St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Carpenter took the mound today in Florida for the first time since elbow surgery and threw for ten minutes with no issues or setbacks.  Carp will go again on Friday.

Carpenter threw straight fastballs and,  according to pitching coach Dave Duncan,  is at the same point of conditioning they would expect most starting pitchers to be at this time of year.

Carpenter will now throw on an every other day schedule and will face hitters for the first time early next week.  That’s assuming everything continues down the right path.   Carpenter is penciled in for the 28 th as his first Grapefruit League appearance.

Following the same throwing schedule as Carpenter is Kyle McClellan.  He is the sixth starter and the plan is to have McClellan step in if something happens to Carpenter.  Watch my interview with McClellan from a couple of weeks ago.