Albert Pujols smote a two-out double to right-center in the first inning of Tuesday night’s game and scored, rather routinely, on a single to left. The run he scored in the ninth inning to win Monday night’s game wasn’t quite so routine.
The Cardinals’ Mr. April-May-June-July-August-September-and-October scored from second base on a 4-3 slow-roller.
Pujols, the most feared, respected hitter in the game, had made the difference on Monday with his cunning, cleverness and daring, but not with his swiftness afoot.
“God gave me a lot of talent to play baseball, but he did not give me any speed,” Pujols said Tuesday behind the cage, just after he did a beatdown on three dozen baseballs in batting practice.
Watching Albert Pujols hit a double is like watching Kobe Bryant hit a 3, Jimmy Connors hit a backhand, Ray Bourque hit a slap shot, Tiger Woods hit a 2-iron stinger, John Elway hit a receiver, Joe Louis hit a palooka.
Like watching Ethel Merman hit a high note.
Like watching Rodin sculpt, Chaucer write, Da Vinci paint, Bach compose, Pavlova dance, Olivier act, Sinatra sing.
Like watching Musial as a hitter, but from the other side and with an entirely different stance.
On Monday night Pujols was like watching Enos Slaughter in the seventh game of the 1946 World Series, when he scored the deciding run of Game 7 from first base on a double.
I asked Pujols the last time he scored from second on a grounder to second. “Never.” Not even in high school. “Not ever.”
Pujols took off from second in an attempt to steal third, and Rick Ankiel slapped the ball to Rockies second baseman Jonathan Herrera, who flipped to Todd Helton at first. Helton fired home, a millisecond late. Cards win 6-5.
“You don’t think about scoring. It’s just instinctive,” Pujols said the next day. “I round third, and when I see the ball go to first, I know, as a first baseman, that Helton will get rid of the ball quick, and I just go all out and be aggressive. If I’m thrown out, a lot of people say it’s a stupid play. But I know that (Brian) Fuentes is a very good reliever, and we can’t expect to get anything off him, so I’m trying to sneak a run. If you’re aggressive, maybe the throw is rushed, or the catcher drops it.
“My dad taught me to be an aggressive ballplayer.”
Bienvenido Pujols was an exceptional pitcher in the Dominican League, but he wasn’t an exceptional father. He was in and, mostly, out of Albert’s life. The kid and his 11 brothers and sisters were raised by a grandmother in a tent town in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Albert and his brothers used cardboard cartons for gloves and hit limes, instead of baseballs, with sticks, not bats.
Albert came to the U.S. with his father in 1996 and settled in Missouri. He was drafted by the Cardinals (twice) in 1999.
Pujols made his major-league debut on April 2, 2001 . . . at Coors Field.
He got the first hit. On Tuesday night at Coors Field, Pujols got his 1,383rd major-league hit. The 28- year-old Pujols has seven consecutive seasons with a .300-plus average and more than 100 runs batted in, 100 runs scored and 30 home runs.
Two years ago Pujols was ahead of Roger Maris’ legitimate home run pace when he was forced out for two weeks with a strained oblique.
“When I came back last season I really thought I was going to hit 60 (home runs) and .600. But I got off to an awful start. I didn’t have much time to rest after the World Series and going back to the Dominican Republic and doing my foundation work (for Down syndrome, which his oldest daughter has). I think that really hurt me.”
In an “off” season Pujols hit .327 with 32 homers and 103 RBIs.
This year he is hitting .351, is on base more than 50 percent of the time, and his slugging percentage in the first inning was .600. “I play aggressive, but I’ve learned to be more patient at the plate. The only thing I hate in baseball is the strikeout. You put the ball in play, and a lot of things can happen. You strike out, and nothing good can happen. So I’m patient and say, ‘Let my teammates drive me in.’ So far it’s working great this year. I’ll take a walk every time.” He has 34 in 34 games.
But there is a deep, dark dilemma. Pujols was diagnosed in the spring with a high-grade tear in a right elbow ligament. He also has bone spurs and arthritis in the elbow — and eventually will require “Tommy John” reconstructive surgery, but not now.
“This is no secret I’m telling you, but I said to (manager Tony La Russa) I will play all out, and if it blows out, it blows out. I will not say it’s not on my mind, but once the game starts, I put it to the side. I first injured the elbow in 2003, and it has gotten worse. But last year the pain was so bad. I’ll never do that again. It feels fine.”
Before Monday’s game Pujols walked to the opposing dugout to talk to injured shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. “He told me he was introduced to me when he was in high school and I was playing a game in L.A. I said I remembered him. I just wanted to say to him: ‘Bro, you can’t get down on yourself. It’s a long season, and you’ll be back.’ I’ve been through it. He got off to a tough start, then he got hurt. But he’s going to be a great player for a long time.”
Pujols plays like a Stradivarius, a Steinway, a superstar.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
