I apologize for the long drought in between posts, but finals and getting settled back home will do that to you.

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.