Albert Pujols

ST. LOUIS—Struggles. That’s been the single word of choice from St. Louis Cardinals’ manager Tony La Russa the past week or so. After a three-game slide to one of the worst teams in the National League, there isn’t much else you can say.

That doesn’t mean that there were some positives to come out of Sunday’s affair, albeit few and far between. Skip Schumaker and Colby Rasmus led the game off with back-to-back hits, and Albert Pujols drove them both in on a rare two-RBI sacrifice fly. 

ST. LOUIS: When St. Louis Cardinals' manager Tony La Russa walked into the room for his postgame press conference Monday night, he had a look of frustration, exhaustion, and disgust.

After a poor homestand against the Cincinnati Reds, in which the Cardinals split the four-game set, they have started off a four-game series with the Colorado Rockies by getting blasted 11-4 and 10-1, respectively.

ST. LOUIS—LeBron James might be “The King”, but in St. Louis, locals will tell you there’s a more important person in town, “El Hombre”.  Albert Pujols has offered the sport of baseball one of its most amazing spectacles of talent ever.

I was watching the Giants vs. Nationals earlier today in the press box to see if Randy Johnson would complete a historic feat, 300 wins.  The mammoth lefty did, indeed, do so by pitching six innings of unearned ball. 

It’s no secret that the St. Louis Cardinals’ bats have been ice-cold lately.

Stellar pitching has kept them on the heels of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central standings, but with recent injuries to both the pitching staff and lineup, they will most certainly need to find a more balanced attack to win on a consistent basis.

They may be getting the timing right, though, with an eight-game homestand starting tonight. 2008 All-Star outfielder Ryan Ludwick will be taking the night off after testing out his body in the San Francisco series.

Continuing his steamroll to the overall lead in votes received for the All-Star Game, St. Louis Cardinals Albert Pujols is one of two players to have received more than 1 million votes so far, according to the latest poll results released by Major League Baseball on Monday afternoon.

Pujols has received 1,240,395 votes, more than twice as many as the second-place first baseman in the NL.

The story of the past week for St. Louis Cardinals fans was twofold: the continued success of the starting pitching and the return of Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick.

The week began with a Sunday finale against the in-state rival Kansas City Royals. Joel Pineiro was solid in his seven innings, giving up just three runs. The Cardinal offense could not produce, however, as the Royals' three runs proved to be enough for the victory.

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A week ago we Cardinal fans pretty much thought the sky falling. We could not hit, we could not pitch, and we could not field. We were struggling at every aspect of the game possible.

Albert Pujols has been the model of consistency in Major League Baseball for the last decade. Regarded as one of the best hitters of his generation, Pujols is an amazing offensive talent—a great slugger who also hits for contact and rarely strikes out.

Combine that with good defense as a first baseman and you have one awesome baseball player.

He is a solid postseason player too, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series twice (2004, 2006) and winning once (2006).

What is the importance of a number on a baseball jersey? How long have they been wearing numbers?

All teams began wearing numbers on their jerseys in 1937 though some wore them inconsistently prior to that.

In 1929 the Yankees started wearing numbers on their jerseys. Their numbers corresponded to their place in the batting order. In other words Babe Ruth batted third, therefore he was #3. Lou Gehrig batted fourth so he wore #4.

Today, it is quite fashionable for young guys to emulate their favorite player by wearing his number on their little league uniforms.