Prince Albert Pujols, he reigneth

what we need is compressed- super-career ted williams and albert pujols on the same team! finally, the vaunted 200 wins in a season record would be demolished!

albert had maybe his last monster game, last night

what a cynical bastard i am! he topped it today, in his very next game. 2 home runs, including a no doubter that put the game out of reach in the 8th. the kind where the outfielders don't move as it flies over their head. it warms my heart

the next albert pujols (?!?!)

👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/xXm8NGDSoe

— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) August 16, 2022

#690 today (pinch-hit grand slam)...What do you think--can he hit 10 in 46 games, KM?

i wish he could, but no, i do not think so. would be awesome if he does, obviously.

the number i'm thinking about more is 696, and i think he has an outside shot of that. he's definitely on a hot streak, when he's playing: 159 wRC+ in July, 262 (!!) so far in August. But that's across only 55 PAs in July, 24 so far in August. he's mostly getting played against lefties, and i support that because he is no longer good or ok against righties and it's getting close to playoff season.

696 is a-rod's total, of course. it'd be cool to see him tie or pass that up. if he does, it will be because he's on a continued hot streak. it'll be a great moment and cool end of career thing for him.

i think i used to care more about PEDs than i do now. still, i see pujols as the #3 legit home run king, behind aaron and ruth. if i had a HoF vote i would definitely vote for bonds (and clemens, and some others) who i think were good enough that they deserved it. but when it comes to the big counting stats records, fuck bonds and a-rod, you're off the list imo

the biggest crime of PEDs was not about cheating or the enjoyment of watching them play (it was amazing to see the big neck guys hit balls into rivers) it was about how they complicated the big counting stats and made an irritating conversation even worse

is joe jackson in the hall of fame? i would vote for him, pete rose, bonds, clemens, a-rod, and your mom

the hall of fame's mom i mean

feel like, down the stretch, there's gonna be at least 7 plate appearance in blowouts or just meaningless games where pitchers(/hitters) who don't care about their ERAs are just gonna groove him one to help him get there

so he's really only gotta get 3 for real

691!

Came to post...I like your theory about getting some pitches grooved down the stretch. They finish with six games against the Pirates; any ex-teammates pitching over there?

José Quintana. It'll all come down to the generosity of José Quintana.

another one tonight! by that, i mean, 2 tonight. the second just happened. maybe he will get 700? the more he crushes lefties, the more playing time he'll get vs righthanders, i guess

the diamondbacks fans just requested a curtain call. denied.

jose quintana is on the cardinals

Oops--read that trade in the wrong direction.

Anyway, if he can keep hitting two HR a game, he's going to make a run at Bonds.

In celebration of Albert Pujols (@PujolsFive) passing Stan Musial (@stanthemaninc) and becoming 2nd All-Time in MLB history in total bases, I have created a progressive timeline for All-Time Career Total Bases!

Huge congratulations to the @Cardinals legend on this feat! 🔥📈 pic.twitter.com/BXOLDyQcuS

— Greg Harvey (@BetweenTheNums) August 21, 2022

found in this prince albert piece: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/albert-pujols-is-enjoying-a-renaissance/

Pujols does it again tonight. 693. They've faced a lot of lefties recently (including tonight), so i expect things to drop off when it's back to mostly righties and he either sits or plays and sucks against righties. but man, he has made the absolute most of his opportunity against all these lefties. it's really been a feel good month for him, since the all-star break. he's not "not embarrassing" himself on terms relative to how bad the last 5+ years were, but he's just straight up crushing it. his two other PAs tonight were a 106 EV single off the wall and a 103 EV GIDP. he consistently hits the ball harder than anyone else in the game, when he appears. he just can't run. at all.

i also read today that he apparently had offers from at least 4 other teams, some of which offered more money and playing time. i'm glad that he chose to come back to St Louis, and i'm glad Oli Marmol is walking the very awkward line of a 36-year-old limiting the PAs of Albert to the ones where he's in a position to succeed

Cubs finally brought in a righty, and Pujols weakly grounds into another GIDP, looked frightened of the ball as it was flying toward him.

i have to say, this does set up a very dramatic Rated PG kind of family sports movie ending scenario. it's the playoffs. game 7. or game 3 of a wild card. whatever. last at bat. it's a right handed pitcher - Pujols completely sucks against them, even if he can still destroy lefties. everybody knows it. especially star right handed pitcher TJ Tornado, who hates children. Oli Marmol has a talk with Pujols in the dugout and calls him the big brother he always wanted. not the ones he actually had. not like Will. Don't do it for this guy, Marmol says, pointing the finger toward his chest. do it for this guy. and with that, Pujols and Marmol lift 4 arms up toward heaven and point. that's where god lives. but then he strikes out. can't win them all, read Job

Also tied Bonds tonight for homering off the most pitchers, 449. So he has to make sure he hits one more off someone for the first time.

There were only 30-35 pitchers in baseball when Babe Ruth played, and all threw 600 innings a year, so his victim count is very low.

Ya but after three years of that, most pitchers back then would just die and be immediately forgotten

On the flip side, they were rewarded with excellent baseball nicknames and a newfound commitment to chewing tobacco

Which was often tied to the quality of their moustache.

it would be kind of a grim but fascinating study to see how many players of that era ended up with tobacco-related disease

xp correlated with quality of mustache factor, of course!

albert's platoon splits this season:

vs RHP: 135 PA, .186/.289/.322 (.611 OPS)
vs LHP: 101 PA, .398/.436/.807 (1.242 OPS)

i'm not a scholar of platoon splits, but that seems pretty extreme! and yeah, nice job by marmol

*scholar of platoon splits walks in wearing a gigantic top hat*

With Albert Pujols nearing the 700 HR milestone, do you have any evidence of pitchers in the past who threw pitches down the middle to help a player reach a milestone like 3,000 hits, 500 HRs, hits records, HR records, etc.?
Asked by: Taylor

Answered: 8/24/2022
No. I don't think I have ever heard of that happening.

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Hey Bill, it's very likely that Denny McLain -- finishing up his legendary 31-win 1968 season -- intentionally gave up a homer to the retiring Mickey Mantle. Jim Price, who caught the game, says this was the case. (Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/sports/baseball/09mclain.html) The game itself was meaningless in the standings, and it was 6-1 Tigers in the 8th inning, with no one on base. This allowed Mantle to break his tie on the HR list with Jimmie Foxx. The article says "Price, who has broadcast Tigers games for more than three times as many years (18) as he caught them (5), said he has never heard of such a scene happening with any other player, past or present."
Asked by: Mean Dean

Answered: 8/24/2022
Oh, I remember watching that game! I really do remember seeing it on TV. I don't think you can intentionally give up a home run, though. You can groove a pitch, if you want to, but it's still a 1-in-10 or 1-in-20 shot that the batter will put it in the seats, even if you throw it right down the middle.

The Home Run Derby suggests otherwise, no? If they only hit even 1 out of 10, seven HR would win it.

that is correct

I always think of wainwright admitting to grooving one to jeets his last ASG - showed how seriously the players took the home field advantage thing

#694 tonight, against the Reds. it's the 3rd inning and it's 8-0, so i expect he'll get some more chances to hit tonight

that's a record-breaker, the 450th different pitcher he's hit a HR against, one more than mr. bonds.

i've noticed, watching the opposing team's broadcasts as per usual, that pujols is now routinely referred to as "the machine". "the machine" is not found in any of the previous 850+ posts. i admit, during pujols' 2001-2011 with the cardinals, i was barely paying attention to baseball. is "the machine" a newish nickname or was it always there? i don't like it

Makes me think of the 70’s Reds

I vaguely recall Pujols' robotic and emotionless nature being a thing when he was first with the Cards. There was a Sportscenter commercial about it.

you'd think the nickname would have to be retired during the 2010s, though. that was brutal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5VH7ZudR0c

pujols' last AB against the cubs is a pinch hit home run, a no doubter, #695, a 2-run shot putting them up 2-0 in the bottom of the 8th. he's had extra good final performances against the reds and cubs now. dang

#697 is a 2-run shot over the center field wall that puts the Cardinals up 3-2 in the top of the 9th, after being held to 2 hits for the rest of the game

that was classic

https://i.imgur.com/TBJ4SmA.png

bold of them to mention bonds

Matt and Samantha Brown caught Pujols’s 697th homer. Samantha’s
father passed away one year ago today. They met with Albert to give him the ball back — he told them to keep it and signed two more for them. Said it would mean more to her than to him. pic.twitter.com/FuXXFiYCIa

— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) September 11, 2022

albert "cool guy" pujols ftw

That is cool. That ball is probably worth a ton

#698, tied up the game.

699 and 700

congrats to Apple TV! and to Wayne randazzo of all people who got to call it live (he’s usually the Mets radio guy, he might actually be better as a tv play by play guy)