Dispatches from Workout: Albert Pujols “unbelievable” hit in BP
DOWNTOWN — It was only three years ago, on the first day the St. Louis Cardinals saw their new digs and got to take swings at breaking down the new dimensions, that Albert Pujols wrote himself into the history of Busch Stadium III with a swing few people saw. According to witnesses who attended that 2006 workout, Pujols hit a ball that bounced out of the ballpark and onto Clark Street.
He was at it again Sunday.
“Isn’t that unbelievable?” outfielder Rick Ankiel said. “It went over the sign. Pretty far.”
The “sign” Ankiel mentioned is the Bank of America sign on the ribbon board in left field. Check that. On the ribbon board of the third deck in left field. Pujols planted a home run over that sign. A few rows deeper into the top deck of the stadium. It’s as close to putting one out of the stadium as the left-field stands will allow.
A few minutes after doing so, Pujols said he’s lucky to make the team.
“I’ll make a joke on myself,” he said, grinning. “I was like, wow, the way I swing the bat in spring training, if I didn’t make the money that I’m making, I would be in Triple-A.”
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Rookie third baseman David Freese will wear No. 12. Newcomer Joe Thurston will wear No. 22. Jason Motte is sticking with No. 60. But he does have an interesting locale in the clubhouse. He has inherited Jason Isringhausen’s locker, though not officially his role. … Freese, Thurston and Colby Rasmus were officially added to the 40- and 25-man rosters on Sunday.
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The lineup is posted over in Cardinal Beat, and it contains some unceremonious surprises for an Opening Day. The most notable absence is Skip Schumaker’s. After spending all of spring learning a new position so that he could keep his bat in the lineup, he’s not in the lineup. Two reasons:
Pittsburgh lefty starter Paul Maholm holds lefties to a .210/.284/.296 line.
Schumaker, in his career, has a .195/.266/.208 line against lefties in his career.
What stands out there is Schumaker’s .208 slugging. Recall that during spring training, manager Tony La Russa trotted out a lineup against a lefty that had Schumaker batting ninth. That slugging stands out regardless of spot in the lineup. In 154 at-bats against lefties in his career, Schumaker has two extra-base hits.
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La Russa wants to play tomorrow regardless of the weather to avoid throwing off the entire pitching staff. The Cardinals have altered the pitching schedule in Triple-A in case Opening Day is lost to poor weather and they need a spot starter for Saturday’s game against Houston.
“If it’s zero degrees,” La Russa said, “we should play.”
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
DG,
Any estimate on how many feet that Pujols bomb travelled?
Great story. The legend of El Hombre grows.
Good point. Why tell us the story without wowing us with the estimated distance the shot traveled? That’s the first question on everyone’s mind.
Are we just now finding out Skip can’t hit lefties?
As someone pointed out in another preseason article, one of the main reasons that lefties have a hard time hitting lefties is that they don’t get to see them that often. So are we falling into the same old trap again? That is the downside of TLR’s platooning - it can be a self fullfilling prophesy.
I was able to catch opening day on the telly today and was disheartened to hear the boo’s in the ninth inning. The Cardinal fans have aleays been known for being the best fans in the game. They have always acted in a manner that showed their class as well as their intelligence and their appreciation for the game. Leave the other stuff to the filly and yorker fans. Step up fans and act with character, class, appreciation, and understanding.
I was having a beer in Milwaukee last year when Pujols was finishing batting practice. He started bombing drives to left filed. The fans went crazy. One of them, don’t know how far it was, went completely out of the stadium in left center. Did not touch anything. I watched it all the way. The wall was 370′ + the bull pen + the bleachers + the concourse!! It went over the peoples head on the concourse. Unbelievable! What a shot!