ST. LOUIS — After a weekend spent preparing for a game that never happened, St. Louis Cardinals starter Todd Wellemeyer joined a handful of his teammates for a voluntary workout Monday at Busch Stadium and he shifted gears to Tuesday’s start, against the New York Mets.

“I’ve played catch both days,” he said.

Wellemeyer was to start Sunday night on national TV against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, his start already pushed back a day to accomodate the debut of rookie P.J. Walters on Friday. Sunday’s rainout added another day to his schedule, and Monday’s off day — the Cardinals’ first of the season — pushed him another day back. It will have been eight days since Wellemeyer pitch when he starts Tuesday.

The past weekend of which was spent scouting and prepping for the Cubs.

“I know what I’ve got to do with the Mets, so that’s not a big deal,” Wellemeyer said. “If I can make my pitches, that’s all I need to do. Mostly, that’s what I concern myself with — making my pitches.”

He will face the Cubs eventually. He set to start Sunday against them at Busch Stadium.

Also at the workouts Monday were almost all of the pitchers, each of whom has had their schedule rearranged because of the rainout Sunday and Chris Carpenter’s injury. Hitters Skip Schumaker, Chris Duncan, Rick Ankiel, Ryan Ludwick, Jason LaRue and Joe Thurston hit the cages. Ankiel took the opportunity to test-drive some of Ludwick’s extra bats.

Wellemeyer is coming off his first win and a successful start in Arizona, where he debuted a simplified and more compact delivery. He no longer lifts his hands over his head as he prepares to make a pitch. Instead, he lifts them to chin-level and then goes into the delivery. It’s not as comfortable — “Putting my hands over my head feels really good,” he said — but it’s far more reliable. He was able to duplicate his delivery throughout his start against Arizona and found he had better command because of that.

His bullpen between these starts “was the best of the season for me, back even to spring, honestly.”

It was during his bullpen that he continued to make the new delivery habit.

“But that was — what? — four days ago,” Wellemeyer said. “I’ll be happy to get back on a normal schedule.”

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