AROUND THE HORN

Cardinals: All-Star C Yadier Molina has a partially torn ligament in his left thumb and will be re-evaluated late this week or early next week. The Cardinals hope he can return in the regular season. The team is 85-46 with a 2.74 ERA when he catches and 8-10 with a 4.31 when anyone else does. He also has thrown out 42 percent of basestealers to 13 percent by the others. ... RHP Adam Wainwright was cleared for baseball activities after he made a rapid recovery from a torn left Achilles suffered April 25.

Brewers: The team introduced David Stearns as their general manager. He will replace Doug Melvin on Oct. 5. Stearns spent three seasons as an assistant GM with the Astros. Melvin will stay on as an adviser. ... RHP Jimmy Nelson, who was hit in the head by a batted ball Thursday, will not return this season after a neurologist felt the risk was too great.

History in the making: The Cardinals and Pirates had the top two records in baseball, and their NL Central rivals, the Cubs, were tied for third with the AL-Central-leading Royals. If they finish 1-2-3 (in any order), it would be unprecedented. Since divisional play began, the top three teams have never been from the same division, according to STATS. Only twice has one division had three of the top four teams: The AL East in 1978 with the Yankees (100-63), Red Sox (99-64) and Brewers (93-69) and in 1983 with the Orioles (98-64), Tigers (9270) and Yankees (91-71).