Major League Baseball

Pujols moves to cleanup for Cardinals

Published May. 17, 2010 11:31 p.m. ET

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Albert Pujols was batting cleanup instead of his accustomed No. 3 spot for the first time in nearly seven seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals' first game since dropping out of the NL Central lead.

Manager Tony La Russa said the move was all about energizing the player that's switching place with Pujols - Matt Holliday.

``Matt's one of our major impact guys and to really put him over the top, have Albert hit behind him,'' La Russa said before the Cardinals faced the Washington Nationals on Monday night. ``We talked about getting Matt started and Albert said, 'I've got no problem hitting fourth,' which I didn't ask him to do.''

The Cardinals had lost nine of 12 and were not in first place for the first time since July 30, 2009, and La Russa said he could stick with the arrangement for a while.

Holliday, who signed a seven-year, $120 million free agent deal in January, had only four homers and 14 RBIs to go with a .299 average. He was 2 for 11 with no RBIs while St. Louis lost two of three at Cincinnati during the weekend.

``If that's what it's for,'' Holliday said with a shrug. ``Obviously the results are going to vary, but I felt like I've hit the ball hard pretty consistently the last couple of weeks.

``You don't always get the results you're looking for, but I keep trying to use the barrel and eventually the results will come.''

The last time Pujols didn't bat third for the Cardinals was May 30, 2003, a string of 1,046 games. Eduardo Perez batted third and Pujols fourth that day against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pujols didn't say much about the move, except that he had no problem. He was making his 235th career start batting cleanup.

``It doesn't matter where I hit,'' Pujols said. ``I'm just glad to be in the lineup.''

The Cardinals also activated Felipe Lopez (elbow strain) from the 15-day disabled list and had him batting leadoff and playing shortstop. Rookie infielder Tyler Greene, batting .231 in 10 games with a homer and three RBIs, was optioned to Triple-A Memphis.

Lopez aggravated what he had believed was minor elbow tightness when he pitched an inning in a 20-inning loss to the Mets April 17, and missed 20 games after going on the DL April 26 with a strain. His return makes it easier for La Russa to park slumping Brendan Ryan, batting .162 and enduring consecutive two-error games at shortstop last week, on the bench.

``He's been working on stuff but when the result isn't there you start pressing, and he's really pressing,'' La Russa said. ``So you back him off.''

La Russa said Lopez might have been able to play at second base a few days ago but wanted to wait until he was ready for the longer throws from shortstop. The switch hitter was batting .273 with a homer and four RBIs in 44 at-bats.

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