I love Albert Pujols. I love Albert Pujols so much that I paid 10 dollars in my fantasy baseball league, on top of the 10$ entry fee, to my friend who had the #1 overall pick just so I could have Pujols. Last night, or last afternoon for me, Albert Pujols had one of those "Albert Pujols ricidulous games" as Sports Writer/PTI "host" Mike Wilbon likes to call them. He went 4/5 with a home run and three doubles!! He drove in 5, scored three runs and was 3/3 with runners in scoring position....wow. I was not sure whether I wanted to see what Ryan Braun would be like under pressure or to see if Pujols still wanted to win for the Cardinals, now I know... Go Cards!
For those of you that don't follow the National League or aren't really baseball fans at all, consider this. Pujols has been an allstar for every season he has been in the Majors except one (he finished 2nd in MVP voting that year and hit .314 with 34 HR's and 127 RBI's). He has been the NL MVP 3 times and finished 2nd three times, twice to a juiced Barry Bonds and the other to Ryan Howards ridiculous 58 Home Run season, but still then, Pujols' WAR* was 3 points better. And yes, he plays first base but he has only had a fielding percentage below 96% once and that year it was 94%, and all the lefties that were pulling it were juiced anyway. He doesn't fold under pressure either, he is a career .323 hitter in the playoffs and his swag even moves up a couple levels, who even thought that was possible?!
Some people could say that he had a bad season and that his career is on the decline or that he gets injured too easily now, or anything along those lines, us real baseball fans know that this is far from the truth. Yes, this was the first time he didn't hit .300 (he hit .299) and yes, this is the first time he didn't drive in 100 runs (he drove in 99) and yes, he didn't hit 30 doubles but you guessed it, he hit 29. So don't believe everything you read (except me, of course) because he set the record with 10 straight seasons, starting with his rookie season may I add, where he hit .300, 30 HR, 30 doubles and 100HR's. Sadly, we must remember that he is human and he is bound to have below average seasons. By that I mean below average for him, three quarters of the NL should still bow down to him even though this was his worst season to date. He led the NL in home runs with 37. He also stole 9 bases which was his 4th best total so we don't have to worry about his legs giving out.
I do attribute some of this to the whole thing with Pujols not knowing where he is going to play next year, that can be really hard on a player. Would I love for Alex Anthopolous to trade Lind and Drabek for Pujols and Adam Wainright? Yes, but that will not happen. Whether Pujols is playing in Chicago, St. Louis or Guatemala next year, he will win another MVP. Oh, and if he hits 30 HR's 5 more times, (he's 31) he'll be in the top 5 all time. Either way, enjoy Cooperstown Mr. Pujols.
Until Pujols wins World Series MVP as a Blue Jay
-Riley
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