To add a little bit of pop to their lineup, the St. Louis Cardinals have traded for Mark DeRosa. In return, the Cleveland Cavaliers received Chris Perez, a relief pitcher, and a player to be named later.

The Indians acquired DeRosa in the offseason in a deal with the Chicago Cubs. The 34-year-old DeRosa was playing third base for Cleveland. On the season, he is hitting .267 with 13 homers, 50 RBIs and 47 runs.

The acquisition of DeRosa should help the Cardinals in their fight with the Milwaukee Bucks for the NL Central title. Currently, the two teams are tied atop the division.

For Cleveland, they are in a rebuilding mode. With the worst record in the AL, the Indians decided to trade DeRosa for a player who could possibly help for a number of years. The 23-year-old Perez has a 4.18 ERA and has racked up 30 strikeouts in 23.2 innings.

Mark DeRosa Traded to the Cardinals (Image: Zuma Press)

The 2009 National League Most Valuable Player award will go to Albert Pujols as long as he stays healthy. On Saturday, there was more proof of why that is the case. Against the Minnesota Twins, Pujols smashed two homers as the St. Louis Cardinals pulled out a 5-3 win.

On the game, Pujols was 2-for-2 with two runs, four RBIs, two homers and two walks. He’s now hitting .328 with 28 blasts, 74 RBIs, 59 runs and an on-base percentage of .450. He’s leading the entire big leagues in homers, RBIs, runs and on-base percentage.

Against the Twins, Pujols hit a two run homer in the first inning to put the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. After Brendan Harris hit a bases clearing single with the bases loaded in the second inning, Pujols hit another two-run blast in the third inning to put the Cardinals up for good.

With the win, the Cardinals are 41-35. The loss dropped the Twins to 38-38.

Albert Pujols - St. Louis Cardinals (Image: Zuma Press)

Coming into Sunday’s game, Albert Pujols was in a little bit of a slump. He had only three hits in his last 16 at-bats. However, on Sunday that was all forgotten.

In five at-bats, Pujols had four hits, two homers and six RBIs. His biggest hit was in the fourth inning when he hit a grand slam to break a 4-4 tie. That long ball powered the St. Louis Cardinals to a 12-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Pujols is now hitting .329 with 26 homers, 68 RBIs and 56 runs. His homers, RBIs and runs are all major league highs. His batting average is 12th in all of baseball.

Thanks to Pujols, the Cardinals improved to 39-31 with the win. They lead the NL Central by 1.5 games and the only team with a better record in the National League is the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Albert Pujols Hits Two Homers (Image: Zuma Press)

If Albert Pujols isn’t the best hitter in baseball, he’s right there near the top. The St. Louis Cardinals saw two more examples of his greatness on Saturday. In an interleague game against the Cleveland Indians, Pujols hit a pair of solo homers to lead the Cardinals to a 3-1 victory.

Albert Pujols - St. Louis Cardinals (Image: Zuma Press)

In the fourth inning, Pujols hit his first long ball. After the Indians tied it up in the bottom of the fourth, Pujols hit his second homer in his next at bat in the 6th inning. The Cardinals would never trail again.

On the mound, Brad Thompson picked up his first win of the season. Pitching six strong innings, Thompson gave up three hits, two walks and on unearned run while striking five batters. His ERA on the season dropped to 3.60.

With the win, St. Louis improved to 34-29. Currently, that record places the Cardinals in second place in the NL Central — a half game behind the Milwaukee Brewers. In the NL Wild Card race, the Cardinals have a slim lead over the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets.

The loss dropped the Indians to 28-36 and into last place in the AL Central.

It’s still very early in the season but Albert Pujols keeps showing why he has to be considered the early leader for the 2009 National League Most Valuable Player Award. With the St. Louis Cardinals coming into their game on Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates losers of three straight, Pujols slugged the Cards to a 4-2 victory.

Pujols finished the game 4-for-4 with two runs and one RBI. In the first inning, he connected on his 11th home run of the season. In 2009, to go along with his 11 long balls, Pujols is hitting .364 with 31 RBIs and an on-base percentage of .467.

With the win, the Cardinals are now 18-10 on the season. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers (20-8) and the Toronto Blue Jays (19-10) have a better record at the moment.

The loss dropped Pittsburgh to 12-15. They’ve lost four ballgames in a row and sit in fifth place in the NL Central — 5.5 games back of the division-leading Cardinals.

Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals (Image: Newscom)

Albert Pujols is known for his booming bat. On Friday, his wheels helped the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs.

Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals (Image: Newscom)

With the game tied 3-3 in the eighth inning, Pujols hit a single. He then stole second base and was able to score on a single by Ryan Ludwick. The Cardinals were able to hold the advantage and post a 4-3 victory.

On the game, Pujols was 2-for-4 at the plate. The stolen base was his third of the season. He’s currently batting .355 in the 2009 baseball season.

For the Cubs, it was another disappointing loss after falling into an 0-3 hole. They battled back but couldn’t get on top.

On the season, the Cubs are now 8-7. The Cardinals, on the other hand, improved to 12-5 with the win.

Albert Pujols got the St. Louis Cardinals off to a good start and then Joel Pineiro’s pitching did the rest. Thanks to that duo. the Cardinals were able to defeat the New York Mets by a final count of 5-2.

In the first inning, Albert Pujols got an RBI on a sacrifice fly. In the third inning, Pujols hit an RBI single to put the Cardinals up 2-1. St. Louis would never trail again.

Pujols finished the outing by going 2-for-3 to lift his batting average to .315. He also has four homers and 18 RBI on the season.

In eight innings, Pineiro allowed six hits, two walks and two earned runs. He lowered his ERA to 4.12 and is now 3-0 on the season. The 30-year-old out of Puerto Rico is well on his way to winning double-digit games for the first time since 2003 with the Seattle Mariners.

With the win, the Cardinals are now 10-5, while the Mets are 6-8 after the loss.

Albert Pujols (Image: Newscom)

To begin the 2009 Major League Baseball season, the St. Louis Cardinals had an obvious problem in their bullpen. On Monday, they addressed their lack of depth by trading for Blaine Boyer of the Atlanta Braves. In return, the Braves will receive Brian Barton, a minor leaguer.

Boyer is a 27-year-old right-hander who was born in Atlanta. So far this season, he’s been far from impressive. In 1.1 innings over three appearances, Boyer has a 40.50 ERA after giving up three hits, three walks and six home runs. Last season, Boyer had a 5.88 ERA in 76 games. His best season came in his rookie year in 2005 when he had a 3.11 ERA in 37.2 innings.

Barton is a 26-year-old outfielder who hadn’t played on the big league level this season. Last year, he hit two homers, nine doubles and two triples while hitting .268 in 153 at-bats. Barton has more of a chance to play in Atlanta than St. Louis due to the Cardinals’ outfield depth.

Brian Barton Steals Second Base (Image: Flickr)

Albert Pujols is making an early bid to lock up the 2009 National League MVP award. On Saturday, Pujols had two homers and seven RBIs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals over the Houston Astros by a final score of 11-2.

Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals (Image: Newscom)

Pujols’ first homer came in the fifth inning when he hit a grand slam. He then followed that up with a three-run homer in the seventh inning. Through six games, Pujols has a batting average of .429 with three homers and nine RBIs.

Adam Wainwright threw five innings in which he didn’t give up a run to get the win. Joe Thurston and Rick Ankiel each finished with three hits as the Cardinals improved their record to 4-2.

The loss for the Astros dropped their record to 1-4. Roy Oswalt, the team’s ace, dropped to 0-2 following six innings in which he gave up nine hits and six earned runs.

The two teams will play the final game of their series on Sunday at 2:15 PM EST.

Not long ago, Chris Carpenter was arguably the best pitcher in baseball. But after two injury plagued seasons, Carpenter had all but fallen off the baseball map. To begin his 2009 campaign, Carpenter gave the St. Louis Cardinals a glimpse of his Cy Young award form.

Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals (Image: Newscom)

The 2005 National League Cy Young winner took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday. Although the Pirates broke up his no-hit bid, Carptenter and the Cardinals were able to post a 2-1 victory.

In seven innings, the 33-year-old gave up one hit, two walks and no earned runs while striking out seven batters. Of his 92 pitches, 61 were for strikes.

In the last two seasons, Carpenter was only able to make five starts. However, from 2004 through 2006, Carpenter had a combined record of 51-18.

With the win over the Pirates, the Cardinals improved to 2-2 on the season. Carpenter’s win was the 101st of his career.