Zeile Embarks on a Salvage Mission : Baseball: Embarrassed Cardinal goes to triple-A Louisville in an attempt to rebuild his game.

A few hours before the Louisville Redbirds were to play the Oklahoma City 89ers in an American Assn. game this week, Todd Zeile reported that the sky was clear, the weather mild and he was relaxed.

“Just another beautiful day in Oklahoma City,” he quipped.

For Zeile, 26, the shock was over.

Questions remain, few of which he can answer.

Less than a year ago Zeile seemed more like a triple-crown candidate than one for triple-A. Last season, only his second full year in the majors, Zeile batted .280 and drove in a team-high 81 runs as the St. Louis Cardinal third baseman.

But since Aug. 10 he has been back in the minor leagues. And he is still not quite sure why.

Zeile, a former Newhall Hart High and UCLA standout, was batting .251 with five home runs and 36 runs batted in for the Cardinals when he was sent down.

But, he adds, “It’s not like I was batting a buck-80 and hadn’t driven in any runs.”

Zeile was upset, surprised, even a bit angry at this latest turn of events. But most of all, he was embarrassed.

“I was seven days from being three years with the Cardinals,” Zeile said. “The last place I wanted to be was in triple A.”

In retrospect, there had been a warning.

Shortly before Zeile’s demotion was announced, his work habits had been criticized by Don Baylor, the Cardinal batting instructor.

“Normally, if a guy struggles, he’s the first guy to say, ‘I need something extra,’ ” Baylor told the Associated Press. “But for whatever reason, he really hasn’t. He came out twice for extra batting work, and that was in April.”

Zeile did not respond to Baylor’s comments, other than to say they caught him off guard. “He never personally talked to me, so I was surprised,” Zeile said. “It seemed like our relationship was OK.

“Whatever he had to say, he must have had a reason. Maybe he did it to spark me, to light a fire.”

If so, the Cardinals gave Zeile little time to heat up. Within days, he was gone.

Since then, Zeile has attempted to convince himself that it might be for the best.

“We were 12 games out, not really in the thick of anything, so if ever there was a time to regroup, it was now,” he said.

“I’m not looking at this like punishment or a demotion. I don’t think they’re out there looking for someone else. It’s almost like a (rehabilitation) assignment. It’s a chance to work on my swing and my mental attitude without the pressure of being in the fishbowl of St. Louis.”

In his first 35 at-bats for the Redbirds, Zeile had a homer, three doubles, two RBIs and was batting .286.

“I’m working on getting my stroke back,” he said. “I think the whole idea of putting me down here was to let me go for a month strong, then come back up and finish the season on a positive note.”

Indeed, Cardinal Manager Joe Torre and Dal Maxvill, the club’s general manager, already have assured Zeile of a recall in September. Zeile had that commitment before he reported to Louisville.

“Dal told me he didn’t want me to have a bad taste in my mouth the whole off-season,” Zeile said. “I think this way, they feel I can salvage something and come back and end it on an upswing.”

Zeile’s spirits already have been buoyed. Shortly after he arrived in Louisville, he was reunited with his wife, Julianne.

The former Julianne McNamara, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics, had been in Barcelona for almost a month, working as a broadcaster during the Olympic Games.

“We’ve spent the last eight days together,” Zeile said, “which has helped my frame of mind.

“Now, it’s time to tune up, get all of the distractions off my mind and start putting up the numbers I expect and that I’m capable of. I can hit better than .250. I can hit better than .280.

“I just need to show it again.”