Lance Lynn

If elected, Holliday plans to attend All-Star Game -- healthy or not

Published Jun. 28, 2015 7:11 p.m. ET

foxsports

ST. LOUIS -- A little more than two weeks out from the All-Star Game, Matt Holliday remains both on the disabled list and third in voting among National League outfielders.

Mike Matheny and the Cardinals' veteran left fielder aren't ruling out his return before July 14, but he'll be in Cincinnati even if nothing changes. Holliday is currently more than 380,000 votes ahead of Giants outfielder Nori Aoki, who recently went on the disabled list with a right fibula fracture and isn't expected to return for at least two weeks.

"I'd maybe take batting practice and continue to do what I'm doing as far as rehab goes, but it's still two weeks away," Holliday says. "So I'm not sure where I'll be at that point, but if I get voted in, I'll be there."

He began taking batting practice Saturday for the first time since suffering a quad strain in the outfield at Colorado on June 8. Holliday expects to start running later this week, and his efforts to get back on the field have impressed Matheny.

"I think so much has to be said walking into the weight room today and seeing Adam Wainwright, even with his crazy moon boot, working out hard and still talking smack about how soon he's going to be back and seeing (Holliday) push it and getting out here as quick as he can and still throwing dates out there about how soon he's going to be back," Matheny says. "That stuff really makes a difference and influences our players, especially the young guys who are just kind of figuring out what it looks like to be a big-league player and then what it looks like to have all the potential distractions of injury and how our guys respond."

Garcia unlikely to start before Thursday

Matheny says Jaime Garcia doesn't feel good enough to throw yet and would be a long shot to pitch before Thursday.

Lance Lynn and John Lackey will move up in the rotation to pitch on regular rest, but Matheny says he'd prefer to have younger starters Michael Wacha and Carlos Martinez able to take advantage of Monday's off day. Garcia's status remains uncertain as he tries to recover from what was initially described as a cramp near his left groin.

"I'm sure he's going to be throwing again here in the next couple days to kind of give us a better idea of when he might be able to make it back out here," Matheny said. "We'll evaluate then, but Thursday kind of has more of an asterisk next to it right now, just waiting to see."

You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter at @FS_LukeT or email him at lukegthompson87@gmail.com.

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