"When Washington's Ryan Zimmerman sent an opposite-field fly ball down the right field line in the eighth inning, it gave Cardinals right fielder Ryan Ludwick a chance to be a kid again.

Ludwick had to make a long run toward the foul line to make a diving catch for the out and end up on the warning track. Now that's fun.

"I enjoyed that one," Ludwick said after the Cardinals' 6-2 victory at Busch Stadium. "That was my favorite one of the year. It was kind of fun because the grass was wet so you got to slip and slide. It kind of brought me back to my childhood days. I landed on the grass, slid on the grass, and then slid on the dirt. It was like a slip and slide on to a sandpaper slide."

It's the latest in a line of stellar defensive plays for Ludwick. The one in the eighth was big because the Cardinals were holding on to a two-run lead and if he didn't make the play Zimmerman might have ended up with a triple.

Ludwick also made a charging catch in the first inning on a blooper by Cristian Guzman, then went back against the right field wall to make a catch on a long fly by Zimmerman. Both of those came with a runner on first and kept that inning from turning into a bigger adventure for starter Kyle Lohse. When the Cardinals were in Pittsburgh on May 9, manager Tony La Russa put Ludwick in the cavernous left field at PNC Park when he gave Matt Holliday the day off. Ludwick came up with two nice defensive plays, plus another later when he moved back to right.

"He has been spectacular, actually," La Russa said. "He's making plays to his right and back, to his left and back, coming in and diving, on sinking liners and pop-ups. He's playing spectacular defense and if he does that another 4½ months, he's a Gold Glover."

Ludwick did not come to the Cardinals with the reputation of being an above-average defensive player, but he disagrees with that assessment and he's forcing everyone to reassess their opinions."