Good day. Hope everyone is doing well…

It’s been a topic of discussion around Busch Stadium: are pitchers being extra careful this season as they work against Cardinals 1st baseman Albert Pujols?

Manager Tony La Russa says that pitchers are always going to work the edges on Pujols and rarely will give him any prime-cut selections. The sportswriters watching the game think we’ve seen pitchers take an even more cautious approach to Pujols this season. And we also think he’s been expanding his strike zone and going after pitches that he may have ignored in the past.

I went to FanGraphs.com to take a look at the numbers, and you can see them here.

But in case you didn’t want to take a peek, here’s the skinny:

Only 39.3 percent of the pitches thrown to Pujols so far this season have been in the strike zone.

That’s the lowest percentage of any big-league hitter. And it’s also the lowest percentage of strikes offered to Pujols during his nine-season career. The data goes back to only 2002, so Pujols’ rookie season (2001) is not included. But based on the available numbers I think it’s safe to say that Pujols saw more strikes as a rookie than he is now.

Anyway, we can see the trend in the percentage of strikes thrown to Pujols:

2002:  52.9 %

2003:  47.7%

2004:  52.2 %

2005:  51.0 %

2006:  49.6 %

2007:  49.9 %

2008:  47.1 %

2009:  39.3%

For context, consider this: in 2002, the year after he set the new major-league record with 73 homers in a season, Barry Bonds saw strikes on 43 % of the pitches thrown to him. So pitchers are being just as coy with Pujols, and then some.

The percentage for ‘09 is a small sample size. It could move upward over time, as more games are played. But that isn’t necessarily so. In April of 2008, Pujols got strikes 44 percent of the time, and in April ‘07 the strike percentage was 52 percent.  And the trend is obviously showing a year-by-year shrinking percentage of strikes being served to Pujols.

The other part of this is, yes, Pujols is chasing more.

This season he’s swung at pitches out of the strike zone 25 percent of the time, and that would be the highest amount since he ripped at out-of-zone pitches at a rate of 22.4 %  in 2003. But is this new? Not really. The number of cuts that Pujols takes against out-of-zone pitches has been increasing annually, going from 15.7 percent in ‘04, to 16.8 % in ‘05, to 19.6 % in ‘06, to 18.7 % in ‘07 and 21.6 % last season.

Pujols also has an exceptional contact rate even when he swings at pitches off the plate.

What he hasn’t had much of so far this season is luck. Pujols has a batting average of .275 in balls put in play. He’s hitting them but finding a lot of gloves. One concern: his line-drive percentage is down this season, to 15.8 %.

BERNIE BYTES

* Talked to Cardinals GM John Mozeliak after Sunday’s loss at Busch Stadium and he said Class AAA Memphis third baseman David Freese would be in St. Louis to have his injured foot evaluated… top hitting prospect Brett Wallace will play 3B at Memphis while Freese is mending, and when Freese comes back, Wallace will move around, getting some time at 1B and in LF. The Cardinals still hope that Freese can provide some impact at 3B at the major-league level during the long-term absence of 3B Troy Glaus (shoulder) …

* The Cardinals are in a hitting drought, so I asked Mozeliak if it would be a good idea to bring Wallace up now and let him get after it. The Cardinals are receiving little offense from 3B these days, as pitchers have figured out ways to attack Joe Thurston and Brian Barden. During the team’s 4-9 slide Barden and Thurston are a combined 9 for 54. Mozeliak’s response to the Wallace suggestion: “Premature.” ….

* The Cardinals are batting .172 against LHP (20 for 116) since April 28…

* Spent some time late Saturday afternoon talking to Bob Knight in La Russa’s office, and Knight told us about the filming of that funny commercial he did for “Guitar Hero,” in which he and other coaches spoof the Tom Cruise dancing scene (dancing in underwear and a dress shirt) in the film “Risky Business.” The spot ends with Knight throwing a microphone stand. Knight said it took four hours to film his part. All the coaches were filmed separately; in other words, they weren’t together while making the commercial. Metallica wasn’t there, either. The wonders of editing. La Russa hadn’t seen the commercial, so we found it on youtube.com for him and played it. I’ve never seen La Russa laugh as hard as he did, watching Knight in that commercial.

* I was surprised La Russa didn’t go with a LH specialist against Prince Fielder in the 7th inning Sunday The RH, Blaine Boyer, was rocked by the big man for a 3-run bomb that put the Cardinals away.

* Spent a great Saturday evening at Lo Russo’s, having a fantastic meal, and listening to my pal Jim Manley play the trumpet as part of the Charlie B Trio. Yes, Manley is my friend, but he’s an exceptional talent, well known among musicians and afficianados in town, and I want more people to hear him. So if you’d like, check Jim out by visiting his web site. Plus, the Charlie B Trio plays at Jimmy’s on the Park on Wednesday nights, and I’ll let you know the next time they’re at Lo Russo’s.

* When new Milwaukee closer Trevor Hoffman — the classy future Hall of Famer — got the save Saturday at Busch Stadium, he just calmly off the mound and shook hands with his catcher. Didn’t untuck the shirt. At this point I really don’t care if the Milwaukee players untuck the shirts or not after victories. Brewers fans have rightfully pointed out that they’ve seen Pujols pause to admire his home runs, which can be interpreted as a sign of showing up an opponent. But I admire the old-school guys like Hoffman who just get the job done and walk off. The old-school guys are the kind who just hand the football to the official after scoring a TD, because they act like they’ve been in the end zone before and they are sure they’ll get there again, so it’s no big deal when they score.

* When Manny Ramirez left the Dodgers lineup to start serving a 50-game suspension for violating MLB’s performance-enhancing drug policy, it was widely assumed that the Dodgers would struggle to replace Manny’s offense. But have you seen what Juan Pierre is doing? Pierre doesn’t hit for power, but he’s about the hottest hitter in the land right now. Pierre replaced Ramirez in the LA lineup and since that point is 20 for 43 (.465) with a .531 OBP, 11 runs, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 6 stolen bases and 9 RBIs. That’s insane.

* The final episode of the “24″ season is Monday night, and it feels like the run-up to a Game 7 to me. OK, how will it end? Give us your predictions … but please, no spoilers.

Thanks for reading …

-B