft, who had retired because of injuries, says his health is no longer an issue. He is healthy and has worked very hard this spring, and has also lost weight since camp began.

Pulsipher is not the only veteran lefty who has looked impressive this spring. Mike Myers has held opposing hitters to a .160 batting average. Myers pitched a perfect inning against the Braves with two strikeouts.

"They've had their moments in both directions so far," manager Tony La Russa said.

Another lefty, Randy Flores, has also pitched well enough to merit serious consideration.

"Randy's done a good job," La Russa said.

In six innings, Flores has allowed six hits, no walks and struck out four. The 29-year-old signed as a minor league free agent in November 2003 and was 5-7 with a 3.82 ERA at Triple-A Memphis and 1-0 with a 1.93 in nine games for St. Louis last season.

La Russa could decide to keep more than one lefty to complement workhorse Ray King in the bullpen. Last year King and Steve Kline, now with Baltimore, made a combined 153 appearances.

For now this spring, the southpaw sprint looks like a cavalry charge, with too many horses bunched together. It should make for a very tough call.

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"You want tough decisions, you don't want easy ones," pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "I hope they make it as tough as possible."

Time running out: With 10 exhibition games to play and less than two weeks until the start of the season, the Cardinals are running out of time to get ready for the season.

"We need all 10 days, we're not ready yet," La Russa said. "We've got to get a lot of work in these last 10 days, We've got to give a lot more playing time to guys that need the at-bats to get ready."

Rainouts have complicated the condititioning process and made it more difficult for La Russa and his coaching staff to evaluate all the players. This has made it hard to even settle on the breakdown let alone the makeup of the roster.

La Russa said the pitching staff will be "11 or 12."

The health of the candidates as the season gets closer, flexibility in the bullpen and other factors will all go into the decisions.

"We'll look at a lot of things together," La Russa said.

But first, the evaluations have to be completed before time runs out and Opening Day is here.

Marquis takes the loss: Jason Marquis gave up six runs (four earned) on eight hits in four innings against his former team.

"He's getting closer," La Russa said. "When he gets the ball down more consistently he'll be there."

Marquis said he felt fine but the problem was he "got a little lackadaisical" with some of his pitches in the fourth inning, when the Braves scored three times, including a home run by Langerhans.

"For the most part, I thought I threw the ball all right, I just left some fastballs up over the plate in that inning," Marquis said. "It was a concentration thing really, or rather a lack of it. I just need to stay more focused every inning, and I know that I will. I was able to get my work in and work on all my pitches, and that's the main thing."

The right-hander will get two more starts before the season begins.

"When he keeps the ball down he's a good pitcher," Duncan said. "When he has it going, he puts the right numbers up there. He had some crooked ones up there instead of round ones, [but] he's going to start the second game of the season regardless of what happens [in camp]."

Start them up: For the second time this spring, La Russa started the eight players who will likely make up the Cardinals' Opening Day lineup with the exception of left field, where So Taguchi started in place of Reggie Sanders.

Albert Pujols  /   1B
		Born: 01/16/80 Height: 6'3" Weight: 225 lbs Bats: R / Throws: R More info: Player page Stats | Splits Gallery Team Site | Shop

Against the Braves, La Russa went with a batting order of shortstop David Eckstein, right fielder Larry Walker, first baseman Albert Pujols, third baseman Scott Rolen, center fielder Jim Edmonds, second baseman Mark Grudzielanek, Taguchi and catcher Yadier Molina.

Quotable: "We had chemistry last year with 13 new players. When you want to take care of a relationship, you don't point fingers. If you do that well, it becomes good chemistry, [and] if you win, it becomes great chemistry." -- La Russa

Extra bases: Pujols has yet to strike out this spring in 39 plate appearances. He is batting .343 with four homers and a .781 slugging percentage. ... Sanders, recuperating from an appendectomy, remains day-to-day. ... The Cardinals lost a trio of talented players in shortstop Edgar Renteria, pitcher Woody Williams and catcher Mike Matheny from last year's roster, and Matheny and Williams, especially, were leaders. The notion that this year's team will miss that leadership is misguided. "We didn't have three leaders, we had 10, 11, 12," La Russa said. "You don't think Pujols and Rolen are leaders? They're still here." ... Entering Monday's game, the Cardinals led the National League with a 3.59 ERA. The staff has held opponents to three runs or less nine times in 17 games.

On deck: The Cardinals have the day off on Tuesday and will resume play on Wednesday night against the Mets at Roger Dean Stadium. A pair of right-handers, Matt Morris for the Cardinals and Kris Benson of the Mets, will face off in the 7:05 p.m. ET game.