McGwire Is Quietly Effective

Returning to his home ballpark couldn’t bring back Mark McGwire’s home-run swing.

A day after leaving a game in Houston early because of minor back spasms, the St. Louis Cardinals’ slugger was back in the lineup for the first game at Busch Stadium since he hit No. 62 on Sept. 8.

There was no pandemonium this time as McGwire, looking not at all like a home run king, had a quiet two-for-four game in a 7-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.

McGwire had a two-run single in a four-run second inning off Jason Schmidt (11-12). Schmidt said the ball was right over the plate.

“I’m lucky he hit it on the ground and not in the air,” Schmidt said, then reconsidered. “I don’t know if that was lucky--it was two runs.”

Still, McGwire has only three singles in 18 at-bats in six games since hitting homer No. 62.

McGwire canceled his scheduled pregame news conference, and also turned down interview requests after the game.

Against Schmidt, McGwire also struck out in the first on a checked swing and grounded out to first on a checked swing in the fourth. In the sixth, he had a rare single to right off Todd Van Poppel on another awkward swing.

As a precaution, Manager Tony La Russa said he won’t use McGwire in both games of today’s doubleheader against the Pirates.