Anxiety issues land Greene back on DL

~ The Cardinals will be without their shortstop again.

ST. LOUIS -- Even when Khalil Greene homered in his first three games after going on the 15-day disabled list with social anxiety disorder, St. Louis manager Tony La Russa held off celebrating.

"When he had success in Kansas City, that wasn't really the test," La Russa said. "The test is when you struggle and how you handle it."

Greene scuffled the next five games, going 1 for 17 with five strikeouts, and the anxiety resurfaced. The Cardinals placed him on the DL for a second time Monday.

"We just felt it was a move we had to make to get him away from it again," La Russa said.

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said Greene would not be with the team for perhaps two weeks.

"We're just going to give him a little time to figure out what's best," Mozeliak said. "We have to be patient."

The Cardinals purchased the contract of 24-year-old righty Clayton Mortensen from Class AAA Memphis. That move restores the pitching staff to 13 after one day with a dozen following the acquisition of Mark DeRosa from the Indians.

Greene, acquired in the offseason from the Padres, is batting .200 with five home runs and 19 RBIs. His eight errors are one off the team high despite playing in only 47 games. He was activated from the DL on June 18 after missing 19 games.

La Russa didn't want to comment much on Greene's woes. Greene broke his left hand last July, ending his season prematurely, after he punched a wall near the dugout.

"It's delicate enough to where I think it's really not in good taste to talk about it," La Russa said. "It's personal and it involves his profession, but I'm not going to get into it.

"I don't think that does anybody any good."

La Russa did say that Greene was in agreement, adding, "He knows we're doing it in his best interests."

Mortensen is the 14th rookie with the Cardinals this season, and eighth to make his major league debut. He was a supplemental first-round pick of the Cardinals in 2007 and is 7-4 with a 4.24 ERA at Memphis with 64 strikeouts in 85 innings.

His win total was second best in the Pacific Coast League and he was a good choice for the callup given this was his day to start.

"I always like when a young guy with talent can get his feet wet in the big leagues," La Russa said. "I told him don't get distracted by how long he stays here, just take every day and learn from it."