Congratulations Albert

Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals has just joined the 700 club.  700 HOME RUNS.  Pujols drove a 1-1 slider from Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Phil Bickford deep to left field at Dodger Stadium in the top of the fourth inning to reach the milestone homer.

Ironically, Pujols did it in Los Angeles where he had played the last 10 years of his career before signing with the Cardinals earlier this year.

Pujols is 4th all time on the home run leader list behind Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth.  Bonds achieved his record during baseball's steroid era and many so called experts believe it to be tainted by steroid usage.

Earlier in the game, during the third inning, Pujols hit homer 699 off of Dodger starter Andrew Heaney into the left field pavillion.  It was measured at 434 feet.

Pujols is in the final season of his career with the Cardinals having announced earlier this year this would be his last.

Random Thoughts in Mid April

Here it is the middle of April and it is finally getting nice outside.  I celebrated Easter with my family and the weather was finally gorgeous.  We spent the day outside playing and eating.  So with Spring finally here I have a few thoughts on my mind...

-Its nice to see "Mad Men" back on AMC.  I'm not sure its as good as it was the first few years.  But, it is still very good for television.  I will watch the remaining five episodes scheduled for this year.  Oh, and have you noticed Peggy has become "one of the boys".

-"The Americans" on FX is the best show on television right now.  I find myself cheering for the Russian spies even though I am American.  This season is just as good as when season one left off last year.  If you haven't seen it do yourself a favor and watch or DVR the program.

-It's been a rough month for my beloved Missouri Tigers.  First Coach Gary Pinkel kicked super star Wide Receiver Dorial Green-Beckham off of the team.  It will hurt the Tigers but in the long run it sends a message to every student / athlete on the Mizzou campus; behave yourself or else.  The other development was the resignation of Men's Basketball coach Frank Haith. I say good riddance to Haith and advise him not to let the door hit him in the butt.  He was a fine recruiter but not much of a game coach as evidenced by his inability to control his team.

-My favorite baseball team the Cardinals are off to a .500 start.  Adam Wainwright has been lights out so far this year.  But, the rest of the staff has been mediocre and the batters have not yet started to hit consistently.  Hopefully that will change as the weather gets even warmer.

-Last but not least congratulations to Albert Pujols on his 500th career home run.  Albert I wish you were still a Cardinal but I still respect your decision to move on to Anaheim a few years ago.

Have a great afternoon and I will post again soon (or well, whenever I have time).

Albert signs with the Halos

Reports this morning indicate Cardinal All-Star First Baseman Albert Pujols has signed a $250 million contract with the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles. Pujols has played with the Red Birds for the past eleven years and has been the team's, no the Major League's, best and most productive player over that period. He was also a huge part of the 2006 and 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis teams.

My initial reaction is I'm certainly sorry to see Pujols leave St. Louis. Not only is he a giant among all players all time who have played the game, but he is also a giant of a man with a heart for charity as large as his skills are on the field.

But, in reflection I have to say thank you Albert for all of the great times, big hits and memories of the last decade. It has been a wonderful ride, but all good things must come to an end. Albert, may God bless you and continued success and best wishes for you as you begin the next phase of your career with the Angels.

St. Louis Cardinals...Ugh

The St. Louis Cardinals are 2-5 at this point and not off to the start I had hoped. The offense has been sluggish and the defense has been lackadaisical. Albert Pujols has not produced to this point and the team struggles when it's star player struggles. But, we all know it's a long season. To speak in a cliche, this is a marathon not a sprint. I know Pujols will produce as the season progresses. This is just a bump in the road. So Cardinal fans get off of Albert's back and leave him alone.

If this team is going to win, he will have to carry it. I just hope management has given Albert enough of a supporting cast to be competitive in the always lame National League Central division.

I Couldn't Have Said it Better

Albert Pujols went ballistic this afternoon in his hometown. He single handedly destroyed the Kansas City Royals with six RBIs and two home runs including a grand slam. John Marshall filed this game story for the Associated Press:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)—Albert Pujols comes through Kansas City once a season. The Royals wouldn’t be too disappointed if he never came back.

Pujols finished off a three-day romp in Kansas City with two homers and six RBIs, helping the St. Louis Cardinals rout the Royals 12-5 Sunday in win No. 2,500 for manager Tony La Russa. “He’s the best hitter in the game,” Royals starter Gil Meche said.

Pujols made a mockery of Kansas City pitching in his return to the town where he went to high school, hitting three homers and driving in 10 runs in the Cardinals’ three-game sweep over their cross-state rivals.
The two-time NL MVP had four hits Sunday and delivered the decisive blow in the Cardinals’ eight-run fourth inning, pounding his club record-tying third grand slam of the season off a window on the Royals Hall of Fame in left. He also had a run-scoring single in the first and added his major league-leading 26th homer—eighth in 10 games—in the fifth to put the Cardinals up 12-4.

“It’s nothing special. I’m just seeing good pitches and hitting them,” said Pujols, who has 12 homers in 27 career games at Kauffman Stadium.

Pujols tied Stan Musial’s team record of nine career grand slams and matched the season mark of three shared by Jim Bottomley (1925), Keith Hernandez (1977) and Fernando Tatis (1999). His fifth multi homer game this season—28th career— helped La Russa join Connie Mack (3,831) and John McGraw (2,763) as the only managers with 2,500 career victories.

“He does it over and over again and it’s impossible to describe how great he is,” said La Russa, who has 1,180 wins in 14 seasons with St. Louis. “Albert’s amazing.”

Pujols wasn’t the only one hitting on this day. Khalil Greene, feeling good after missing 19 games with social anxiety disorder, homered for the third straight game, but had to leave in the fourth inning after being hit on the right knee by a pitch. The Cardinals roughed up Meche (4-6) early and finished with 13 hits for their eighth win in 11 games.

The outburst made a winner of Adam Wainwright (8-4) even though he gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings. It wasn’t much of a surprise. The Cardinals have scored 36 runs in the right-hander’s past three starts and average an NL-best 6.85 per game when he’s on the mound.

“Early on, he just didn’t have enough bite on his pitches,” La Russa said. “But he’s got great guts and he hung in there.” Meche followed one of his best career performances with one of his worst. Coming off a 132-pitch four-hitter against Arizona that pushed his scoreless streak to 16 innings, the right-hander allowed a career-high nine runs and nine hits in 3 2-3 innings. It didn’t get any better after he left in the fourth inning, when the Cardinals sent 13 batters to the plate and scored eight runs, including one on a bases-loaded walk and another on a wild pitch. Jose Guillen hit his eighth homer and drove in three for Kansas City, which has allowed 53 runs during a five-game losing streak.

“It wasn’t good at all,” said Meche, who allowed two homers after giving up two in his previous 84 1-3 innings. “Pretty much everything that could happen wrong today did. It’s been that way for us the last four or five games. It’s definitely tough coming into the clubhouse after every game when you play like that.”

NOTES: La Russa is 2,500-2,177 in 31 years as a big league manager with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland and St. Louis. … Royals CF Mitch Maier robbed Chris Duncan of extra bases with a leaping grab against the wall in the first inning. … The Royals topped the 30,000 mark in attendance for the 12th game this season after doing it just eight times last year. … The Cardinals swept the Royals in Kansas City for the third time in six years.

Bye Bye Birdies

Ten days ago I wrote the St. Louis Cardinals were taunting their fans by playing poor baseball but still hanging around in the National League Central pennant race.

The Cardinals are no longer contenders and their season is done except for playing out the final week and a half of the season. Granted the primary reason for the collapse from their world championship last year to also rans this year is very simple; injuries. But in the past two weeks the Cardinals managed to lose eleven of 13 games to prove to the rest of the world just how bad they are. Some of the Redbirds are already just going through the motions.

It will be an interesting off season around the Cardinal front office. In the case of Tony LaRussa his imminent departure may be addition by subtraction. He has won two World Championships and I respect him for that. But, his personality and style leave much to be desired. He has insulted the intelligence of Cardinal fans, whom I believe to be the most knowledgeable in the nation. LaRussa continues to try and prove managers of the past 120 years wrong by hitting his pitcher eighth. And he must also be responsible for the demise of his pitching staff. He had a five man rotation that was struggling but winning. Then out of the blue he goes with a six man rotation and the Cards immediately started to lose. Hey Tony baseball isn't rocket science. You see the ball, you hit the ball. You pitch the ball, and you catch the ball.

If I were in General Manager Walt Jocketty's position I would make everyone available for trading this winter with three exceptions; Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright. But, it may be someone else who pulls the trigger on those trades. Jocketty is also said to be leaving with his buddy LaRussa at the end of the season.