Injuries have been a constant companion for the 2012 St. Louis Cardinals, In fact, they are mounting with the latest two being the knee injury that first baseman Lance Berkman suffered Saturday night in Los Angeles and Matt Carpenter’s side injury incurred Tuesday evening at Busch Stadium.
Not including Matt, with the severity of his injury still unclear, the club currently has six players on the disabled list. Four of them landed there within the last week. Two have been there all season long – Chris Carpenter and Scott Linebrink.
Skip Schumaker is the only Cardinal to have missed time on the DL this season to date without returning to the shelf. Two are on their second DL stints of the short season – Allen Craig and Berkman. Unluckily, as a result, each has played in just 13 games of the team’s 43.
In addition, Carlos Beltran has struggled through knee and foot ailments that caused him to miss time while avoiding the DL and Adam Wainwright has not fully returned to prior Tommy John surgery effectiveness. Yadier Molina basically played through a recent hand injury. Rafael Furcal has a checkered injury history, but to date, the shortstop has avoided being shelved.
St. Louis Cardinals disabled list as of May 23, 2012
| Player | Injury | DL date | Games missed |
| C. Carpenter | right shoulder weakness | 26-Mar | 43 |
| S. Linebrink | right shoulder capsulitis | 30-Mar | 43 |
| J. Jay | sprained right shoulder | 16-May | 8 |
| A. Craig | left hamstring strain | 17-May | 6 (second stint) |
| K. McClellan | right elbow strain | 18-May | 5 |
| L. Berkman | right knee | 20-May | 3 (second stint) |
Looking ahead to the end of the season, vote for which player’s injuries you think will have the biggest impact on the 2012 Cardinals. You may want to consider the ramifications of both the time lost by the player as well as the results of his replacement.
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