Victories Save Cardinals, Says Herr

Jack Clark, the St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman, will miss this weekend’s important series against the second-place New York Mets because of a severely sprained right ankle.

Clark, who has 36 home runs, injured the ankle in the sixth inning of the first-place Cardinals’ 8-3 loss to the Expos at Montreal Wednesday night. He grounded to third baseman Tim Wallach, who threw wide to first. Trying to avoid the tag by first baseman Andres Galarraga, Clark fell on his right side.

Meanwhile, Cardinal second baseman Tommy Herr said it’s a good thing the team is winning these days, “or it could be a mess, because we don’t necessarily like each other very much.”

Herr told the Kansas City Times that “different levels of concentration and effort” by players contributed to mixed feelings on the club. “We don’t have really bad guys,” he is quoted as saying. “Some just don’t play as hard.”

“Because we’re winning, we more or less put up with each other,” Herr said.

“When you’re with guys so much, from spring training to October, it’s tough to like everybody. At least it is for me.”