By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports

Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium - the Cardinals have a 3-2 lead over the Royals in the top of the sixth inning - a scene that would typically bring a ‘warm fuzzy feeling’ to members of Cardinal Nation.

Jaime Garcia is on the mound with Wilson Betemit at the plate, with a 3-1 count. Garcia delivers a high fastball, and Betemit hits a ground ball right up the middle. Second baseman Pete Kozma fields the ball in the grass behind second base, and makes a hurried throw to Albert Pujols over at first.


Pujols - who hit a solo home run to give the Cards the lead in the fifth inning - lurches out to catch the ball as it is slicing towards the infield grass.


This is where things went horribly wrong.


Betemit runs into Pujols’ extended left arm.


Pujols immediately drops his glove, screaming in pain, and falls to the ground near the first base coach’s box clutching his left wrist.


Dan McGlaughlin utters four words during the FSN telecast that would make any Cardinal fan cringe: "Pujols may be hurt..."

The crowd of nearly 42,000 people fell silent.

People watching at home fell silent.

For many members of Cardinal Nation, it was a shock that hadn’t been felt since the death of Darryl Kile in 2002.

Initial reports after the game indicated that it was just a sprain - the initial X-rays on Sunday didn’t show a break - but after a CT scan and MRI on Monday, it was revealed that Pujols had a non-displaced fracture of his left radius, one of the two major bones in the forearm.

The Cardinals have been hit hard by injuries this season - twelve players have had fourteen stints on the DL - and Pujols would be the third ‘superstar’ on the roster to fall to injury.


Adam Wainwright had season-ending Tommy John’s surgery during Spring Training. Matt Holliday has been on the DL twice - once for an emergency appendectomy, and more recently for a strained left quad.


Members of Cardinal Nation - including myself - have one lingering question: What now?


This is unfamiliar territory for us.


Since making his first Major League start in 2001, Pujols has only been on the disabled list twice, but both stints were on the 15-Day DL.

Sure, he's had two surgeries on his right elbow (one for pain in the Ulnar Nerve after the '08 season, one to remove bone spurs after the '09 season), but that hasn't had much effect on his game.

Albert showed signs of humanity at the start of this season - April 2011 was the worst month of his already legendary career as a Cardinal - but he'd started to 'be Albert' again. From May 30-June 5, Pujols had a .444 batting average with five bombs, 10 RBI's, and 1.074 slugging percentage (#1 in MLB during that timeframe). Back-to-back walk-off home runs against the Cubs were just icing on the cake of Pujols' return to normalcy.

But the question still remains: 
What now?

In actuality, if Pujols were to have a significant injury, right now is about the best time for it to happen.

Think about it: David Freese is about to come off the DL. Lance Berkman has been an absolute madman at the plate this season; Berkman played first base for the Astros from '05 until he was traded to the Yankees in 2010. Matt Carpenter, currently on the Card's 40-man roster, can play first base. Mark Hamilton could be recalled from AAA Memphis.

The Cards basically have two options: move Berkman to first, and put Jon Jay in right field - either permanantly, or until Allen Craig gets off the DL where he has been nursing a broken kneecap, or to call someone up.

Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa indicated that the latter was a more likely scenario.

"We need to call up somebody that fits in to the most needs that one guy can fit in," La Russa said in an interview with Matt Leach of MLB.com, "and deserves a promotion."

If they decide to go with the former, a big question from Spring Training will come back to the forefront: How healthy is Berkman?

Berkman has played the outfield almost exclusively this season with limited time at first, but he has held up well.

"When we were talking to [Lance] after we signed him and people were worrying about his legs in the outfield, he said actually first base is more stressful with the quick lefts and rights," La Russa said. "So getting Lance in a place where he's physically feeling the best is a real good answer for us - and can play the most."

The Cards' roster moves today will be the only indication of what is going to happen before the start of the three game set with the Phillies tonight; if no moves are made, I'd count on seeing Lance Berkman at first for a while. If someone is called up, Berkman will probably stick to right field for the time being.

All I know for certain is this: it's too early to kiss the season goodbye. Granted, Albert is a huge component of the Cardinals. But, given the depth of the Cardinals' roster, I'm honestly not too worried. Albert will be back by August, just in time - as long as an appropriate solution is found during his absence - for a push to the playoffs.

Photo courtesy of Scott Rovak-US PressWire.