You'll recall it wasn't too long ago that Cardinals star outfielder Matt Holliday underwent an appendectomy that some figured would keep him out of action for weeks. A trip to the disabled list appeared certain.
However, in what came as a surprise, Holliday was able to avoid the DL. He set his eyes on returning for this weekend's series against the Giants, and while Tony La Russa just Friday said Holliday's chances of appearing in the series were "slim", Joe Strauss has an update for you:
Holliday to start Sunday against Zito. It will be 9 days since he required appendectomy. Let the poaching begin.
Nine days. It's incredible, if not seemingly a wee bit hasty. But then, the Cardinals are 2-5 on the season and have scored just 19 runs pending their game Saturday night, so you can understand their desire to get Holliday back quickly. He'll slide back into the lineup and bump Allen Craig and Jon Jay, who so far have gone a combined 7-29 with zero extra-base hits.