ESPN.com senior baseball writer Buster Olney reported Sunday that the Phillies have “kicked around” the idea of approaching the Cardinals about a trade involving Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols.

Olney reports that it would be a blockbuster one-for-one deal.

“Lies,” GM Ruben Amaro Jr. told Olney. “That’s a lie. I don’t know who you’re talking to, but that’s a lie.”

Olney goes on to write about the logic surrounding a potenial trade:

For starters, Pujols would give the Phillies a lethal right-handed power bat in a lefty-heavy lineup.

Pujols and Howard are scheduled to be free agents after the 2011 season. The Cardinals haven’t made progress with Pujols as far as a contract extension in concerned. The Cardinals, according to Olney, could seek trade suitors for Pujols , a la Toronto and Roy Halladay, knowing they will have no chance to re-sign the reigning MVP.

The Phillies must consider the possibility of life without Howard, too. However, dealing for Pujols wouldn’t solve that problem because, in all likelihood, they wouldn’t be able to lock Pujols to a long-term contract extension, either.

Pujols is likely to command for money than Howard in the open market.

Howard is a St. Louis native and is considered a local hero.

Will this ever happen? Probably not. Fun to speculate? Definitely.

It’s August-going-on-September and Ryan Howard is carrying the Phillies offense.

Surprised?

Howard is heating up at the right time, as he always does around this time of the year.

MVP? You never know.

Phillies.com beat writer Todd Zolecki blogged that Howard is hitting hit .333 (20-for-60) with three doubles, one triple, eight home runs and 25 RBI in his last 15 games.

The Big Fella is on an absolute tear.

For the fourth consecutive season, Howard has reached the 100-RBI plateau before September. The scary thing is, September is the month Howard REALLY goes off.

For the year, Howard is batting a very respectable .268, which is a far cry from last year at this time, when he was struggling to get to get to .250. After a sluggish start to the second half the season, in terms of his power numbers, Howard is hitting the longball with ease.

Since Aug. 13, Howard has eight homers and 22 RBI. That’s a span of 11 games. Before Aug. 13, he had gone a career-long 57 at-bats without homering.

It’s certainly not shocking that, in those 11 games, the Phillies are 9-2.

Everybody in and around baseball has handed Albert Pujols the MVP award, and rightfully so.

But don’t discount Howard. He’s more consistent, through and through, than he was the previous two seasons.

In fact, you can make a case he’s just as good now as he was in 2006, when he earned his first MVP award…