Ground Rule Doubles Suck

I'm not going to lie. When Albert Pujols stepped up with the bases loaded and only one out in the bottom of the ninth during Wednesday's 6-5 loss to the Reds, I was certain Cardinal Nation was about to witness the first victory celebration of 2005. Overly sentimental or not, I'm keeping a tape of certain moments of the 2005 season, mostly because I think St. Louis has a shot at going all the way, and because Busch Stadium is gone forever after it's over. When this situation arose after intentionally putting Larry Walker on first base, I immediately rushed to grab the tape and get it in in time for Albert's at bat. I had no doubt at all, looking back. I was just taking it for granted that Albert would win the game, because he is, after all, Jesus. About three seconds later I was standing stunned and the Reds had won.

In typical Albert fashion, he had swung at the first pitch, which he never hesitates to do if he thinks it's a decent one to hit. With almost every other hitter in the game I look at swinging at the first pitch in that situation, I can guarantee they were just being over-anxious. With Pujols, I have to admit that he's usually so poised it doesn't seem at all possible that he was nervous and swung too early in the count, because he's not really a person. But after watching him hit yet another ground ball to the third baseman on the first pitch, resulting in a game ending third to first double play, I do think he was too eager to put the ball in play, since he know that's virtually all he had to do for the Cardinals to tie the game. Nine times out of ten, Albert is going to get the job done in that situation. He has proven that he only strikes out when he wants to make the opposing pitcher feel better about himself, and since he usually hits the ball exactly where he wants, most of the time he's going to at least hit the ball to the outfield and tie the game with a sacrifice fly. This time he chopped it on the infield and let Joe Randa end the game.

Smilin' Joe Randa celebrates after the
only win the Reds will have over St.
Louis in all of 2005.

This stunning outcome of the game the Cardinals seemed to have all but won leads me to draw two conclusions:

- Albert Pujols might be a real person after all
- The baseball gods had to even the score somehow since David Eckstein had just hit a double over the left fielder's head for a ground rule double

Of course, Albert wouldn't have even been in that position had it not been for another sub par outing from "ace" Mark Mulder, whom the Cardinals dealt three high quality players to get. Exclude me from the list of faithless followers who are ready to murder Mulder and burn down Busch (as far as the latter is concerned, have patience; it'll be destroyed soon), but I really hope he can pull it together soon. I'm sure he'll be fine. I'm also not concerned about Yadier Molina and his love for having just one hit in 19 at bats, since he's still better than Mike Matheny no matter what. Who I am concerned about is Scott "Terrible" Rolen, who looks just as serious at the plate as always, but is hitting just as well as he did in the playoffs last year. For the record, I also don't think Albert will end the season hitting .241. I know that's a really audacious thing to say, but if you ask me no one ever got anywhere without making a controversial comment here and there. I'd even go so far as to say that Albert is pretty good at this baseball thing. He's on his way up, and maybe some day he might be put on a Wheaties box in the "Breakfast of Champions" lineup.