St. Louis Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols strained his right oblique in the second inning of yesterday’s matchup with the division rival, Chicago Cubs.  It happened when Pujols chased a foul pop-up from the bat of Cubs 3B Aramis Ramirez.  Pujols finished out playing the inning, but was replaced in the third inning at first base by Hector Luna.

Pujols, who is mashing the ball as well as anyone this season, currently leads the Majors in homeruns (25) and RBI (65).  Obviously, losing Pujols for any amount of time will have an impact on the Cardinals batting order that is already without OF Jim Edmonds, who is doing a stint on the DL.  Depending upon the severity of the strain, usually an injury like this takes weeks to recover from, which many Cards fans don’t want to hear.  Further evaluation will be made today.