The sounds of silence were noticeable Thursday night as the Cardinals’ first real action of the year took place at an empty Busch Stadium. It was an intrasquad game, the first of eight, but manager Mike Shildt didn’t feel that any energy was lacking for his team.
“It’s a great starting point,” Shildt said “The preparation before the game was very businesslike, as we would expect. It feels like we were playing opening day. The competition was . . . just that. It was a real competition.
“Guys were getting after at-bats. Guys were getting after it on the bases.