ST. LOUIS -- Yadier Molina's return to the Cardinals' active roster is imminent. It's a matter of days, and not many days.

"I feel good," Molina said Tuesday afternoon after taking batting practice on the field at Busch Stadium. "I made some strong swings today. I feel good. Hopefully two or three more days. No pain. No pain at all."

Molina suffered a broken left hand in a game against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix in early July. He's been catching bullpen sessions for a couple of days now, but Tuesday was the first time he took full batting practice as opposed to swinging off a tee or taking soft toss.

Cardinals head athletic trainer Barry Weinberg sounded at least as optimistic as Molina. The question was posed to Weinberg: within four days, will Molina's availability be a baseball decision, rather than a medical decision?

"I wouldn't give it four," said Weinberg. "It will be quick."

Molina is not expected to be sent out on a rehabilitation assignment once he's cleared to play in a game. The Cardinals are satisfied that his catching skills will be ready to go, and the club considers any offense it gets from Molina to be a bonus.

"Didn't I make a statement in the first two weeks of the season," asked manager Tony La Russa, "that he could go hitless for the year and he's our catcher?"

La Russa said he does not anticipate Molina going on a rehabilitation assignment.

"My guess is he probably will not go," said the manager. "I don't think he's going to need it. If he wants to go, he can go."

Walker, Sanders swing again: Larry Walker and Reggie Sanders also took BP on the field on Tuesday, for all to see. Both men had swung against bullpen coach Jeff Murphy on Sunday in Chicago, but neither had done hitting on the field since going on the disabled list. Walker is recuperating from a herniated disk in his neck, while Sanders has a broken bone in his right leg.

It was clear that Walker is closer to returning than Sanders. Walker punished the ball in his stint, while Sanders looked like a man who is still finding his way to some extent. That corresponds with their expected arrival times -- Walker should be playing by the end of this six-day homestand, while Sanders is targeting Sept. 1.

"I don't know what more Larry could have done," La Russa marveled. "He lost every ball. ...You could tell Reggie didn't have quite the same timing."

Sanders was to undergo a follow-up X-ray on his leg on Tuesday evening. If the exam shows encouraging results, he may be cleared to begin running on Wednesday.

"What we're looking at, we're looking at the first of September hopefully," said Sanders. "That's our date. But if it doesn't happen, hopefully somewhere around that date. I'm trying to take one day at a time, give them a feel for what I'm feeling and really make a distinction as to how things are going."

Award nomination: Three Nights in August, H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger's book about a series between the Cardinals and Cubs in August of 2003, is a nominee for the first annual Quills awards. The awards have been established with the following stated goals: to "celebrate excellence in Writing and Publishing, recognize and praise the creators of important books and great literature, interest more consumers in acquiring books and reading and act as a bellwether for literacy initiatives."

Three Nights, a collaborative effort between Bissinger and La Russa, is nominated along with four other books in the sports category.

Baby Birds: Brandon Berger smacked a two-out, walk-off RBI single in the ninth as Triple-A Memphis dumped Nashville, 5-4, on Monday, taking three out of four games from the first-place Sounds. Ricky Stone tossed a perfect ninth inning to notch his first win of the season. Starter Adam Wainwright gave up four runs in six innings, striking out six and walking just one. Reggie Taylor went 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and three runs scored. ... Double-A Springfield lost, 5-4, to Frisco. Starting pitcher Chris Lambert gave up three earned runs on a season-high 10 hits over six innings and dropped to 2-5. Tyler Minges and Cody Haerther cranked solo home runs. ... Class A Palm Beach topped St. Lucie, 4-3, in 10 innings. Joe Mather drove home Andy Schutzenhofer with a single in the bottom of the 10th. Chris Russ (1-2) pitched the final two innings and didn't allow a run to notch the win. Matt Dryer launched a solo home run for Palm Beach. ... A solo home run by Matt Lemanczyk in the top of the eighth inning gave Class A Quad Cities a 3-0 lead in a 3-2 win over Beloit. Phil Anderson got the win for the Swing, shutting Beloit out for six innings. He improved to 4-1. ... Chad Gabriel's two-run homer was not enough for short-season New Jersey, which lost, 6-5, to Hudson Valley. ... The rookie-level Johnson City Cardinals received Monday off.

The player of the day is none other than Berger for his game-winning RBI single.

This day in Busch Stadium history: Aug. 16, 1997: Matt Morris and Greg Maddux, then of the Braves, battled for six innings, but Maddux came out on top in a 5-3 win.

Morris -- a rookie that season -- pitched seven innings, gave up four runs and struck out seven, dropping to 8-8. Maddux gave up three runs on seven hits and held the Cardinals scoreless after the first. Ray Lankford drove in all three runs with his 24th home run of the season. Thanks to Project Retrosheet for the information.

On deck: Mark Mulder (13-6, 4.10 ERA) makes his team-high 25th start of the season against Arizona's Brandon Webb (10-8, 3.78 ERA) in a matchup of extreme ground-ball pitchers.