THE Astros were one out away from their first World Series last fall when Albert Pujols hit one beyond the left field boxes, 440 feet against the outside glass that seals Minute Maid Park and its retractable roof from the elements.
With one last-ditch three-run homer, Pujols didn’t break that glass, instead used it to turn the loudest place there ever instantly into a soundproof booth. So going to Game 7 of the NLCS at Shea Stadium last night, anyone believing that the Cardinals slugger couldn’t, for his next legendary postseason trick, darken all of Broadway, had to be unaware that nobody in the history of the game has hit more home runs by age 27.
One would think that Houston closer Brad Lidge, who gave up that home run in Game 5 of last year’s NLCS, would understand just how good Pujols is and refuse to let it ruin him ever since. But these things apparently take time, which either the Cards or Mets would be flush out of after Game Seven. The pressure to win, Pujols has said, has partially accounted for his churlish behavior with the media during this NLCS. For the balance, he blames a troublesome hammie and a profound sadness at the recent death of a beloved uncle who raised him in the Dominican Republic.
Other athletes have handled personal losses with more grace. Thus, we suspect the loss Pujols most takes to the field is the one that occurred two nights after his prodigious blow in Houston, when Roy Oswalt closed out favored St. Louis at Busch Stadium in Game 6.
The Cardinals have been in the playoffs every year but one since 2000. And Pujols, who came up the next year, feels the pain from having made only one World Series, a blink-and-you-missed it sweep by the Red Sox in 2004.
That’s not his fault. On the contrary, Pujols came in last night with 12 home runs in 47 postseason games and with at least a .300 average in all but two of his eight postseason series. Considering the long history of great players who have suffered horrific postseasons, one year or another, this is utterly amazing.
“It’s remarkable,” said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. “Great players carry the pressure, and attention from fans, media and the other side.
“They are pitching those guys tough, so to be productive getting that much attention is special. If you want to [not let a star beat you] don’t throw the ball over the middle. But Albert’s fought through that to be as productive as any man can be.”
Pujols’ Game 5 home run against a heretofore dominating Tom Glavine, started a Cardinals comeback to a win. A first-inning Game 6 double put the Cardinals’ foot on the Mets throat until Jim Edmonds swung over strike three by two feet.
So it would not be their best player’s fault if the Cardinals, who have their weakest team of this run, went down again. But after Pujols hit 49 home runs and drove in 137 runs in 2006 despite missing two weeks, the NL’s likely MVP came to Shea last night with hope riding on him regardless.
Scott Rolen, who missed the 2005 postseason, who has struggled with post-operative shoulder problems, came in hitting .179 for two series. Edmonds, a physical mess, is at .211 in this one. Bench players have made contributions, but Game 2 hero Scott Spiezio became La Russa’s only lineup change (to Preston Wilson) last night, when the manager said he was “not pleased with the way we competed at the plate [in Game 6].”
“They’ve all had moments but we really haven’t had a game stringing a lot of great at-bats,” La Russa said.
All the more reason why if it has always seemed to be easy to be Albert Pujols in the fall, this autumn, it is especially not. If the Mets, with reason to pitch carefully, failed to make it utterly impossible for him to beat them, the loss would be on them.
