Pujols out six weeks with broken wrist

ST. LOUIS -- Concluding a news briefing about Albert Pujols' injury that killed the mood at Tony La Russa's charity golf event, the St. Louis Cardinals manager let down his guard.

Said La Russa, "I'm going to go find a place to cry."

Pujols will be out an estimated six weeks with a fractured left wrist after a first-base collision Sunday. Baseball will be without a three-time NL MVP and the Cardinals, who entered Monday night tied for first in the NL Central, are left to absorb another devastating blow in a season marred by injuries.

"You can't replace a player of his magnitude," GM John Mozeliak said. "It just seems like we've had to deal with one injury after another. We still have to find ways to win games, and that's what we'll do."

The team announced the results of an MRI and CT scan yesterday, one day after Pujols was injured against Kansas City. The injury is a non-displaced fracture of the left radius bone and his arm is in a splint.

Mozeliak said he hopes to have Pujols back by the beginning of August. The team anticipates no lingering effects from what the general manager described as a small fracture. Mozeliak said Pujols' left shoulder was sore but no structural damage was found.

Though his .279 average is 50 points below his career numbers, Pujols was starting to heat up after a slow start and went 3- for-3 with a homer in his last at-bat Sunday.

Pujols was hurt trying to make a tag after taking an off-line throw from second baseman Pete Kozma. The Royals' Wilson Betemit collided with the glove hand.

"He hit me on my wrist and my shoulder," Pujols said afterward. "He kind of jammed me back. It's the toughest play to make as a first baseman. It's a bang-bang play. I saw the replay a couple of times, but I didn't really want to look at it."