Albert Pujols' seventh-inning grand salami yesterday led the Cardinals to an 8-2 victory over the Small Bears. It put him over the 1,000 RBI mark for his career and just further cementing his place as the best baseball player in the game...I would be very willing to say by the time he is done, he may be the best ever...
"I hit that ball really good, I'm not going to lie to you," Pujols said. "That's all I got. I hit that ball as good as you can hit a ball. I'm just blessed that I put a good swing on it."
Pujols followed Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter, Jim Bottomley, Rogers Hornsby and Ken Boyer to become the sixth player to reach 1,000 RBIs with the Cardinals. Saturday's slam moved him past Boyer into fifth place on the franchise's all-time RBI list.
"I think you understand you're in the presence of a once-in-a-lifetime kind of hitter," said shortstop Khalil Greene, who contributed a double to the Cardinals' three-run fourth inning against Cubs starter Sean Marshall. "Technically, I don't know if you could improve on anything in terms of balance, plate discipline, power ... everything. He's not just a dangerous hitter. He's phenomenal. There aren't too many guys who can take one pitch into the upper deck, then take a 0-2 slider the other way for a double down the line."
Reaching 1,000 RBIs in his 1,257th game, Pujols has turned the home stand into his personal turkey shoot. Admittedly out of sorts during the team's road trip to Phoenix and Chicago, Pujols returned home to make an adjustment he would not disclose. The essence is a recovered ability to punish pitches to all fields, as proved by an opposite-field home run Thursday and Saturday's line out to right field.
Pujols stands nine for 19 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in the stand, lifting his average from .298 to .348 after managing two extra-base hits and one RBI on the previous six-game road trip."
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