Worth noting

• Injured first baseman Allen Craig was away from the team Tuesday for personal reasons, Matheny said. Craig is back home in California, but is expected to return to St. Louis by Thursday when he is scheduled for X-rays and a re-evaluation of his sprained left foot.

• Matheny said the Cardinals won't set the starting rotation for the final series of the regular season -- a three-game set against the Cubs at Busch Stadium -- until after Wednesday's finale with Washington.

• Right fielder Carlos Beltran said the recently re-sodded outfield wasn't an issue in Monday's game. A college football game hosted Saturday at Busch Stadium required that a majority of the outfield be torn up and re-sodded in the roughly 48 hours between the game's conclusion and Monday night's opener versus the Nationals.

"It wasn't that bad," Beltran said. "I think the grounds crew did a good job trying to put the field together. It [played] a little bit fast, but not that bad."

• Prior to Tuesday's game, Adam Wainwright presented the $110,000 proceeds from his Waino's World fantasy football fundraiser to be split between two charity initiatives, Operation Food Search and Water Missions International.