TOWER GROVE — When asked if there was a “rise-to-the-occasion” element of Albert Pujols’ 8-for-10 weekend against the Atlanta Braves — what with Chipper Jones, NL batting leader, on the other side of the field — manager Tony La Russa said it had more to do with the manager and the pitchers than the Chipper.

See, Atlanta, like a few other teams, is willing to challenge Pujols — within reason.

Before surrendering and walking Pujols in his final three plate appearances (twice intentionally, and once wink-wink, nudge-nudge unintentionally), Atlanta threw Pujols 41 pitches, 27 of which were strikes. Of those 27, Pujols laced 10, got base hits on eight and fouled off seven (none, incredibly in Game 1). It was as Atlanta manager 
Bobby Cox told us after Saturday’s game, and recounted here:

“What are you supposed to do?” Cox said. “We tried to throw him quality strikes. He can hit quality strikes - that’s the problem. At some point you have to throw to him.”

It was with those numbers and that comment clinking around in the frontal lobe that I coincidentally, opened up The New York Times sports section to find an article by friend and St. Louis resident, Brad Lefton. In the article — which you can find here, and discuss at the new “Bird Land” Facebook group (become a fan!) — Lefton contrasts how fans in Japan look at at-bats vs. how fans here do. It’s a fascinating take, told through the prism of the Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka duels.

Lefton illustrates how U.S. fans are focuses on The Result — Pujols eight hits, in this example. Whereas, Japanese fans are interested in The Process — the 27 strikes in 41 pitches and where those strikes were located.

If you choose to read no further, at least read Lefton’s article.

What Cox’s comment inspired, Lefton’s article gave clarity. Using the technology now in place at Busch Stadium and elsewhere — “A Radar Gun for Curveballs,” you’ll recall — it’s possible to go back and perform statistical forensics on Pujols’ plate appearances and just how aggressive Atlanta was against him. Did they, as La Russa contended, challenge him? Did they, as Cox planned, test him with quality strikes?

Below is a pitch-by-pitch detailing on the weekend that may have won the batting title for Pujols and, as Bernie Miklasz wrote, cleared up any conversation about who is the Cardinals’ MVP candidate. Here goes a look at his first 11 plate appearances before the Braves just started walking him:

GAME 1

PA 1 … vs. CHARLIE MORTON, RHP …  1 on, 1 out

1. curve … 77 mph … ball (low, well outside)

2. fastball … 91 mph … called strike (outer edge)

3. slider … 83 mph … ball (outside, in dirt)

4. changeup … 81 mph … called strike (up, away, edge)

5. fastball … 91 mph … single to center (middle away)

PA 2 … vs. MORTON … 3 on, 1 out

1. fastball … 93 … called strike (outer edge, up)

2. fastball … 81 … ball (well down and in)

3. fastball … 92 … double to right (up, middle of plate)

PA 3 … vs. VLADIMIR NUNEZ, RHP … 2 on, 0 out

1. fastball … 93 … ball (up and away)

2. slider … 86 … called strike (knee-high, away)

3. slider … 85 … ball (low and away)

4. fastball … 93 … single to center (up, letter-high and away)

PA 4 … vs. MATT DeSALVO, RHP … 2 on, 0 out

1. fastball … 93 … ball (away, knee-high)

2. curve … 77 … ball (up and in)

3. fastball … 92 … ball (lower yet that first)

4. fastball … 92 … ball (lower still)

It becomes clear early on in the game that the Braves are working Pujols away, forcing him to go the other way or to attempt to get him to eventually chase off-speed pitches out of the zone. This is not uncommon. We’ve seen Pujols get out of sorts before and try to force the issue with runners on base — sometimes poking base hits to right field, sometimes rolling over off-speed pitches to third base and sometimes striking out fishing for a pitch. The trouble with that approach, as Pujols said Sunday, he felt locked-in this weekend and could have thrown the bat at the ball and ended up with a few base hits.

It is a little interesting that Pujols didn’t foul off a pitch. Todd Wellemeyer mentioned Sunday that the Pirates fouling off a bunch of pitches against him last week was a sign that they had faced him often this season. As if, they had his approach down and just couldn’t square the pitches.

GAME 2

PA 5 … vs. JORGE CAMPILLO, RHP … 0 on, 2 outs

1. fastball … 87 … called strike (outer edge, excellent pitch)

2. changeup … 77 … fouled off (in, tight and up)

3. slider … 84 … ball (low and inside)

4. changeup … 74 … fouled off (up, middle of plate)

5. changeup … 75 … ball (low and way inside)

6. slider … 84 … double to left (like 3, but up a bit)

PA 6 … vs. CAMPILLO … 2 on, 0 out

1. fastball … 87 … called strike (thigh-high outside edge)

2. fastball … 87 … called strike (thigh-high outside edge)

3. changeup … 75 … fouled off (inside edge, low)

4. curve … 73 … fouled off (middle low)

5. slider … 81 … fouled off (inside, letter-high)

6. slider … 80 … double to left (thigh-high, middle of plate)

PA 7 … vs. CAMPILLO … 0 on, 0 out

1. curve … 68 … called strike (outside, upper corner)

2. fastball … 86 … fouled off (inside high)

3. fastball … 87 … home run to center (outside, thigh-high)

PA 8 … vs. BUDDY CARLYLE, RHP … 0 on, 2 out

1. fastball … 92 … called strike (belt-high, middle plate)

2. slider … 89 … ball (low, away)

3. fastball … 92 … fouled off (inside, knee-high)

4. fastball … 93 … ball (way high)

5. slider … 88 … smoked to left, diving catch (belt-high middle)

PA 9 … vs. MIKE GONZALEZ, LHP … 1 on, 2 out

1. fastball … 94 … sizzled to third,  L5 (inside, belly-button)

In the press box on Saturday we were all struck by how many consecutive strikes Campillo threw Pujols. Looking over the pitch-by-pitch its clear that Campillo believed he had the stuff, or at least the approach, to work Pujols over with pitches on the edge of the strike zone. He consistently went fastball away, soft stuff in. Fastball away, off-speed stuff in.

It’s interesting to note that before Pujols got each of his three hits against Campillo, he fouled a pitch at a similar level or similar area of the strike zone.

GAME 3

PA 10 … vs. JO-JO REYES, LHP … 1 on, 1 out

1. fastball … 91 … ball (way inside)

2. fastball … 81 … home run to left (thigh-high, slightly in)

PA 11 … vs. REYES … 0 on, 0 out

1. slider … 83 … called strike (knee-high, outer edge)

2. curve … 73 … single to left (thigh-high, middle)

Not many pitches here to dissect for details. The more telling plate appearances probably came later as the Braves intentionally walked Pujols twice to face Ryan Ludwick, the team leader in RBIs.

La Russa said the link between Pujols’ performance against LA a few weeks ago and his weekend binge against the Braves is the opponents philosophy as much as anything. It’s the pitches. Pujols gets few pitches to hit from game to game — once saying this season that he expected to get only a few pitches to drive within a series. He got more than few from the Braves.

So, I asked: Is he aware of the teams, the managers, the pitches who will test him? 

“No, I don’t worry about that, man,” Pujols answered. ”I worry about what I do everyday in the field. There’s too much things that happen in this game to be worried about that. I don’t think about that. I don’t come here and think about that. I think about what I need to do to get ready for the game.”

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A little more about the “group” mentioned above. Just getting the hang of this Facebook thing, and it looks like the group application offers a few functions the blog network does not. The network is good for an RSS feed and updates on entries. The group allows for a little more interaction. Already, there is a discussion going there for an upcoming entry on the “Revised Top 30 Prospects”. Another is sure to crop up about my bouts with inventive grammar, my overuse of the word “punctuate”, and those darn terse paragraphs.

One of the best functions, it offers a place to clip articles (like Lefton’s) that might be of interest to others. Swing by, check it out. The link is above and in the blogroll and RIGHT HERE.

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