Mark McGwire First base St. Louis Cardinals Profile
	2001 SEASON STATISTICS GM HR RBI R SB AVG 59 19 39 30 0 .198

ST. LOUIS -- Mark McGwire injured his surgically repaired right knee Thursday night and was out of the St. Louis Cardinals' lineup for a doubleheader against Florida on Friday.

Manager Tony La Russa said McGwire "tweaked" his knee on a cutoff play. He aggravated the injury taking a pitch later in the game and his knee buckled a bit when he took a called third strike for the final out in a 2-1 loss to Atlanta.

"I think it's smarter to be concerned," La Russa said. "Yeah, I'm concerned. He's worked hard to get back into the lineup, so to miss a game it's got to be something you pay attention to."

McGwire underwent therapy on his knee earlier Friday and was waiting to see team doctors.

"Something happened last night," McGwire said. "I don't know what."

McGwire was batting .198 with 19 homers and 39 RBI. He had 573 career homers, tied with Harmon Killebrew for fifth place.

La Russa wasn't certain whether McGwire would be available for pinch hitting. Rookie Albert Pujols, who entered the doubleheader batting .321 with a team-leading 25 homers and 78 RBI, replaced McGwire at first base in the first game.

"I stink anyway," McGwire said. "The guy that's filling in for me is having a much better year."

Patella tendinitis limited McGwire to 89 games last year, and he had surgery after the season. McGwire was on the disabled list for 36 games from April 16-May 28 after experiencing problems in his comeback.

McGwire's last nine hits have been home runs. The Elias Sports Bureau could find no one else who had nine straight hits for homers in the last 25 years, although Albert Belle of the White Sox did it eight straight times in 1995.

"You know why people come and watch me play?" McGwire joked. "They don't care if I hit .190, they come to see me because every time I get a hit it's a home run."