What a difference a day makes. Before yesterday, everything was gloomy in Redbird land, especially concerning the great Albert Pujols. Articles were being written about his demise; sports shows on every channel were running features and showing stats. Words and phrases being used included “brownout”, “power-outage”, “worst month ever”, “slow”, “injured”. I’m not disputing any of those reports, they were all true.
He’s been hobbling on a bad heel. He’s been swinging at pitches in the dirt. He’s been flinging his helmet and arguing with his manager. Prior to Sunday’s game, Albert was hitting .299. That’s a great average for most people, but “El Hombre” is usually hitting about .340 this time of the year. Prior to Sunday, Albert only had 2 home runs in the month of May. Yikes. And before having a three RBI day the previous Thursday against the Padres, Pujols suffered through 11 straight games without driving in a run.
Then, the sun came out in Chicago. Two bombs out on to Waveland Avenue in left and a third blast to center field changed everyone’s perspective. Now what do we know about Albert the Great and the Cardinals . . .
· His 12 home runs are now tied for first in the National League. Say what??
· His 38 RBIs rank 3rd in the league
· His average is back up to .307 and he’s suddenly in the top ten in batting. Holy Awakening, Batman, that’s the stuff triple crowns are made of. I guess “The Machine” has been recalibrated.
· Wainwright improved his record to 7-3 and lowered his ERA to 2.28
· David Freese continues to lead all rookies with a .315 average.
· Rookie pitching sensation Jaime Garcia takes the ball today with 4-2 record and a microscopic ERA of 1.14.
· And those darlings of the NL Central, the Reds are coming to town today, after being shut out yesterday by the Astros. I wonder if they heard they got the news in Ohio. The reports of Albert’s demise might have been greatly exaggerated.
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