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Carp satisfied with latest side-session results

ST. LOUIS -- Hours after attending a ceremony in which an area youth baseball field was dedicated in his name, Chris Carpenter took the mound in the Cardinals' bullpen to continue his comeback bid.

Carpenter threw a short side session at Busch Stadium on Wednesday, after which he expressed satisfaction with the way his arm continues to respond. The plan, Carpenter said, is to throw two more extended side sessions -- one on Saturday, another next Thursday -- with an abbreviated mound session in between on Monday.

After that series of work, Carpenter and the Cardinals will determine if the right-hander is ready to begin a Minor League rehab assignment.

"There's no question that it makes you feel like you're closer and makes you feel like you want to continue to go out there," Carpenter said. "I don't want to get ahead of myself. I want to slowly get back involved and make sure that I'm doing the things that I need to do to be ready when it's time."

Carpenter began his day in Berkeley, Mo., where Cardinals Care named a field used by members of the Berkeley Redbird Rookies program as Chris Carpenter Field. Carpenter said he was moved when, about a month ago, the Cardinals informed him of their plans to put his name on the facility.

"I never would have thought that at some point in time there would have been a field in my name," Carpenter said. "There's going to be a bunch of kids playing on it for a long time to come. It's a beautiful field. And I'll tell you what, it's a lot nicer than any field I ever played on as a kid. Hopefully they take care of it and that sometime there will be some Major League Baseball players coming out of there."

Jenifer Langosch is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, By Gosh, It's Langosch, and follow her on Twitter @LangoschMLB.
Read More: St. Louis Cardinals, Jon Jay, Yadier Molina, Chris Carpenter, Matt Carpenter