"Cardinals center fielder Rick Ankiel, still healing from a bout with the Busch Stadium wall (the wall usually wins), wasn't in the Cardinals' lineup Wednesday night and probably won't be this afternoon in the finale of the four-game home stand.

"I heard somebody refer to him as Evel Knievel," manager Tony La Russsa said. But La Russa acknowledged that Ankiel likely wouldn't be test-driving his body today, either. Ankiel did not take batting practice or work out on the field Wednesday night.

"He's sore," La Russa said. "He's less sore in some places and more sore in others. That's exactly how he explained it to me. I think we'll buy another day or two and see what kind of improvement he makes.

"There's no way anybody just shrugs it off."

The 15-day disabled list still is an option if Ankiel, who hurt his right shoulder the most when he crashed into the left-center-field wall on Monday, doesn't show progress in the next day or so. "We're going to try to be patient till we figure something out," La Russa said.

RASMUS HITS NINTH

La Russa had a position player hitting ninth Wednesday night when center fielder Colby Rasmus hit behind pitcher Mitchell Boggs against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was just the second time La Russa has batted a position player ninth this season. The move was not designed so much for Rasmus as it was for No. 3 hitter Albert Pujols.

"Albert's been so good against this club. I'm trying to put another base runner on in front of him," La Russa said. "I'm not sure how much of an edge that is. I think (Ryan) Ludwick has come a long ways (hitting fourth behind Pujols)."

Pujols is a .371 career hitter with 37 homers and 109 runs batted in against the Pirates in only 490 at-bats. This year he is at .611 with a .682 on-base percentage and 1.000 slugging percentage vs. Pittsburgh.

Last season, La Russa batted a position player ninth in every game the club played.

CARDINALS (K.) GREENE IS A GO

Shortstop Khalil Greene, who hadn't started since April 28 because of a strained right forearm, was cleared to start Wednesday night. "I've had a couple of pinch-hit at-bats, so it's not like I'm too rusty on that end of it," Greene said."