Lance Berkman Returns From Knee Surgery

Coming off an improbable World’s Championship, the Cardinals were expected to compete for another, even after losing their best player to free agency. And they are competing, after a fashion, for another championship. The National League Central is lost to them, but the new, second Wild Card postseason berth is not. If the season ended at this moment, the Cardinals would travel to Atlanta for the one-game Wild Card playoff. And from there ... well, who knows?

That’s a lot of money, $12 million. Last week, Cardinals GM John Mozeliak admitted as much during a pre-game meeting with a group of bloggers:

“We have an urgency to put the best team out there that we can, and I think it’s without question what he adds to this team with the intangibles and the tangibles,” manager Mike Matheny said, according to MLB.com. “We thought there was a way to rush that process a little bit.”

Berkman, who’s played just 13 games this season due to injury, sounds content shaking off the rust against big-league competition.

But it wasn’t a torn ACL for Berkman -- it was a torn meniscus, which sounds just as bad but isn’t. And it was a minor-enough injury to get Berkman back in the middle of July:

It’s a problem. But it’s a horrible, fantastic problem, and no one should feel bad for the Cardinals.

Either way, it worked out really well!

For about two weeks. Berkman hit like Babe Ruth, while Pujols was hitting like Mario Mendoza with his new team, the Whatevers of Whatever. Then Berkman hurt his knee, and eventually Pujos started hitting like Pujols.

For a while there, the news wasn’t good on Lance Berkman. There was a problem with his right knee, and the initial doctor’s visit hinted at a torn ACL. That would have put him out for the year, and the 36-year-old Berkman even hinted at the possibility of retirement if that was the diagnosis.

After scans and second opinions, though, it turned out that Berkman had only a torn meniscus. Which still sounds really, really painful. But apparently it isn’t. And now Berkman is hoping he can be back later in the month:

The Cardinals keep getting injured, and they keep on winning anyway. Seems unfair, somehow.

For more on the Cardinals, please visit Viva el Birdos and SB Nation St. Louis.

This injury could be more serious than originally feared, and fears were pretty bad originally. Joe Strauss:

“You think about it when you have a potentially major surgery at this stage of your career,” he said. “… I don’t think it’s one of those deals where you sit out a week and see where you are. I think it’s much more serious than that.”

This will be the second stint on the DL for Berkman already this season. His propensity to fall victim to injury caused a lot of scoffing when the Cardinals signed him prior to the 2011 season, but Berkman helped power the team to a World Series victory.

For more on the Cardinals, please visit Viva El Birdos and SB Nation St. Louis.

The injury happened in the second inning, when Berkman made an inning-ending putout at first base. His knee buckled as he came off the base, as Berkman described it, and he fell onto the infield grass after briefly hobbling on his left leg.

After being examined on the field, Berkman was helped into the dugout. When he tried to walk on his own, his knee buckled a second time.

“I didn’t feel a pop,” he said. “[The joint] just kind of slid on me a little bit. That’s the best way I can describe it.”

Berkman limped around the clubhouse postgame still not bending his right knee at all.

For more on the Cardinals, please visit Viva El Birdos and SB Nation St. Louis.