TOWER GROVE — The day after his 0-for-5, three-strikeout game against the New York Mets, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols still had no interest in talking about it. He didn’t take the field for batting practice. He spent a good amount of time just sitting in front of his locker in the visitors’ clubhouse, rolling a bat around in his hands. Every so often he would thump the barrel of the bat with the base of his palm and listen for the wood’s response — as he so often does, checking his bats as if they were tuning forks.

And what noise they’ve made together since. 

Pujols had five hits that night, has 11 hits in the four games since and is making a clear sprint toward surpassing Chipper Jones for the batting title. Entering tonight’s game at Atlanta — and the Cardinals’ chance to sweep a second four-game series in as many weeks — Pujols is slugging 1.095 since doing something he had only done once before.

On May 12, 2005, Pujols went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts against Derek Lowe and the LA Dodgers. The Cardinals won, 10-3, getting six combined hits from David Eckstein and Yadier Molina and scoring three times on a couple errors and a passed ball. Pujols left that game with the following line:

.326 BA/.413 OBP/.601 SLG

And, he went on the following 22-game jag (organized by series):

vs. NYM … 3-for-10, 1 run

vs. PHI … 5-for-13, 3 runs, 2 HR, 6 RBI

vs. KC … 5-for-12, 2 runs, 2 RBI

vs. PIT … 3-for-11, 3 runs, 2 RBI

vs. WAS … 2-for-11, 1 run

vs. COL … 6-for-13, 4 runs, 1 HR, 3 RBI

vs. HOU … 5-for-11, 4 runs, 2 HR, 3 RBI

In those 22 games he hit .358 and slugged .593. He had 11 strikeouts and 10 walks in that stretch, and it took him five games after his three-strikeout game against LA to collect his next three strikeouts. In the 22-game span, he had nine multi-hit games, and he finished that span with the following line:

.338 BA/.421 OBP/.598 SLG

He also, obviously, went on to win the National League MVP, the first of his career.

In the five games since his second 0-for-5/3K game, Pujols is already well ahead of that 2005 pace. Through five games, he has three multi-hit games. He’s already driven in nine RBIs and scored 10 runs, while hitting .524 (11-for-21) and slugging 1.095. He has walked five times and in 22 at-bats since his third strikeout of Merengue Night on Friday, Pujols has one strikeout.

Check out how he has inflated his batting line in four days:

After Friday’s 3K — .344 BA/.455 OBP/.584 SLG

After Carpenter’s return — .355 BA/.464 OBP/.615 SLG

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Thanks for your patience. Took a bit of a blog break to steal some time for taking the little man to Yankee Stadium — for his first (and last) visit to the old ballpark. It was the first time he had seen a major-league game with a designated hitter. He was appalled.

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Speaking of batting titles, the Cardinals have two players in the league’s top 10 and three in the NL’s top 15. Pujols is second in the league — and second in the majors — with a .355 average. The trio of Cardinals in the rankings, as of games Wednesday:

2. Albert Pujols … 338 AB … .355 BA

9. Yadier Molina … 327 AB … .309 BA

14. Skip Schumaker … 368 AB … .302 BA (.351 vs. RHP)

But, the Cardinals have a fourth .300-hitter in the mix, one stuck on the outside of the league rankings. Similar to Ryan Ludwick earlier this season, Aaron Miles doesn’t have enough plate appearances to put his .318 average in the top 10. Miles has 285 plate appearances (PA)and needs at least 341 to qualify.

Of hitters with at least 275 PA, Miles’ .318 ranks ninth in the league.

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Luis Perdomo, the reliever acquired from Cleveland in exchange for Anthony Reyes, has already pitched twice for the Cardinals’ Double-A affiliate. He has pitched three innings, allowed one run and struck out three. He’s described as a potential setup reliever with a good slider, a “live arm” and a fastball that ranges from 90 mph to 94 mph, sitting in the lower end of that spectrum.

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It was inevitable that this would pop up somewhere today, with the nonwaiver trade deadline approaching: “Cardinals could trade Lohse,” says the headline over at ESPN. That would contradict everything that the Cardinals have said recently. After Kyle Lohse’s start Sunday against the Mets, I asked GM John Mozeliak: “What are the chances Lohse’s next start is with another team?”

The answer, adamantly: “Zero.”

Bernie Miklasz has also reported on the subject with additional certainty, and Joe Strauss had the note about Lohse trying to survive his first trade deadline in a few years.

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Ken Griffey Jr.’s reported acceptance of a deal to the Chicago White Sox – wasn’t this supposed to happen in 2006, too? – means he Cardinals won’t see him in the nine games they have remaining against Cincinnati. … Ditto for Adam Dunn? … Of course, if Florida makes the deal for Manny Ramirez that means the Cardinals have seven games against him and the Marlins — rivals for the Wild Card. … A couple weeks ago an National League scout who knows the Cardinals minor-league system well said the best reliever the Cardinals had the assets to land at the deadline was: Will Ohman.

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