ST. LOUIS -- Barring an unforeseen and sudden turn of events, all signs are pointing to the Astros dropping the "interim" off of Cecil Cooper's title and giving him the permanent managerial post.

Club owner Drayton McLane has not made it official, but he said on Thursday that he would not wait long after the season ended to make a final decision. The Astros have not begun a managerial search and by all accounts, they're not planning one in the near future.

"I think it'll be done by first week [after the season]," McLane said, referring to naming a permanent manager. "Certainly, I hope so, particularly if [Cooper] is the decision. That will happen soon after the season is over."

Cooper is well aware of the speculation that he will stay on as manager past 2007, but when asked if he thought it was a foregone conclusion, the interim skipper laughed.

"I wish someone would tell me," Cooper said with a grin. "I wish someone would say it. Just say it. If that's the way it's leaning ... what's going to change between now and next weekend?"

McLane said he will involve new general manager Ed Wade in the decision-making process. Wade and president of baseball operations Tal Smith are planning to fly to St. Louis to join the club on Sunday, and they'll continue on with the team to Cincinnati.

During that time, Cooper expects to meet with the new GM several times as Wade acclimates himself to his new team.

"I'm sure there will be a series of lunches and sit-downs and chit chats," Cooper said. "From what I know about him, he's an easygoing fellow. He's easy to talk to and that's half the battle. He doesn't have any hidden agendas. He's not one of those kind of guys, from what I could tell. And neither am I. Put your cards on the table and go with it."

Wade is also eager to meet with Cooper and the rest of the coaching staff.

"Certainly, the feedback I've gotten back internally is that people feel very strongly about [Cooper]," Wade said. "I'm just anxious to sit down with these guys and get a chance to talk baseball, and get a chance to talk about the club, and where they see it at this point and go from there."

Pressed on whether Cooper is a "slam dunk" to be the permanent manager, Smith chose to remain diplomatic without revealing which way the club is leaning.

"We all think [Cooper] has done a good job," Smith said. "Obviously we've only got 10 games remaining, Wade has just arrived on the job, the new general manager should have some input. We all think [Cooper] has done a good job and we know he's anxious to have it addressed, the community's is anxious to have it addressed and I think we'll get to it between now and the end of the season."

But is he the guy?

"I think the answer is either that it has to be 'It's done or it's not,' and until such time as it's ratified, we're just going to have to leave it at that," Smith said.

Pence scratched: A couple of hours before game time on Thursday, Hunter Pence sounded confident he could play that night. But approximately 30 minutes before the start of the opener between the Cardinals and Astros, the outfielder was scratched for precautionary reasons.

The official diagnosis is a strained upper back, an aftereffect from Pence's violent collision with the right-field wall in the later stages of Wednesday's game against Milwaukee at Minute Maid Park.

Even before he was scratched, Pence gave some rather jarring insight as to how he felt after running into the wall chasing Rickie Weeks' home run ball.

"I felt like my rib was jammed into my stomach," he said. "I couldn't breathe and I kind of wiggled out of it, but I was fine."

Chris Burke started in right field in Pence's place on Thursday.

Proud papa: Cooper said that he expected Roy Oswalt to arrive to St. Louis sometime on Thursday, two days after the right-hander's wife, Nicole, gave birth to the couple's second child, a daughter they named Ainslee.

Oswalt will throw a bullpen seesion on Friday and will start Sunday's game, which was picked up by ESPN and will begin at 7:05 p.m CT.

Birthdays: Astros television announcer Bill Brown celebrated the big 6-0 on Thursday, and he shares a birthday with third-base coach Doug Mansolino, who, despite a series of emphatic denials in the clubhouse before the game, turned 51.

Coming up: The Astros and Cardinals will meet again at Busch Stadium on Friday, beginning at 7:10 p.m. CT. Right-hander Brandon Backe (1-1, 4.86 ERA) will face Cards righty Joel Pineiro (5-3, 4.50).