ST. LOUIS -- One question that faced the Cardinals in Spring Training was whether to carry two or three left-handed relief pitchers. Over the past week and a half, it's been hard to see why they even needed two.

From April 17 through Wednesday, Randy Flores and Ricardo Rincon combined to make two appearances in nine games -- and one of those was a mop-up outing by Rincon in a blowout loss in Pittsburgh. It's led the two to throw more on the side and put extra effort into staying on top of their games.

"You just try to stay sharp and be ready," Flores said. "[I've thrown] every other day from the mound. I've gotten up [to warm up] a few times, I just haven't gotten in -- but that helps."

The weekend's series against Washington may provide more opportunities for the two southpaws. Washington features three left-handed hitters in its everyday lineup, including a dangerous pair in the heart of the order -- Nick Johnson and Ryan Church.

"It depends on how far the starter goes," said manager Tony La Russa. "They have some left-handers, but there really aren't that many. They've got Church, they've got Johnson, [Brian] Schneider and a switch-hitter [Jose Vidro]. Yeah, I'd think you'd see them."

Rolen still out: Scott Rolen missed his third consecutive game on Thursday with what the team characterizes as bronchitis. The third baseman was once again kept away from the park. It's unclear when he'll be able to play, or even when he'll join his teammates at work.

"He's not playing today," La Russa said before the game. "I haven't heard anything official except that I still don't think he's feeling great. He's not here now. I don't expect to see him today."

Scott Spiezio once again took Rolen's place at third base, batting sixth.

Put him on: If Albert Pujols gets a chance to hit in the late innings of a tight game this weekend, don't be surprised to see the Nats simply put him on base. Washington manager Frank Robinson would have no qualms about simply putting up four fingers in a key situation.

"I don't believe in walking anybody in the first inning with the bases loaded or whatever," Robinson said. "I don't think they've made that guy yet. But he does deserve attention and respect in situations."

As for Wednesday, when the Pirates pitched to Pujols with men on first and second in the ninth inning of a tie game, Robinson said Pittsburgh skipper Jim Tracy made a mistake. The Bucs walked Pujols two previous times, but not in the ninth.

"The third one is the one they should have given him," Robinson said. "If they were on second and third, what would they have done? A base is open. We all have a tendency to not put another runner in scoring position. But that's first base, it's open.

"If you get beat by the next guy, you get beat by him. But you don't get beat by the best hitter on that team, and also one of the best hitters in baseball. What I'm saying is, you've got a base open. That's the way I look at it. There's not a lot of people you do that to, but he's a very special hitter. He's in a league by himself."

So good in the eighth spot: So Taguchi seems to have found a home in the No. 8 position in the Cardinals batting order, at least for now. Thursday marked the fourth time Taguchi hit in the eighth spot, and in the three previous games, he went 4-for-10.

"He would be the kind of guy that if he hit eighth against us, I would be really concerned," La Russa said. "He can get a base hit, he's got good speed in front of the pitcher. ... He does a lot of good things."

What time is it? Already the owner of plenty of hardware, Pujols received another award before Thursday's game. Cardinals principal owner Bill DeWitt Jr. presented Pujols with a commemorative watch in honor of Pujols' four homers in four consecutive at-bats earlier this season.

This date in Cardinals history: On April 27, 1977, the Cardinals hung 21 runs on the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Nine different Cardinals had at least one RBI, highlighted by Jose Cruz with four, in the 21-3 win. John Denny pitched eight innings for the victory.

Baby 'Birds: Triple-A Memphis was off on Wednesday. The Redbirds start a series against the Iowa Cubs on Thursday. ... Kevin Estrada had three hits and three steals, but otherwise it was a rough day for Double-A Springfield in a 4-1 loss to Corpus Christi. Rich Rundles was charged with all four runs, but none of them were earned. ... Class A Palm Beach unloaded for 16 base hits in an 11-4 win over Daytona. Ryan Barthelemy homered and Mitchell Boggs allowed one run on three hits (five Ks, three walks) for the win. ... Class A Quad Cities watched a 3-0 lead get away in a 7-3 loss to Beloit. Randy Roth doubled and homered, Bryan Anderson had two hits and a walk and Colby Rasmus picked up a pair of base hits. Anderson is hitting .400 with a .529 on-base percentage in 12 games.

The player of the day is Palm Beach's Terry Evans, who has been red-hot. Evans rapped four base hits, scored twice and drove in a run. He's hitting .325 with a .545 slugging percentage on the year. The outfielder was a 47th-round draft pick in 2001.

Coming up: Game two of the four-game set between St. Louis and Washington gets started at 7:10 p.m. CT at Busch. Jason Marquis will try to improve to 4-1 against Tony Armas, who has pitched well this year despite a 1-2 record.