Prince Albert Pujols, he reigneth

One thing that wouldn't surprise me would be if, at 31, Pujols is on the other side of his peak, and that last year's slightly less imposing line is where he settles in for the next couple of years. He starts at a place where he could probably decline 5% a season and still be the best hitter in the game five years from now.

he could have entered a decline phase, for sure. i mean beyond the age issue, one only needs to look back to who was arguably the previous "best righthanded hitter in the game", frank thomas. 7 eye-popping offensive seasons, a couple of off years in his 30-31 age seasons, one more MVP-caliber year, and the rest of the way he was dealing with injuries and only had two more seasons which could be considered HOF-caliber or even approaching his peak. i think big hurt had other issues that pujols does not have (body size, nagging injuries, lost seasons) but sometimes these epic hitters just drop off out of nowhere.

2 AB hitting streak right now

xp no doubt big first basemen have an annoying habit of falling completely off a cliff.

yep, really falling apart

all the cards needed was to feast on the nl west to get it together

2011 capsule:

.156/.243/.250
MLB leading 6 GIDPs
2-10 w/ RISP (haha, actually better than w/o RISP)
2 Errors (total of 4 in 2010)

― City of Jorts (Steve Shasta), Sunday, April 10, 2011 1:52 PM (1 month ago)

Is it okay to talk about this yet? Free agency looming and all...

.267/.336/.415
MLB leading 13 GIDPs
.327 w/ RiSP (major improvement)
5 Errors (total of 4 in 2010, projecting to 16, a career high)

This is a pretty major statistical depression compared to his career #s for a supposed 31 year old ya? Is he hurt again?

errors are a subjective irrelevancy

13 XBH, 14 GIDP

back to full market value, haters?

I realize he's still only slugging .473, but if you think that's gonna last...

Albert usually takes it upon himself to prove Shasta wrong.

i'm a hater, not because I think he sucks or anything, but because he calls out other teams for celebrating too much on the field and untucking their jerseys while constantly admiring his own home runs and doing things like high stepping his way to home plate, it's like fuck you dude, you can't have your cake and eat it too. btw I'm almost always pro-celebration

see I pretty much don't pay attention to that stuff (unless it's the Phillies or Braves)

I think Hinske is the only guy we've got right now who really likes the look of his own HRs, and he's not really egregious about it.

I miss Reggie Jackson: "The only reason I don't like playing in the World Series is I can't watch myself play."

For that love/hate question that was posted last week, I should have slightly expanded my answer: I love not just stats in general, but also the statistical symmetry of certain careers. Those few players who never have a less than good year--I've loved looking at the career boxes of such players since I first started obsessing over stats as a kid. He'll have to finish strong, but Pujols is still within range of another .300/40/100 year. I expect Morbius or someone else will point out that who cares if he finishes .297/39/98, the difference means nothing. True enough--but .300/40/100 looks nicer.

.300/40/100 would be nice - but .300/30/100 is his gold standard - he's never failed to reach it.

ZIPS projects him for .289/38/100, fwiw

he's been on fire (aka his normal self) ever since his injury, and in fact for the week leading up to his injury. his at bats have that old inevitability of greatness that they always have

hilarious that .289/38/100 is a "down season" for albert. but it's true that he's been noticeably worse this year. particularly with his walk rate (8.5%). normally he's up around 15-16%.

he got another hit as I was typing that. and earlier tonight, he crushed a HR for ~460 ft - longest HR in nu-Busch Stadium history

Yeah, I forgot he's had a few seasons under 40 HR. Seeing as he's almost cleared the HR bar, I hope he singles in and doubles in enough runs the rest of the way to get to .300/30/100 then. He's got the most perfect career box ever, without even the normal blips, gaps, and slow starts you see in with Ruth, Williams, Bonds, etc.

yeah looking at his year-by-year stats is just beautiful, the man is a machine

my favorite stat about Pujols is that if you take his worst years for BA/OBP/SLG/HR/RBI (not including this season) and assume THAT as his career average, he's still a hall of famer.

okay, that's not really a stat. but still - and I did post this in another thread - but here are the numbers:

.312/.394/.561 with 32 HRs

What happened to his walks?

he's chasing more balls & making contact on more balls out of the zone than he ever has

i'm not sure why that is -- maybe he's pressing? his walk rate has actually been worse in the past two months even tho he's boosted his statline considerably. idk what to make of it.

Perhaps pitchers are sensing he's more vulnerable this season and pitching more strikes to him? I'm pretty sure there's a way to find out somewhere but I wouldn't know where to start.

The games I've seen with him it seems like they're able to get him to chase a lot of high fastballs and good curveballs in the dirt, but he seems to have made some adjustments as of late.

Huge game last night. .300/40/100 definitely within sight; .400/.600, not going to happen.

16 rbi the harder part now. pretty amazing 11 years.

He's a little on the fence there--16 in 25 games works out to almost exactly a 100-RBI rate--but he just needs to maintain his current pace, which is historically below normal.

Currently sitting at .303/36 HR/97 RBIs.

I check the boxscore every night; .300/40/100 still within reach, although 4 HR in 8 games a stretch. He's definitely moved up the MVP ladder the past few weeks--6th or 7th?

.300/30/100 is the benchmark that he's hit the last 10 years though, and it looks like he'll come close, pending a few more RBIs.

he'd deserve MVP votes only if he manages to carry the cards to the wildcard. otherwise, i'm just remembering all of those inning-ending ground ball double plays he hit into during the doldrums of April and May.

He's up to 29 GDP, a career worst--most years he's been in the 19-23 range. .300/30/100 should be a cinch on the RBI front (3 more); if he misses, it'll be average that does him in. The Ted Williams scenario: he goes into the last game of the season hitting .299573 or something--would he play or sit (assuming the wild card's not at stake)?

How did the Cardinals end up 2.5 off the Braves in the Wild Card?

They've won 11 of their last 13 while the braves have lost a handful of close games and been kinda mediocre down the stretch

jeezus clem, sitting to protect .300, a true dinosaur-era chestnut

He'd be protecting the beauty and symmetry of his career box, not the actual (and meaningless) difference between .299 and .300...but I know you don't care about such stuff!

plus they finish at Houston, so if he can't light them up...

ha ha

Anyway, he's up to .304--likely won't even be an issue.

For my eyes only! 1-2, 1 RBI--he needs one more hit and one more RBI...and he should try to win the game, too.

.299/99...noooooo!

^numerologist

could still get game 163

eh, not looking likely...

was this his "worst" season to date?

by far