But when it was announced at 11:51 a.m. that the Cardinals, Indians, and Padres had completed a three-way deal that would send Jake Westbrook (6-7, 4.65 ERA) to the Cardinals, Ludwick to the Padres, and prospects to the Indians, that was exactly the case.

The deal for Westbrook was in the works nearly all week, but trading Ludwick came as a surprise to many fans and even Ludwick himself.

As of 11:00 a.m. CT, Ludwick hadn’t heard anything regarding a trade.

But now that the deal is done, it’s hard to see how this deal benefits the Cardinals. Sure they get a quality starter who gives the rotation solid depth, but they also trade away a guy who can hit in the No. 2, 4, or 5 spots in the lineup and provide solid protection and production for a struggling offense.

The Cardinals have had scoring droughts of 20 and 18 innings this season and are 17th in the league in RBIs.

Although the pitching depth is certainly a key for the playoffs, the Cardinals may have a tough time getting past Cincinnati without a lineup that can produce. They trade Ludwick’s .281 batting average, 11 home runs, and 43 RBIs and will most likely be handing the position to upstart Jon Jay.

While Jay has been spectacular lately with .396 average this season with three home runs and 12 RBIs to go along with a .447 on-base percentage, his numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt. His sample size of just 48 games and 111 at-bats is just too small for anyone to “expect” production right away.

That doesn’t mean he can’t become a great player, it’s just a lot of pressure to ask of someone like Jay to fill in full time for a guy like Ludwick who had been a staple in the middle of the lineup for several years.

General manager John Mozeliak has said time and again how he’d like to add a bat before the deadline, so it’s possible that another deal is on the way before the 3 p.m. CT deadline. A trade for a bat seems to be the only way to justify sending Ludwick to another National League pennant contender.

The Official Trade

Cardinals get: Starting pitcher Jake Westbrook and Padres prospect LHP Nick Greenwood (4-4, 4.15 ERA at Single-A Fort Wayne)

Padres get: Outfielder Ryan Ludwick

Indians get: Padres prospect Corey Kluber (6-6, 3.45 ERA at Double-A San Antonio)

The Astros’ asking price continued to rise, and the Cardinals willingness to acquire continued to dwindle.

He has since been dealt to the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Cardinals continue their search for a starting pitcher.

That pretty much leads us to where we are right now.

As the Oswalt rumors faded, the possibility of the Cardinals targeting Cleveland Indians pitcher Jake Westbrook grew. Throughout the past week or so, when asked about trades, general manager John Mozeliak always seemed to hint that he’d be much more inclined in going after a lower-tier starter such as Westbrook than an ace like Oswalt.

Who could blame him? Although Oswalt would have possibly made the Cardinals’ rotation the best in the National League, the money would’ve been an issue, even with Oswalt not requiring his option to be picked up. The priority is still to give Albert Pujols an extension, so you’d have to think that was a main reason not to pursue Oswalt.

But as for Westbrook, he’s a good fit for the back end of the Cardinals’ rotation. He’s a sinker ball pitcher who gets a ton of ground ball outs. Mix that with pitching coach Dave Duncan and that could translate in to significant success for Westbrook and the Cardinals.

Cardinals dub Westbrook as their No. 1 target

On Friday night, Jayson Stark of ESPN.com published a report that said Westbrook was the Cardinals main target heading in to Saturday’s deadline.

Stark said that the Cardinals were also pursuing Colorado’s Aaron Cook and Washington’s Livan Hernandez until they decided to “go in a different direction.”

That meant they were going after Westbrook, but he then tweeted this:

“Cardinals target Westbrook. Turn away from other deals to go “in different direction.” But only “50-50″ chance of trade.”

ESPN’s Buster Olney echoed Stark’s report in a tweet of his own Friday night:

“Heard the same thing as Mr. Stark: The Indians and STL are in the same ballpark on a Westbrook deal — if the two sides have the desire to push it across the finish line. And that’s not a sure thing.”

Although it’s a 50-50 chance according to Stark and Olney, Cardinals fans have reason to believe that this deal will happen, given Mozeliak’s track record. He’s made it clear that landing a starting pitcher is high on his list of priorities before Saturday’s trade deadline.

My guess is that both teams want this deal but they’re just trying to work out the particulars on who the Cardinals will send to Cleveland. If it’s anything like the Mark DeRosa deal last season, the Cardinals won’t have to give up much to land him.

So that’s the state of play right now. The Cardinals want Westbrook and are moving in on him fairly swiftly. It doesn’t look like any other teams are in on Westbrook, so it’s very likely that Westbrook will a member of the Cardinals by the time the deadline rolls around on Saturday.

The only thing stopping this deal from happening is Westbrook’s desire to stay in Cleveland until the end of the season and his contract, which has been a roadblock in the past for trades.

Said Jayson Stark: “In addition to the nearly $4 million remaining on his $11 million salary, Westbrook’s contract would pay him a $2 million bonus if he gets traded…the Indians haven’t expressed much interest to this point in eating a significant portion of those dollars.”

But the fact is, this deal needs to happen for the Cardinals to continue to compete for the NL Central. The back end of the rotation needs stability with the poor performance of Jeff Suppan and Blake Hawksworth. Westbrook would provide that. It’s also uncertain when Kyle Lohse and Brad Penny will be back from the disabled list, or how effective they’ll be when they do get back.

With no internal solutions doing to the trick, this deal has to be made.

But there were still a few developments in the Roy Oswalt sweepstakes.

The first, but certainly not the most important development, is that the Twins have taken their name out of the talks after being rumored to have been interested of Friday, July 23. The Twins never seemed like a real threat to land Oswalt to begin with after he stated that Minnesota was not one of the teams that he’d accept a trade to, despite the fact that they’ve won five division titles in eight years. Perhaps an open stadium in a colder climate played a role in that decision.

Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the Cardinals proposed an offer to Houston that would’ve sent struggling shortstop Brendan Ryan and an unnamed player to Houston, perhaps Shelby Miller, for Oswalt. However, Houston rejected the offer.

The Astros then engaged the Los Angeles Dodgers about a deal involving Oswalt. They asked the Dodgers for both major league position players and prospects, to which the Dodgers quickly said “no, thank you.”

So as it stands, the Cardinals still appear to be the team most likely to land Oswalt, but that likelihood is still not growing by much. If a deal does go through, it’s almost a guarantee that it won’t happen until July 31.

That’s because of two main reasons.

The first is that Roy Oswalt has two more starts at home, tonight vs. the Cincinnati Reds, and Friday July 30 vs. the Milwaukee Brewers. He asked to push his last start back so that he could have these two starts at home in order to try to match and break the Astros record for wins at home in Minute Maid Park.

He currently sits at 143 wins, one behind Joe Niekro.

Despite asking to be traded to a contender two months ago, Oswalt admitted how much it would mean to him to attain the win milestone, and he hasn’t backed down from that claim.

The other reason that this deal won’t get done right away is that the Astros fully understand the increasing desire that teams are having for Oswalt. Waiting it out would ensure the best opportunity for them to put together a deal that best suits them. Similar to how the Blue Jays were last season with Roy Halladay, the Astros are in the driver’s seat. They can dictate the type of value they get in return for Oswalt, so there’s really no need for them to do this deal until they absolutely have to.

However, unlike the Halladay situation, this trade looks like it’s destined to happen before the deadline.

There are certainly other components that will play major roles in where Oswalt ends up, namely Phillies All-Star outfielder Jayson Werth. The Phillies have actively been trying to deal Werth for a while now, but even more so in the last week in order to open up cap space for Oswalt. The Tampa Bay Rays have been in serious talks for nearly a week about Werth, and Colorado is beginning to inquire about him as well.

With the names available and the needs of each team involved, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a three-team blockbuster trade happen.

A report on NBCSports.com on July 21 deemed the Cardinals as “front-runners” to land the former All-Star and Cy Young Award candidate. The Philadelphia Phillies are also a threat to land Oswalt, and even Minnesota Twins have expressed interest.

But since then, no real discussions have begun to hatch between the Cardinals’ front office and Houston regarding Oswalt. In fact, it appeared on Friday that the Cardinals may have taken a step back in the Oswalt sweepstakes.

Oswalt made it clear that if he were traded to anywhere but St. Louis, he would want his $16 million option in 2012 to be picked up. He said he would waive the option being picked up for an opportunity to pitch for the reigning National League Central champions.

That, plus the fact that Oswalt named St. Louis as his first choice for a destination, was what gave the Cardinals the upper hand.

But Friday, reports out of Houston were that general manager Ed Wade and owner Drayton McLane would be reluctant to trade Oswalt to the division-rival Cardinals and would prefer a deal elsewhere, perhaps Philadelphia, which is looking to add a pitcher after losing Jamie Moyer to an injury, or even the Los Angeles Dodgers, who put their name in the mix on Friday.

The Astros want “two top prospects, a third minor-league player and a young player who is ‘major league ready’” if they trade Oswalt. Cardinals GM John Mozeliak declined to comment on the trade possibilities, other than saying the team is exploring a “spectrum” of possibilities.

Wade isn’t the only one who’s reluctant to pull the trigger on a deal that would send Oswalt to the Cardinals—and effectively form what would have to be the best rotation in the National League.

Cardinals chairman Bill Dewitt, Jr. said Thursday a deal for any premium player is a “long shot.”

“You want to have the (payroll) flexibility to add an impact (player) if it’s possible,” Dewitt told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We are very reluctant to give up high-end talent (prospects). The marketplace has changed. I think there are few deals where you can be sure you’re getting value back.”

You’d have to figure that at least one of the high-end prospects that Dewitt is referring to is Cardinals 2009 first-round draft choice Shelby Miller, a 6′3″, 195-pound righty who can reach 98 mph on the radar.

But according to Goold, Miller, a Texas native, is ineligible to be traded until he’s been under contract for an entire year, which would be in August; therefore, if a deal were to take place with him involved, it would have to be a “player to be named later” deal.

The Cardinals may not have all the pieces to form a desirable deal for Houston after they traded two of their top prospects, third baseman Brett Wallace and pitcher Clayton Mortensen, for Matt Holliday last season.

Triple-A prospect Lance Lynn is certainly a potential prospect to be traded. Lynn is just 23 years old and is 7-8 for Triple-A Memphis this season. He is an innings-eater who strikes out a fair amount of batters. Also, with the solid play of Jon Jay and Allen Craig, it wouldn’t be crazy to think their names would be mentioned in trade talks as well.

The Cardinals had been rumored to be interested in former Cardinal Dan Haren, but it seems their focus has shifted solely to Oswalt at this point. The Phillies and New York Yankees are also in the bidding for Haren, so that could play a role in where Oswalt ends up if the Phillies become more serious about landing the younger Haren.

At this point, just a week away from the July 31 trade deadline, it’s hard to say whether a deal will get done for the Cardinals involving Oswalt. If a deal does in fact go through, it’ll most likely be extremely close to, if not on, July 31.

If the Cardinals can’t land Oswalt, one would have to assume that Mozeliak would pursue a different starter, perhaps Jake Westbrook of the Cleveland Indians, whose name has been linked to the Cardinals.

With injuries to starters Kyle Lohse and Brad Penny, coupled with the poor performance of Jeff Suppan (0-6, 6.18 ERA), Mozeliak has made it clear that he’d like to add a pitcher before the deadline, regardless of if they’re an ace or not.

But as far as Oswalt is concerned, each team involved knows what it wants out of the deal and will do all it can to make sure it gets just that. It’s simply a waiting game to see who wants Oswalt more and who’s more willing to pull the trigger on what will arguably be the biggest trade of this

After holding a lead in the National Central since day one of the season, the streaking Cincinnati Reds took over the top spot from the Cardinals. The two seesawed back and forth all week and are now deadlocked with each other atop the division to begin this week.

The Cardinals have a tough road ahead this week and next, though. After a much needed day off on Monday, they’ll head out west for three games against the NL West leading Padres, then to Chicago for three games against the Cubs, which are always tough games. After that, they’ll head back to St. Louis for a much awaited series against the Reds.

But they won’t be making the tough stretch any easier for themselves after what transpired this past weekend.

Brad Penny was the hero offensively in Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels with his grand slam, but it came at a cost. Penny injured his back on the hit and had to come out of the game, forcing the bullpen to throw six innings. Penny disclosed after the game that he had injured his back while pitching a side session in Cincinnati the week prior, but didn’t notify anyone, which more than annoyed manager Tony La Russa. He was placed on the 15-day DL, but insists that it’s a minor injury that won’t sideline him for long.

La Russa’s anger carried over in to the post-game press conference. It wasn’t immediately obvious as to why he was so upset, mainly because the Cardinals had just won. But a mixture of the Penny injury news and an apparent scuffle between he and Albert Pujols appear to have been the source of it.

Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Pujols and La Russa had a heated exchange in the dugout in the eighth inning of Friday’s game against the Angels.

The source of the dispute: With Pujols up to bat with a runner on second base, outfielder Ryan Ludwick was thrown out trying to steal third. Pujols returned to the dugout and knocked two trays of gum off a bench. La Russa reprimanded Pujols by saying, “That’s enough.” Pujols responded and, according to eyewitnesses, the exchange escalated with La Russa telling Pujols at one point, “I (expletive) know how to manage.”

Pujols didn’t deny that the incident happened, but played it down as a minor issue. La Russa insisted that it wasn’t a unique occurrence and said things like that happen in the heat of the moment.

Saturday came and it was Kyle Lohse’s turn to pitch. This start was possibly his most important start of the season. After earning his first win last Monday against the Washington Nationals, it was crucial for him to follow it up with a solid outing to keep to momentum going. He also needed to go deep in to the game to prevent the bullpen from being overworked. But he too was unable to go past the third inning and forced the bullpen to work overtime. Recently called up P.J. Walters came on to carry the load for much of the game from that point.

After the start, Lohse complained about a sore forearm that had bothered him before, so his status for his start on Saturday against the Cubs is still uncertain. MLB.com’s Matthew Leach reported that Lohse will most likely miss his next start.

Chris Carpenter went six innings on Sunday to give the Cardinals a much needed quality start. He didn’t get the win, but the Cardinals won in extra innings to propel themselves in to the west coast road trip.

With Penny unavailable this week, and possibly even Lohse, the pitching staff will see some changes. Adam Wainwright will get two starts, one against Jon Garland of San Diego and one against Ryan Dempster and the Cubs. Penny and Lohse’s spots remain open this week, but P.J. Walters is a candidate to start the third game in San Diego. Minor leaguers Lance Lynn and Adam Ottavino are also candidates to fill in for the other pitching vacancy.

Lynn is 3-2 with a 3.31 earned run average and 44 strike outs and Ottavino is 4-3 with a 4.17 ERA and 37 strike outs. Rich Hill, who was a candidate for the fifth starter spot in Spring Training, could also be considered. Hill is 3-2 with a 4.41 ERA and 33 strike outs.

The key to getting through this week, as always, will be quality starts from the pitchers. With an already depleted rotation, it’ll be essential for the Cardinals to keep the bullpen fresh during the tough division series’ against the Cubs and Reds.

Although it’s still fairly early, the next week to week and a half could play a huge part in the big picture of the NL Central Race.

But thanks to $5 ticket promotion for this week’s games, I was able to get tickets to the two home games against the Nationals. I figured there was no better time to pick up the pace again on Redbird Report.

The lineup for Monday night’s game was a little different than normal, but that proved to be a good thing.

The first notable change was Felipe Lopez coming off the disabled list to replace the struggling Brendan Ryan at shortstop. Ryan is hitting just .162 with no home runs and only six runs batted in. Lopez has also been struggling and isn’t as strong defensively as Ryan, but La Russa was willing to take the offensive upgrade in Lopez to help provide some pop to a lineup that lost was swept by the Astros and lost two out of three and the division lead to the Reds.

The other change was the switch at the 3 and 4 spots. Albert Pujols batted cleanup for the first time since 2003 while Matt Holliday hit in the three hole, perhaps in an attempt to get more at-bats and have the protection of Ryan Ludwick in front of him and Pujols behind him.

The interesting thing about this move though is that La Russa said nearly a week ago that he couldn’t see a scenario in which Holliday and Pujols would flip-flop in the lineup. But since the Cardinals’ recent skid, La Russa couldn’t help but make the change.

“Matt is doing OK, but he’s a major-impact guy for us and we’ve really got to get him going where he he’s feeling more like himself,” La Russa told the media before Monday’s game. “Getting him in front of Albert should be a plus. Hitting him second, I didn’t like that too much. Albert actually said ‘Hey, I have no problem hitting fourth,’ which I use as an example. One of the things that separates Albert as a great superstar for me over the years is his team qualities. He said, ‘Hey let’s get Matt going. I’ll hit fourth.’”

The move didn’t necessarily help Holliday, though, as he went 0-3. But Pujols went 3-3 and was part of a four run first inning that proved to be all the Cardinals would need against starting pitcher Craig Stammen and the Nationals as they went on to win 6-2 and give Kyle Lohse his first win of the season.

La Russa said the lineup switch had nothing to do with Holliday’s struggles, even though it was in an effort to kick start his bat.

“Fans have a good time with it, but it’s who plays, not really where they hit,” he said. “There’s a little something to pick up an edge here and there but in the end, its who plays. The lineup wasn’t anything magical or special. Its who plays and how they executed.”

However, if this new lineup does in fact catch on and ignite Holliday’s bat, it could be a very dangerous thing for opposing pitchers. Pujols has limited experience at the fourth spot compared to his usual third, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t had success. He’s a career .323 hitter with a .406 on-base percentage at the fourth spot, compared to a .335 average with a .431 OBP at the third spot.

In Holliday’s time at the third spot, he’s a career .325 hitter with 63 home runs, 230 runs batted in, and a .399 OBP.

“We need to be more productive,” La Russa said. “There’s things we can work on, there’s things we can improve, which we will work to improve. But there’s other things like this that maybe there’s a spark there for us. Getting Matt going would be a spark. Doing it gives us a chance to accomplish one of the major things, which is to spark our offense and get Matt in the game.

We talk about the Cardinals west coast trip; Zambrano to the bullpen; Alex Rodriguez/Dallas Braden argument.

I apologize for the advertisement at the beginning. I think you might be able to skip through it. Either way, thanks for listening!

Of course, the players were going to be tired, relievers overworked from the night before, and everyone else pretty much mentally exhausted from six hour and 53 minute marathon.

One big question was going to be about the availability of the relievers on both sides, as 19 Mets pitchers and 16 Cardinals pitchers were used in Saturday night’s game.

While John Maine didn’t help his case, letting his pitch count to go above 100 in just five innings, Adam Wainwright was virtually the polar opposite.

Wainwright threw a complete game with nine strikeouts and allowed only four hits, all on just 107 pitches, keeping the relievers from being more overworked than they already were.

A three-run second inning that was a product of a throwing error by Wainwright was the only blemish on his stellar day. From that point on, Wainwright was simply too much for the Mets hitters.

In fact, he seemed to get better as the game went on. Six of his nine strikeouts came from the fifth inning on.

It was Wainwright’s third win in as many starts and the third time already this season that he’s gone six innings or more in a start.

He was also able to make a difference on the offensive side.

With the game tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, manager Tony La Russa opted to leave Wainwright in the game to hit against recently called up relieved Tobi Stoner.

Wainwright answered with a double down the left field line to give the Cardinals a chance to score and take the lead. Ryan Ludwick then came up two batters later and joined Colby Rasmus in the home run department when he took a Ryota Igarashi fastball deep to left-center field for the lead and ultimately the win.

Wainwright needed just eight pitches in the ninth to finish off the Mets for the win.

The remarkable start coupled with the late heroics by Ludwick amounted to a dramatic finish to what was a crazy series between the Mets and Cardinals.

Wainwright has now won his last seven decisions in the month of April.

Or is it?

Actually, on April 27, 2003, the very same thing happened when the Cardinals beat the Marlins 7-6. That same day, Kevin Millwood threw a no-hitter for the Phillies.

The same thing happened on Saturday, April 17, when the Cardinals and Mets dueled it out for 20 innings and Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez recorded the first no-hitter in Rockies history.

Here’s the latest version of Redbird Report Radio, a special episode discussing Saturday’s history-making day.