Deadspin
As you might have heard yesterday, Cardinals alpha male Albert Pujols hit three homers, including a walk-off, in the Cardinals' 8-7 win over the Reds yesterday. (By the way, we've been getting this question a lot, so we need to settle it right now before anybody else gets confused. Every game at the new Busch Stadium has been a sellout. The reason there are all those empty seats in left field — where Pujols hit all his homers yesterday — is because those seats aren't open yet, because the stadium's not quite finished. They're not just empty. Trust us, if they were selling those seats, they'd be full.)
As pretty much everyone has pointed out, we're probably not too far from Pujols receiving the (younger) Bonds treatment, particularly when the rest of the lineup has people like Scott Spiezio, Aaron Miles and Skip Schmaker.
But our favorite piece of Pujols wonder today comes from Tyblog, which uses Bill James' old "Favorite Toy" tool to determine Pujols' odds of breaking some major baseball records. According to Tyblog, Pujols has a 4 percent chance of beating Pete Rose's hit record, 21 percent chances of besting Tris Speaker's doubles record, a 14 percent chance of passing Hank Aaron's RBI mark, a 21 percent chance of catching up to Rickey Henderson's run record and, finally, a 20 percent chance of breaking Aaron's home run mark, if Bonds hasn't beaten it first. Those are kind of crazy numbers, which of course will ultimately mean nothing, because no one's ever pitching to him again.
Feelings [Cardinals Diaspora]
We've Seen Super Team, Now Meet Superman [Tyblog]
The Greateness Of Albert Pujols [Baseball Musings]
Comments
When did Hank Aaron break Hack Wilson's RBI record???
I think Will and all Cardinals fans should hate Bonds more than any other fans east of Colorado, if only because Pujols would most likely have 4 MVP awards were it not for Backne Bonds. See how I combined two of today's topics and included a terrible play on words involving Bonds' name? SHIZAAM!
That should read "a 20 percent chance of breaking Aaron's home run mark, if A-Rod hasn't beaten it first." Sorry. Please don't hate me.
nevermind, i assume this refers to career marks
Vaguely ludicrous?!? as opposed to seminally empyrean? I'm so glad I missed him by one spot in my fantasy draft. *Sigh* So happy I had the third overall pick and got Johan Santana. Right now that is the "Alex Smith" award. But at least I managed to get Coco Crisp, Griffey, and Chipper. Yep. It was a good week for my field players. And some jackal just offered me Mike Gonzalez for Santana. I'm thinking about calling Isaiah Thomas for advice on that one.
CLEARly Albert has been CREAMing the ball.
No one will ever break Hack Wilson's single-season record. My absolute steadfastness in this belief allows me to see beauty in a chaotic world.
Rob, no hatred from me-- you're dead right. Albert Pujols is a freak. The guy is the 2nd coming of Joe Dimaggio, except Pujols might be even better that Joe D was. Without Bonds and his steroids, Pujols would be a 3 time MVP, and what is he, like 25?!! Also, "Becoming Vaguely Ludicrous"? He's been that way since he got to the show. Eschew journalistic integrity, Leitch! Everyone knows Deadspin is pro-Cards, and no one minds a bit. Except for maybe Cubs fans, but it's not like you can make them feel any worse, right?
what he already hit two out... ...he'll never suspect a fastball down the middle... ...oops.
I'm actually considering trading Pujols in my league because I'm afraid of what might happen when teams realize there's no one behind Albert to make you pitch to him.
Hank Aaron has the all-time RBI record, Hack the single-season.
"As pretty much everyone has pointed out, we're probably not too far from Pujols receiving the (younger) Bonds treatment..." Unless you're Phil Garner and the Pennant is on the line. Then, you go after him. Hey, at least the Astros managed to survive that. I have nightmares about seeing Pujols 4 AB's a game for ~18 games a year for the next decade. But the worst part is that he's a decent and likeable human being (unlike Cow Roids). If he were an Astro or an ALer, I'd love the guy. But now I want him to pull a hammy rounding the bases.
Speaking of hilarious fantasy trades. Someone just offered me Ichiro for Sheff. At first glance, I was excited. I clicked on Ichiro's page expceting to see like a 370 batting average, but it turns out he's only hitting 185. Nice start to the season....
moom, it could be a little early to write the guy off. might be a case of buying low... also, take that with a grain of salt, I'm from Olympia WA. Yes... I'm biased. But then, if the great witch-hunt of 06 turns up too many stones, which guy seems more destined for a fall?
As a Rolen owner I'm looking forward to having Pujols on base in front of him more often.
T-Dawg, can you please ask your neighbors in Seattle to move Kenji up in the lineup?
Given the frequency of positive tests in MLB, and his age, it is more likely than not that Big Al was roiding at the same time as Barry, in fact there are an equal number of confessions and positive tests between the two. I also loved when whichever SC anchor it was said Al was only 26. Usually the fudge date is about two years different, but he's at least 29 or 30. I have to give him respect though, he went from not being good enough to go straight to the pros, even with a fudged birth certificate, to making himself into the, potentially, best hitter ever. And when allegations surface about him, I'll still like him too.
unsilent... believe me, I'm feelin' you. I picked Kenji in the late third round. Can I just say HOW MUCH I LOVE CARL EVERETT!!?!?!! what a great early FA signing. he certainly deserves with his numbers to hit ahead of a japanese legend. latest news in Starbucks land is we are going to dump Petegrine and Lawson since they fill the same role as kevin mitchell... err... carl everett. kenji will probably move ahead of Beltre sometime in the next week... look for the everett experiment to explode in mid-may, at which point kenji may hit before or after "big sexsie." Put him third, richie fourth, ichiro getting on, jeremy reed/jose lopez second, raul 5th and you almost have a lineup. oops. thread hijack. sorry. of course, if Pujols were an M, we would probably have traded him already. For Mike Timlin and Bronson Arroyo probably.
Yeah, I see all these points about Pujols having possibly done steroids and...wait...hmmm...no grand jury investigations, not even one book about it? Haters. And I agree with you AlexProp--I'll be loving it if Rolen is swinging away with a man on first every other time up.
Here's the thing you Card homers should know, David Wright is gonna be better. Shhhhhhhhhh See you in the playoffs.
David Wright? Pah-leeeze. BTW - Pujols is exactly one RBI ahead of Lance Berkman and Chipper Jones, and one home run ahead of Adam Dunn. Pujols is awesome, but let's not crown the guy a triple crown winner just yet. There is a very good chance he will lead the league in none of the triple crown catagories.
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