Back from a quick trip to Alabama to learn his rehab can continue on a scaled-back schedule but continue nonetheless, Chris Carpenter said he plans to throw a side session at Busch Stadium and get back to Florida shortly so he can face hitters.

The Cardinals ace, recovering from Tommy John surgery in his right elbow, said specialist Dr. James Andrews confirmed the diagnosis from Cardinals team doctors that there was nothing structurally wrong with the joint. Carpenter classified it as part of the pain of recovery and described it as something he’s “going to have to push through.”

“Everybody is different,” Carpenter said at Busch before Tuesday night’s game. “Unfortunately mine went through pain at 10 ½ months. If I had this issue in February when I first started throwing, there would be no issue. … My ligament and my reconstruction looks good. Everybody reacts differently.

“It’s just a frustrating process.”

Carpenter halted his throwing progress and his rehab last week after experiencing pain during a 60-pitch simulated game. He met with Cardinals team doctors Friday and flew to Birmingham, Ala., on Monday for a second opinion with one of the most renowned orthopedic surgeons in the field. Both sides concurred, Carpenter said. There was nothing wrong with his elbow that would require surgery — nothing structurally wrong with the joint itself, its ligaments or the nerve, which sometimes requires transposition after a surgery of this type.

The news, as Carpenter described it, is “good.”

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said that he still expects Carpenter to pitch sometime this season for the big-league team. It won’t be the previously believed All-Star break target date, but even after slowing down Carpenter’s schedule to accomodate more rest between appearances and fewer pitches in those appearances, Mozeliak sees Carpenter returning to Busch, to start, sometime this summer.

“We’ve changed his throwing program a bit,” Mozeliak said. “We’re hopeful he can pitch in 2008.”

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Todd Wellemeyer will be skipped this time through the rotation to buy his irritated elbow another few days of rest. Manager Tony La Russa confirmed Tuesday that Anthony Reyes will be held aside — “as much as we can,” the manager said — to make the start for the Cardinals in the final game of this series against Kansas City. Wellemeyer returned from an irritation and impingement in his right elbow to throw Friday and said he still felt dogged by the soreness. The Cardinals do not see a reason to put him on the disabled list as they do not believe he miss any more starts than just one. La Russa said Wellemeyer could be rescheduled for a start early next week.

***

Sporting a scab on his cheek as on the only outward sign of his collision at home plate Sunday, catcher Yadier Molina took part in some pre-game activities Tuesday and rode a bike that afternoon. He said felt good and added that “in an emergency, I want to be ready to go tonight.” La Russa put the brakes on that assertion saying Molina, at best, would be ready for game action Thursday.

“Good thing we won,” Molina joked about what happened after he left the game in a stretcher after keeping the game tied by applying the tag in the midst of the collision. “I feel fine right now. My body feels fine right now. … I’m going to play catch, stretch, run a little bit — see how my body reacts to that. We’ll see.”

Mozeliak called Molina’s recovery “miraculous.”

***

Albert Pujols, on the disabled list with a strained left calf, took groundballs today, participating lightly in the infield taken by the other infielders before batting practice.

***

The lineup for tonight’s ballgame:

CARDINALS: 1. Skip Schumaker, LF; 2. Brendan Ryan, 2B; 3. Ryan Ludwick, RF; 4. Rick Ankiel, CF; 5. Troy Glaus, 3B; 6. Chris Duncan, 1B; 7. Jason LaRue, C; 8. Joel Pineiro, RHP; 9. Cesar Izturis, SS.

ROYALS: 1. David DeJesus, CF; 2. Mike Aviles, SS; 3. Alex Gordon, 3B; 4. Jose Guillen, LF; 5. Mark Grudzielank, 2B; 6. Mark Teahan, RF; 7. Miguel Olivo, C; 8. Ross Gload, 1B; 9. Kyle Davies, RHP.

***

More on Carpenter, Molina and Wellemeyer later tonight on StlToday.com and in tomorrow’s editions of The Post-Dispatch

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