Ryan who? Ludwick, that's who!

Outfielder Ryan Ludwick's walk-off homer for the Cardinals in the 14th inning last night was his fourth homer in his past 24 at bats, this after having no home runs in the previous 58 at bats this season. I think this guy likes the clutch: his other 3 homers are a tie-breaking (eventually game-winning) three run shot in the 7th (he had a 2-run hit in the ninth in that game, too), a 9th inning pinch hit homer, and a game-tying pinch homer in the 7th inning. Not bad for a dude I'd never heard of until a month or so ago. He's 28 years old, and has shown promising power (13 HR in 227 AB) in parts of three seasons from 2003-05 with the Indians (he apparently spent all of 2006 in the minors). The hang up has been (and continues to be) his average: now .238 for his 137-game career. Here's hoping that improves, and he resembles Mike Schmidt (whose early average problems improved as his career went on) more than Dave Kingman (whose average remained miserable for most of his career).