Lance Berkman out 8-10 weeks following knee surgery

Lance Berkman, the Cardinals first baseman, had knee surgery on Friday and is expected to miss 8-10 weeks. (Jeff Golden/Getty Images)

Lance Berkman, the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman, had surgery Friday morning to repair a torn miniscus in his knee and is expected to miss 8-10 weeks, according to Derrick Goold, the Cardinals beat writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The 36-year-old injured his knee in a loss to the Dodgers on May 19 in Los Angeles.

In a copy of the Cardinals press release obtained by Matt Snyder of CBSsports.com,  the team said:

"the arthroscopy found a partial tear in the medial meniscus, which was removed, and also a small femoral condylar cartilage tear, which was debrided."

Berkman finished seventh in MVP voting last season but has played in only 13 games this season. He had one home run and four RBI's before going down with the injury. If his recovery goes well, he could play for the Cardinals in the final two weeks of the 2012 season.