Cardinals Media Relations

The St. Louis Cardinals announced a series of roster moves this afternoon with left-handed reliever Raul Valdes joining the team’s 25-man roster for tonight’s series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Cardinals outrighted Memphis (AAA) right-handed pitcher David Kopp off the 40-man roster and optioned right-handed pitcher Maikel Cleto from St. Louis to Memphis.  The Cardinals also activated right-handed pitcher Bryan Augenstein from the 60-day disabled list and optioned him to Memphis.  Today’s moves give the Cardinals a full 40-man roster.

Valdes, 33, was signed by the Cardinals last November after going 3-3 with a 4.91 ERA in 38 games in 2010 for the New York Mets where he fanned 56 batters in 58.2 innings pitched.

The 5-11, 190-pound native of Cuba was 5-2 with a 5.05 ERA in 21 games (7 starts) for the Memphis Redbirds this season.  Since moving out of the Memphis starting rotation, Valdes has excelled in a relief role, going 3-0 with a 0.55 ERA in his 14 relief appearances.  He has struck out 16 batters in 16.1 IP in relief, allowing just one walk and a .109 opponent’s batting average.   In the month of June, Valdes is 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA in seven appearances.

Valdes earned his first Major League save last May 25 against the Phillies with 3.0 scoreless innings.  He collected his first Major League hit (off Felipe Lopez) in the 18th inning of the Cardinals-Mets 20-inning affair last April 17 at Busch Stadium.

Valdes has been assigned uniform #37.

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS — Cliff Lee approaches every start aiming to go nine innings. The St. Louis Cardinals put up little resistance in the left-hander’s second straight shutout.

“There’s total gratification,” Lee said. “Every time I want to throw the whole game, there’s no doubt about it. I think I could have gone the 10th and the 11th, too.”

Lee scattered six hits and the Philadelphia Phillies got homers from Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard in the fourth inning of a 4-0 victory Wednesday night.

The Cardinals have totaled two runs and 11 hits in their first two games without injured Albert Pujols, who is expected to miss six weeks with a fractured left wrist. It didn’t help that they have faced two of the game’s best, with Roy Halladay giving up four hits in six innings Tuesday.

“He’s arguably the best player in the National League,” Lee said of Pujols. “He’s an obvious threat and anytime he’s not in the lineup you feel better about that when you’re the opposing pitcher.”

Kyle Lohse (7-4) worked eight innings to match his season best, allowing three runs and seven hits with no walks or strikeouts. He struggled only in the fourth when Rollins led off with his seventh homer and Howard hit a two-run shot, his 16th overall, with one out following a single by Chase Utley.

Lohse said he had to alter his game plan because strikes on the inside corner weren’t getting called. He thought he had Rollins struck out a few pitches before giving up the homer.

“I kind of fell behind Howard and he was looking away and I left the ball up,” Lohse said. “Other than that, I felt like I was in control. It was just an unfortunate night to be going against Lee.”

Utley added an eighth-inning sacrifice fly for the NL East-leading Phillies, who have won 10 of 12 and will go for a three-game sweep on Thursday with Roy Oswalt facing Chris Carpenter.

Howard, who grew up in suburban St. Louis and still lives there, also singled and is a career .374 hitter with nine homers and 34 RBIs in 25 games at Busch Stadium. Both are highs for visiting players at the 6-year-old ballpark and the homer broke a tie with Adam Dunn and Prince Fielder.

“It’s home, I think it’s a little bit different when a guy gets to go back home and play where it all began,” Howard said. “You’re just a lot more comfortable, I guess.”

Lee (8-5) has won all four of his starts this month, allowing only one run in 33 innings while lowering his ERA from 3.94 to 2.87. The 2008 AL Cy Young winner followed a two-hitter over the Florida Marlins with his eighth career shutout and has a 23-inning scoreless streak.

Leaning on his cutter, Lee retired 11 straight between the third and seventh inning and threw a career-high 126 pitches. Only Lohse reached third base after hitting a leadoff double off a curveball in the third for his first extra-base hit of the season.

“He threw the ball well all night as advertised,” said Cardinals leadoff man Ryan Theriot, who had a single and walk. “You know what you’re going to get. I thought we had a few little chances there, but Cliff’s a great pitcher and that’s what he does.”

Lee is 6-1 since losing 3-1 at St. Louis on May 16 when he walked a career-high six in 6 1/3 innings. He opened this game with seven straight balls before settling in and made a nice leaping stab on Pete Kozma’s grounder up the middle to help keep the Cardinals off the board in the third.

Including the loss at St. Louis in May, Lee had been 0-3 with a 5.84 ERA in his four previous road starts.

“That’s just someone breaking down stats and nitpicking little things,” Lee said. “To me, it doesn’t matter if I pitch at home or on the road. It’s all the same.”

Cardinals Media Relations

The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they recalled right-handed pitcher Lance Lynn from Memphis (AAA) and given right-handed reliever Miguel Batista his unconditional release.

Lynn, 24, made two starts for the Cardinals earlier this season, going 1-1 with a 5.23 ERA.  He has compiled a 7-3 won-loss mark with a 3.84 ERA in 12 starts (75.0 IP) for Memphis.  He posted a win over Nashville on June 20 in his most recent start, allowing three runs in six innings.

Of Lynn’s 79 career appearances as a professional, 74 have come as a starter.  His last relief appearance came in 2009 for Palm Beach (A).

Batista, 40, fashioned a 3-2 mark with a 4.60 ERA in 26 games (29.1 IP) for the Cardinals this season after being signed as a free-agent in January.

Associated Press

Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley each had a two-run single during Philadelphia’s season-best nine-run eighth inning, lifting the Phillies to a 10-2 rout over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Carlos Ruiz had four hits and one of two bases-loaded walks in the eighth for NL East-leading Phillies, who have won Roy Halladay’s last seven starts but put it together too late for the right-hander to become the majors’ first 10-game winner. Two days earlier, Cole Hamels missed his bid for No. 10 in a 2-0 loss at Seattle.

Halladay allowed a run and four hits in six innings, matching his season low in his first official appearance in St. Louis but on the mound where he started for the American League in the 2009 All-Star game. He has worked six or more innings in 62 consecutive road starts, the majors’ best such streak since Walter Johnson put up 82 in a row from 1911-15.

Daniel Descalso had two of St. Louis’ five hits in the Cardinals’ first game since Albert Pujols was diagnosed with a broken left wrist. St. Louis has dropped eight of 10 and fell a half-game behind the Brewers for the NL Central lead.

The Phillies are among four teams with a winning record on the road, going 18-16, and busted out of a three-game stretch in which they’d totaled seven runs.

Halladay struck out five to take the major league lead at 119. He failed to reach 100 pitches for the first time in 16 starts this year when he was lifted ahead of pinch-hitter Ross Gload’s RBI single against Kyle McClellan that tied it at 1 in the seventh.

Trever Miller (0-1) retired one of the three batters he faced to start the eighth, and it got much worse from there for the Cardinals.

Jason Motte hit his only two batters, forcing in the tying run when he plunked Placido Polanco on a full count. Pinch-hitter Ben Francisco put Philadelphia in front with a single off Brian Tallet and Miguel Batista walked Ruiz and pinch-hitter Michael Martinez in succession with the bases loaded to put the Phillies up 5-2 on only two hits.

Rollins’ big hit came off Batista and Utley delivered against Maikel Cleto as the Phillies topped their previous best of seven runs in an inning. Cardinals relievers toiled for 64 pitches to get three outs.