I hope everyone had a swell weekend.

It was an interesting first week for Cardinals icon Albert Pujols.

He had an opening day homer washed out by the rain.

He spent a lot of time watching pitches sail out of the strike zone, taking eight walks among his first 25 plate appearances.

In the first six games, Albert had an onbase percentage of .560, and he batted .353. But it was a quiet week. With the Rockies and Nationals pitching around him in key situations, Pujols had a chance to swing the bat only twice with runners in scoring position, and was held to one RBI.

If the Cardinals can go 5-1 with Pujols driving in one run, then that’s a good start to the season.

I stopped by Pujols’ locker on Sunday to inform him that he was on a pace to walk more than 200 times this season. I was joking, of course, but he didn’t mind.

“I just want to win,” he said. “And I love what I’m seeing from this group of guys. They can put me on base all season, and I’ll just score a lot of runs. As long as we win, it doesn’t matter.”

Pujols was in a great mood Sunday, following the Cardinals 3-0 win over Washington. On the homestand, Cardinals starting pitchers had an 0.95 ERA. The entire staff gave up 11 earned runs in 54 IP.

Offensively, 10 different Cardinals scored runs … 12 drove in runs … 13 had hits.

There were four sacrifice bunts, two sac flies, and two stolen bases. And some impressive catches-plays in the field.

Rick Ankiel was a dominant force with three homers, six RBIs, and a batting line of .348 / .400 / .826.

But the Cardinals had a varied, if not robust, attack. They even defeated three LH starting pitchers.

What had Pujols fired up was the attitude around him.

“I kept trying to tell everyone during spring training that this team was going to be a lot better than people thought,” Pujols said. “No one wanted to listen, but you can see it. It’s an unselfish team and that’s hard to put in the form of stats. But I’m seeing guys giving themselves up by moving a runner over, and doing the little things it takes to win. Just doing what’s best for the team. I’m seeing guys really support each other. I see the pitchers making that tough pitch when they need it. The energy level is unbelievable. Like I said, that’s something you can’t put in numbers. But I feel it in here, man.”

Predictions?

“It’s better if people don’t expect much from us,” Pujols said. “I like it that way. Let’s just keep playing hard all the time the way we are, and let’s keep being an unselfish team, and we’ll surprise people.”

The Cardinals were an unhappy bunch in 2007. Miserable, even.

I don’t know how much these early positive vibes will translate into winning, but it can’t hurt.

“There’s a lot of great guys in here and they’re hungry to win,” Pujols said. “It makes it fun.”

–B