"The last time the Cardinals walked into AT&T Park, Ryan Ludwick remained a curiosity, a guy who hit town after failing to appear in consecutive games in Houston against lesser pitching lights Shawn Chacon and Chris Sampson. Ludwick was also a no-show in the April 10 series opener against San Francisco Giants righthanded mystery meat Kevin Correia.

Ludwick grins at the memory.

"It's kind of where it all got started for me," he says, reflecting on the place where an All-Star and Silver Slugger season began to germinate.

"I got going. There were a couple lulls along the way, but I remember feeling really good there."

When the team charter left San Francisco after a four-game series, Ludwick had contributed a home run in each of the last three games, totaled five RBIs and pulled his early average to .343.

Ludwick did not play in the Cardinals' 2008 season opener but finished the season with 37 home runs and 113 RBIs.

Ludwick, 30, did appear in this year's April 6 season opener but, more significantly, has missed the last two weeks due to a hamstring strain suffered chasing a fly ball at PNC Park.

Better said, the Cardinals have missed him.

Ludwick expects to be activated before tonight's game and manager Tony La Russa intends to bat him squarely behind first baseman Albert Pujols, who has spent several recent series becoming increasingly frustrated by pitches that are rarely strikes. The Cardinals enter tonight batting just .225 and averaging 3.5 runs per game for May. They have lost two 1-0 games since Ludwick landed on the disabled list May 15.

Earlier this week in Milwaukee a rival NL scout offered to show a report on how to pitch Pujols. The scout did so by tracing the outline of four fingers on a sheet of paper — the universal sign for intentional walk."