TOWER GROVE — There was a certain buzz in the ballpark. Did Albert Pujols really do what it looked like he just did? The St. Louis Cardinals first baseman had launched a dart deep to left field, a comet that struck the landmark “BIG MAC LAND” sign and … what was that? … was that a tinkle of glass? It looked like he knocked out a vowel.

His teammates peered out to left field to be sure. They saw it, but weren’t quite sure whether to believe it. The media took a few glances. Some fans snapped pictures.

And that was a year ago.

On May 28, 2008, Pujols knocked the “A” out of “BIG MAC” during batting practice. The extent of the damage he did during BP wasn’t clear until later that night, during the game, when “BIG MAC LAND” flickered on and the “A” was missing from that signature yellow glow. It didn’t take long for them to fix the vowel and give “BIG MAC LAND” back its “A”. But a year later, Pujols was back, punching out vowels with home runs.

That can mean only one thing.

Consonants beware when Pujols lines up for the Home Run Derby.

Pujols, one of the best hitters in interleague play (No. 3), halted a 6-for-34 skid with a couple hits Wednesday and then the first-inning home run Thursday that knocked the “I” out of “BIG MAC LAND”. More on that in No. 2 of today’s 10@10. But after the game, Pujols spoke about snapping the funk, and about the heightened expectations he has created for himself and how actually hitting .380 would be fun, but not as beneficial as wanting to hit .380.

“I just think, like I said before, I think I raised my bar. I spoiled you guys too much,” he said after Thursday’s game.  “When I hit a little bump, I’m human. It’s going to happen. It has to happen for me to get better. I’m not perfect every time, hitting over .360 or .380. I think you need to struggle in this game as a pitcher, as a position player to get better and to work at it. Maybe, I expand my strike zone a little bit. I can’t tell you. I was seeing the ball good. It was just a matter of time.”

Seems like a good place to start the 10@10.

1. Pujols is usually reluctant to acknowledge when he’s expanding his strike zone and when he’s pressing his bat to carry the team. But he did allow last night that he finds himself slipping for a game, two games, maybe week into a stretch where he just doesn’t feel right at the plate. Where he feels like he’s “pressing.” Sometimes that does manifest with him expanding his strike zone to take a try at jacking a home run or pounding a double — something, anything to spur the Cardinals offense. It’s a habit that he has been able to reduce because 2007 taught him he had to. Said Pujols on Thursday: “In ‘07, I think I really pressed. That was the one year — not my rookie year, when I could have … — that I pressed a little too much early. I didn’t take the walks like I needed to early. I finished strong. But I think I learned from that. I took that last year, and I took that into this year. Let the ball come to you, knowing you don’t have to do everything, knowing you don’t have to carry the ball club every day.”

2. That leads to today’s poll question. I know how I’m voting.

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3. The Cardinals went 7-8 last season in interleague play, dropping out of second-best in the NL in interleague winning percentage. The Cardinals are 91-84 with a .520 winning percentage in interleague play. They trail Florida (.547) and Atlanta (.526).  Pujols is the current all-time leader in interleague average with a .350 batting average in 423 interleague at-bats. Thank the Royals. Pujols has hit .388 in his career and slugged .701 against Kansas City. Pujols’ currently edges former teammate Larry Walker, whose .346 interleague average ranks second. The next-closest active player is Detroit’s Magglio Ordonez, who is hitting .340 in interleague play.

4. Free Bernie Miklasz. No, seriously, FREE Bernie Miklasz. The Post-Dispatch’s wired columnist was pounding away late last night at Busch Stadium on his blog, Bernie’s 5 Minutes (nee’ Extra Points). He offers a look at all the lineups Tony La Russa uses and a detailed scouting report on the Kansas City Royals. And get this — it’s free. No charge. Information you can’t get at the single-copy box is one click away.

5. Today’s Cardinals-Royals game pitches two starters with ERAs in the 5.00s against each other. Kyle Davies has a 5.01 ERA and former Royal Todd Wellemeyer has a 5.87 ERA. And yet, that’s not the most garish tandem of ERAs in play today. The pitching matchups for the first day of Interleague Players offers a whole bunch of quirky combinations.

• Cleveland’s Anthony Reyes 6.88 opposite Cincinnati Bronson Arroyo 6.56
• Tampa Bay’s Andy Sonnanstine 7.36 opposite Florida’s Ricky Nolasco 7.78
• Arizona’s Billy Buckner 15.75 opposite Oakland’s Trevor Cahill 5.01, the largest sum ERA.
• And, New York Mets’ Johan Santana 1.36 opposite Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka 12.79, the biggest difference in the two ERAs.

6. Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright has allowed just two runs in his previous 16 2/3 innings, plunging his ERA down by almost a run — from 4.36 to 3.41 in two starts. And now the truth can be told. It wasn’t the film session with Chris Carpenter. It wasn’t his arm path. It wasn’t re-establishing his fastball. It’s the shoes, man. It’s the shoes. Friend and reliever Blaine Boyer lent Wainwright a pair of cleats before his start against Milwaukee, and he’s worn the Mizuno-brand shoes in each of the previous starts, and only those starts this season. It’s gotta be the shoes. He’s allowed seven hits in his previous 16 2/3 innings, struck out 14 and the only runs he’s given up were on a solo home run and a two-out single. He said he didn’t want to give the ball to the manager with one out to get Thursday. “But I also didn’t want to stand there arguing with him,” Wainwright said. “All I had to do was get Derrek Lee. I got 26 outs, why not one more?”

7. FARM REPORT: So, Brett Wallace homered. ‘Nuff said. … The Cardinals’ 2008 first-rounder has taken up daily residency in this blog and sports radio around town ever since he went to Class AAA. Wallace went 3-for-4 with his first Triple-A home run in Thursday’s 7-6 loss. Wallace raised his five-game average to .524 as a Triple-A third baseman. He’s been hitting No. 3 for Memphis. … Allen Craig, at first base, went 2-for-5 with two RBIs. And, DH Javier Brito went 3-for-4. … Mitchell Boggs struggled. He allowed six runs on seven hits during four innings of work. He also walked five — in what was his worst Class AAA outing of the season. … Second baseman Daniel Descalso went 2-for-4 with an RBI in Springfield’s 4-3 victory against Arkansas. Descalso is hitting .351 and he is leapfrogging others to top the Cardinals’ depth chart at second base in the minors. … Curt Smith, playing outfield, keeps hitting. He had three more hits, all singles. He’s batting .348 since his promotion to Class AA. A player who divides opinions between scouts and coaches (and even some players who have played beside him), first baseman Mark Hamilton homered. … Hulking righthander Lance Lynn got the victory for pitching six innings and allowing four runs on nine hits. Francisco Samuel walked one and pitched a scoreless ninth for his 10th save. … Big-power Matt Arburr slugged two home runs in Palm Beach’s 10-4 victory.  Both Arburr blasts were solo home runs. He always has had power. Other facets of the game have to catch for him to advance. … Shane Peterson (perhaps the next batter to make the move) went 3-for-5, homered and drove in four runs. … Four different Palm Beach batters scored two runs apiece. … Blake King got the win, though youngster Richard Castillo made the start. Castillo three runs on seven hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings. The Florida State League has tested the young righthander, and he’s one to watch as the season continues for whether the Cardinals aggressive approach slows him down a bit, ala Tyler Herron. … The only player mentioned more often here than Wallace has been Charles Cutler. At DH on Thursday, Cutler had two hits and raised his average to .366 with 101 at-bats. Cutler was a 14th-round pick out of Berkeley last summer, and as a college player at 22 he’s got the statistical look of guy one level lower than his age. Consider: Two other 2008 college position player draft picks (Peterson and Jermaine Curtis) are in High-A.

8. Baseball Prospectus sports a picture of Mizzou ace Kyle Gibson on its main page this morning, a teaser to Kevin Goldstein’s Mock Draft. Goldstein calls his article the “Way Too Early” mock draft, and man these draft gurus — like Goldstein and Jim Callis and Keith Law – have the patience of Job and the guts of William Hung to try to pull off a mock baseball draft. The draft is June 9 this season, and June 8 would be “Way Too Early” for a mock draft. Goldstein has Gibson going fourth overall to Pittsburgh. Local prep ace Jacob Turner goes sixth to the San Francisco Giants, and former Mizzou All-American Aaron Crow will force to many typos by joining Aaron Cook as a Colorado Rockie. Goldstein has the Cardinals, picking 19th overlal, taking Tim Wheeler, a college outfielder from Sacramento State University. There’s a lot of sense to that pick, but there’s still a feel that this draft may offer the lefthanded pitcher that the Cardinals didn’t land when they wanted to last season. Rex Brothers (Lipscomb) and Andy Oliver (Oklahoma State) are a couple LHP options, and Mike Minor (Vanderbilt) may be difficult to pass up. What Goldstein nails is the perception of the Cardinals and how they delight in being difficult to predict. (It’s with great pride last year that I pegged Brett Wallace as the possible pick and Gordon Beckham as a guy they hoped, wished, wanted to fall … but knew wouldn’t.) Writes Goldstein:

The Cardinals are notoriously difficult to project as far as who they pick in June, but they do have a tendency to favor the spreadsheets more than most. Sacramento State’s Tim Wheeler lacks any real star-quality tools, but he’s at least average across the board.

9. There are four teams in baseball this season that are currently averaging less than 20,000 fans per game. They are Washington, Florida, Oakland Pittsburgh. Last season, Kansas City and Florida averaged less than 20,000 a game for the entire season. I bring this up only because of a tidbit offered up by the ubiquitously helpful Mike Bertani, the Cardinals former ticket chief. He figured out that since Tony La Russa arrived in St. Louis, the Cardinals have played to a crowd of less than 20,000 only TWICE. Two times. Other teams average less than that over a span of seasons, and the Cardinals have drawn that few only on April 15, 1996 (18,731) and August. 25, 1997 (16,965).

10. Wainwright said the first thought he had when he saw Pujols punch the “I” out was: “I was wanting to knock the ‘B’ out.” He then went on to barrage his teammate, Pujols, with verbal bouquets. It’s commonplace for the Cardinals to call their first baseman the best player in the game, the best hitter in the game, sometimes just the best in game. Wainwright has recently started expanding that compliment. A few times this year, Wainwright has just called Pujols the best.

“I think he’s the best all time,” the righthander said. “Sorry Red and Stan.”

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No 10@10 on Monday. Will be working on another project that I hope to talk about with everyone soon. Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy the afternoon baseball. Be back Tuesday, unless news inspires.

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