WASHINGTON - Kyle Lohse will take Monday’s turn against the Philadelphia Phillies after manager Tony La Russa pre-emptively bumped him off Sunday’s start against the Washington Nationals. The move became moot when the Nationals postponed the game following a 1 hour, 54 minute delay. The postponement inconvenienced the Cardinals and several hundred diehards who gathered inside Nationals Park until the inevitable occurred.

“It is what it is,” La Russa said, noting the uncertainty surrounding a make-up date since the Cardinals do not return here this season. The clubs share two common off days but using either would bring one of them into violation of a stipulation that a team may not play on more than 20 consecutive days.

“You make one trip in here, you’d like to play the game. Who knows when it will be re-scheduled. But one good thing I think we did early on was put McClellan in as starter, get Kyle out of his starter mentality and have him start thinking about tomorrow,” La Russa said. “Hopefully that works tomorrow.”

A make-up likely will be decided upon in the next several days.

A split doubleheader at Busch Stadium when the teams next meet Aug. 28-30 is one possibility.

Pitching coach Dave Duncan said he expects the starting rotation to remain in order with Mitchell Boggs being bumped from a Tuesday start against the Phillies to a Wednesday start against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The rainout had some unintended benefit. First baseman Albert Pujols received a second consecutive day off to rest an “ouchy” leg.

“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” La Russa said about his decision to rest Pujols Saturday. “Most of the time it is.”