Matt Holliday, Kyle McClellan headed to DL

The St. Louis Cardinals are about to lose outfielder Matt Holliday and starting pitcher Kyle McClellan to the disabled list, per MLB.com's Matthew Leach.

Holliday strained his left quadriceps on May 18th and aggravated the injury on May 22nd.

"We were aggressive," [general manager John ] Mozeliak said. "We tried. And he still wasn't getting to the point where we're comfortable with just letting him continue to go through this same pattern. So now we'll give him a few days, try to calm it down, and we're very optimistic that after 15 days, he'll be ready to go.

"Nothing's changed, and frankly it looks like it's getting better, but it's still something he feels. And rather than push it as we sit here on June 1, it just doesn't make a lot of sense. Conservative treatment we will now try, after we tried to be aggressive. It's still something that he notices, and it's just not going away."

On the season, Holliday is hitting .342 with six home runs and 31 runs batted in.

McClellan, who has a strained hip flexor, had his worst outing of the season on Monday when he allowed seven runs in four innings.

On the season, McClellan has a 6-2 record with an ERA of 3.86 and 34 strikeouts in 67 2/3 innings.

"It's definitely the right thing to do," McClellan said. "The way I've [had it] explained it's kind of like a pulled hamstring -- if you don't give it enough time, it's going to keep occurring. There's two different things -- there's the strain and there's the swelling. So you have to pretty much right now let the swelling go down and then try to strengthen everything around the strain."

To take McClellan's roster spot, the Cardinals will call right-handed pitcher Lance Lynn, who was a supplemental first-round pick in 2008, from Triple-A.

Despite pitching on Sunday against Omaha, Lynn will get the start on Thursday against San Francisco.

Matt Holliday aggravated quad injury in today's game

Against the Astros on Wednesday, Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday suffered a quad injury that caused him to miss Thursday's game.

Holliday, who was used as the team's designated hitter against the Royals this weekend, aggravated the injury and left today's game in the fifth inning after beating out a potential double-play ball.

Per Matthew Leach of MLB.com, the Cardinals said the move to take Holliday out of the game was "precautionary."

The Cardinals begin a three-game series in San Diego tomorrow.

On the season, Holliday is hitting .349 with six home runs, 31 runs batted in and 31 runs scored although he is only 3-for-26 (.115) in his past eight games played.

Matt Holliday hopes to stay off the DL

Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday, who had an emergency appendectomy this past Friday, hopes to stay off the disabled list (DL), but a decision will be made by Tuesday, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"I told them I would like to not go on the DL," Holliday said Monday afternoon. "I can play in 15 days, if they can do without me for a few games."

Despite playing with stomach discomfort, Holliday had three hits including a home run when the Cardinals opened their season on Thursday.

But he decided to get his stomach checked for "piece of mind" on Friday, an off day and had the appendectomy the same day.

"I've been having some pain in my stomach for awhile," Holliday said. "I think this is a fairly in-line procedure. It was a little more than a regular stomach ache. Sometimes you never know. ... We had an off day and for peace of mind I wanted to get the tests."

The team begins a ten-game (in ten days) road trip on Friday against the Giants, Diamondbacks and Dodgers.

Matt Holliday (toe) was a late scratch vs. Mets Sunday

In today's game versus the Mets, Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday was a late scratch with a sore big toe.

"It's not worth playing," Holliday said, per MLB.com's Matthew Leach. "I could have played if it was a game that meant something. But I figured since I've played 17 out of the last 18 games, I could stand to sit one."

Per Leach, manager Tony La Russa won't necessarily rush Holliday back into the lineup for the team's exhibition games on Monday and Tuesday. La Russa's main concern is for Holliday to be available for Opening Day (Thursday against the Padres).

In his first full season with the Cards, Holliday hit .312 and 28 home runs with 103 runs batted in last year.

Brendan Ryan to hit second in Cards' lineup

Heading into the regular season, it looks as though Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan will bat second -- not centerfielder Colby Rasmus, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

As Goold points out, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa plans on using Friday's lineup as his regular-season lineup.

On Friday, Ryan batted second and Rasmus batted fifth.

Speaking of Ryan batting the No. 2 spot, La Russa said, "He's been there a lot this spring and he's continued to have good at-bats. He's done good things with it."

"I'm looking at the card, and I'm hitting in front of Albert Pujols. That's awesome," Ryan said. "I wouldn't tell him that. (But) I don't want to hit 13th in the lineup. I want to hit in the first inning."

In deep leagues or NL-only leagues, Ryan should plenty provide value as a guy who will hit for a solid average (.290 or so), steal bases (had 14 steals in 390 at bats last season) and score plenty of runs with Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday hitting behind him.

According to MockDraftCentral.com, Ryan is the 14th shortstop being drafted in NL-only leagues with an ADP of 215.

Cards acquire Matt Holliday from A's

The St. Louis Cardinals have acquired Matt Holliday from Oakland Athletics.

In return, the A's receive prospects Brett Wallace, Shane Peterson and Clayton Mortensen from the Cardinals.

Wallace, who was considered the Cardinals' top prospect, was drafted in the first round in 2008.

Before the trade, Holliday was hitting .286 with 11 home runs and 52 RBI in Oakland. However, he was starting the hit the ball really well. In his last 10 games in Oakland, Holliday had five multi-hit games collecting 16 hits during that span.

Now he goes to a lineup where he will bat behind Albert Pujols, the world's greatest hitter.

In his first game with the Cardinals, Holliday had four hits in five at bats in the Cards' 8-1 win over the Phillies.

Holliday provides protection for Pujols and helps boost the Cardinals lineup. The Cardinals are 17th in the majors in runs scored (428 runs) and 23rd in batting average (.254).

However, their pitching has been strong as they are fifth in ERA (3.75). Both Chris Carpenter (8-3, 2.26 ERA) and Adam Wainwright (11-6, 2.95 ERA) have sub-3.00 ERAs.

While only 2 1/2 games separate the top four teams in the N.L. Central, this move means the Cardinals should separate themselves from the pack.