Mulder Has Exam on Repaired Shoulder

Cardinals LHP Mark Mulder underwent an MRI exam and nerve condition study yesterday after complaining of discomfort in his shoulder.

Mulder was examined by George Paletta, the Cardinals' team physician. The studies were forwarded to David Altcheck, the Mets' team physician, who operated on Mulder's torn rotator cuff in September 2006. The Cardinals said in a release that results of the studies would be available today.

"I did some nerve thing and they said it was fine," Mulder said in a brief pregame interview.

Mulder is 0-3 with a 12.27 ERA in three starts this month. After his last start, on Sunday against the Cubs, Mulder said he was unable to get his arm high enough to finish his pitches.

Manager Tony La Russa was noncommittal on whether to end Mulder's season, regardless of what the tests show.

"There's no way to make a comment on that," La Russa said. "How are you going to guess? Let the doctor say what he found." . . .

Also yesterday, 1B Albert Pujols was a late scratch for the Cardinals' game against the Phillies because of a strained left calf muscle.

¿ AT LAST, A PASS: Greg Maddux's streak without allowing a walk ended at 59 2/3 innings when he walked the Pirates' Jason Bay on a full-count pitch in the third.

The Padres right-hander hadn't walked a batter since July 28 at Houston, to P Roy Oswalt in the second. Maddux, 41, went through his next nine starts without a walk, a streak that reached 244 batters.

The streak was the second-longest of Maddux's career. In 2001, he set the NL record at 72 1/3 innings.

-- From News Services