Rick Ankiel, making his first visit to St. Louis as a visiting player, showed his appreciation to the St. Louis fans for their decade of support by taking out a half-page ad in today's Post-Dispatch sports section.

The Busch Stadium fans, who saw the several highs and lows of Ankiel's careers here both as a pitcher and a hitter, are likely to respond in kind when the Washington Nationals center fielder came to the plate for the first time, probably today after Tuesday's rainout.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, for one, said he is likely to applaud politely.

"I couldn't be more complimentary," said La Russa. "He's one of those All-American guys. When you have a special guy, he's a special guy, no matter where he plays."

Ankiel, his wife, Lory, and 2½-month-old son, Declan, came into St. Louis on Monday night's off day, and Ankiel said he and his family all were greeted warmly at the team hotel and at dinner.

"To come back and play in front of the St. Louis fans is awesome," said Ankiel. "There's tons of memories and tons of support throughout the years."

At the top of Ankiel's memory chart, he said, was the home run he hit here in his first game as a position player on Aug. 9, 2007. "It was thrilling," he said. "The reception, the standing ovation, it was just a storybook moment for me. Being able to hit one in the first game ... you couldn't write it any better if I was a writer."

Ankiel, healthy for the first time in several years — he has had a litany of leg, neck and shoulder problems, in addition to a sports hernia — came to town hitting .211 with one homer and four runs batted in. But he said those numbers didn't reflect how he had been swinging the bat, and manager Jim Riggleman concurred.

When Ankiel decided to change positions in the spring of 2005, Riggleman was the Cardinals' minor-league field coordinator. "After a couple or three days," said Riggleman, "I went into Tony's office and told him (Ankiel) was the best hitting prospect for power that we had in our system."

Some of the friends Ankiel will see this week will be sitting in the other dugout. One of them is veteran Cardinals righthander Chris Carpenter.

"He was a big name in this organization for a long time," said Carpenter. "What an amazing story to turn around and do what he's doing now."

Asked if he could have done the same, Carpenter smiled and said, "I don't know if I could track the ball down in center like him — OR hit like him."

Hard to believe but Ankiel, who won 11 games as a Cardinals lefthander in 2000 before encountering his first major bout with control problems in the playoffs that year, is 31 years old now.

"You look and you say, 'Wow!' You can't believe time has gone this fast," said Ankiel. "Before, I was a little baby coming in. And now I'm a father myself."

Riggleman said Ankiel would be in the lineup tonight when the Nationals face Cardinals lefthander Jaime Garcia, who is the best lefthander the club has developed in its system since ... well, Rick Ankiel.