"The play had looked strange enough already. In the ninth inning of Sunday's Cardinals game in Pittsburgh, Lance Berkman had singled to left center, with Pirates shortstop Ronny Cedeno breaking to his left after the ball was hit only to find the ball going through the infield to his right.

Berkman said he felt nothing at the time as he reached for an outside fastball while hitting lefthanded. But he said that when he got to first base, he felt a mild strain in his right rotator cuff (Berkman is a lefthanded thrower).

"Clearly there was something funny," said Berkman, "because the ball went one way and the shortstop ran up the middle. There was something not right about it. Maybe my shoulder was going (one) way and the bat was going the other way.

"I got down to first base and, my goodness, it didn't feel good.''

Berkman, the National League leader in home runs at 27, was idle Monday for the first time since June 5, a span of 40 games. Berkman, 35, had started 38 of those games and manager Tony La Russa figured it was a good time to give Berkman a night off anyway.

Berkman, who earlier in the day had an X-ray that revealed nothing untoward, said, "I don't anticipate it being more than a day or two. I'd like to give it a day just to calm down.""