Ryan Ludwick

Take a glance around the league and you will likely see most successful teams have a solid cleanup hitter penciled in behind the player batting third to prevent the four-finger salute.

Mark Teixeira enjoys the services of Alex Rodriguez. Albert Pujols has Matt Holiday. Chase Utley knows opposing teams would prefer him not be on base with Ryan Howard coming to the plate. 

A few weeks ago, Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports wrote an article that had a lot of the San Diego Padre fans up in arms. The day that article was released, I had one San Diego media member tell me, "I'd be upset if I actually knew who he was." Ouch.

So far this season, the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds have been engaged in a dogfight among the top of the National League Central. With St. Louis recently solidifying their starting rotation, that may be about to change.

Jake Westbrook and Ryan Ludwick were traded today in a creative three-way trade. The moving parts in this deal looked like this:

Cardinals acquire:
Jake Westbrook (From Indians)
Nick Greenwood (From Padres)
Undisclosed amount of cash (From Indians)

Padres acquire:
Ryan Ludwick (From Cardinals)
Undisclosed amount of cash (From Indians)

Indians acquire:
Corey Kluber (From Padres)

Begin Slideshow

Game No. 17 of 162 in Fantasy Baseball Insiders’ summer-long journey featured a revived Jose Reyes and an impressive pitching performance from this week’s hottest pickup: Mike Pelfrey .

Game No. 17 – Chicago Cubs vs. New York Mets

Is it a coincidence that just as Ryan Ludwick went down with an injury at Pittsburgh, the Cardinal offense began to struggle?

Is it a chance happening that while Ludwick struggled once coming off the disabled list, the Cardinal bats were quiet?

Finally, is it pure luck that as soon as Ludwick began to find his stroke, the Cardinals finally began to churn out runs again?

It seems like a simple concept, bordering on cliche: as Albert Pujols goes, so go the St. Louis Cardinals.

The past week has made this as clear as it has ever been. 

Entering the week, Pujols was riding a slump, at one point going 15 straight at-bats without a base hit. After breaking the hitless streak with an opposite way single in Florida against the Marlins, Cardinals' color commentator Al Hrabosky made a prediction that Pujols would get into a hot streak.

The story of the past week for St. Louis Cardinals fans was twofold: the continued success of the starting pitching and the return of Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick.

The week began with a Sunday finale against the in-state rival Kansas City Royals. Joel Pineiro was solid in his seven innings, giving up just three runs. The Cardinal offense could not produce, however, as the Royals' three runs proved to be enough for the victory.