Albert Pujols, Cardinals bruised by HBPs (UPDATED)
ST. LOUIS — Apparently tired of what happens when they pitch to Albert Pujols, the Pittsburgh Pirates have taken a new approach — they pitched at him.
Stirring memories of those bruising days of yore when Lloyd McClendon skippered the Pirates and he and the Cardinals’ coaching staff had some colorful exchanges (there was a punch or two thrown once, too), the Pirates hit Pujols with a pitch to the kidney in the fifth inning. With two runners on, starter Ross Ohlendorf fired tight and inside on the Cardinals’ slugger. Pujols tried to move out the way, but the fastball caught him flush in the side, right at his ribcage.
Pujols fell to one knee and he remained doubled-over for some time even after making the trot to first base. He said after the game he hadn’t been hit in that spot before.
“It’s still a little sore,” he said after the game. “My last swing I felt it.”
He’s not alone. This visit home has had its bruises. There have been a string of HBPs during this homestand, and Pujols said teams have their “scouting reports about throwing inside.” Manager Tony La Russa was less specific but more pointed when asked about the HBPs.
“None of your business,” he said. “That’s an answer that doesn’t (do anyone any good).”
A couple days after getting pegged in the left elbow by a pitch, Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse still had the mark from the seams left like red railroad tracks around his elbow. There were a combined eight hit batters in the two-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies this week. On Monday, Lohse hit Chase Utley with a pitch and that loaded the bases for Ryan Howard’s grand slam. Jayson Werth, who had two home runs in the series and the decisive shot Tuesday, was hit by a pitch in the plate appearance after his three-run shot. He was the first batter Chris Perez faced in the seventh, and Perez nailed him with an inside fastball.
The exchange of HBPs between the Cubs and the Cardinals was the most public so far this season. Alfonso Soriano got hit in the back of the helmet and, per custom, Rich Harden responded by throwing three inside pitches to Pujols before finally hitting him.
Pujols brushed it off as part of the game. Star player. Star player. Quid. Pro. Quo.
Not sure the Pittsburgh bruise will be as easy to brush off. The shot to kidney was the third time this season that Pujols has been hit by a pitch. He has only five intentional walks this season. The HBP loaded the bases for Ryan Ludwick in the fifth inning, and Ohlendorf followed it by going inside to Ludwick, too.
He plunked Ludwick with a pitch to force in a run.
Both Cardinals remained in the game.
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(6 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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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. 
Some of these HBP’s this year on Pujols do not look accidental, which is troubling. If this continues to be a theme this season, the Cards are going to have to do something to remedy it. They could start by not throwing at the other teams star player but at the pitcher(s) that hit Pujols. Another idea is have the whole team charge the mound. You just can’t allow your franchise player to get beaned repeatedly. Something’s gotta give…
I agree with Mr. Slim. Something’s gotta give. And it will. Don LaRussa will wreck vengance upon those who plunk his men. The Pirates will be sleeping with the fishes!
Here’s what I think. Change the rules to say that as soon as a pitcher hits a batter, the pitcher is ejected. Or allow the hit batter to come in and score, along with anyone on base ahead of him. That would stop these goons.
Steve, are you new to baseball? Do you really think any pitcher that hits a batter should be ejected? That may be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. HBPs are a part of the game. Do you really think his goal was to hit both guys to push across a run?
The problem is that baseball has listened to too many people like you, so now it is incredibly difficult for the players to police this themselves. Jack Rabbit Slim has the right idea, but the problem is that the league will hammer the Cards for any kind of brawl.
The Cards are hitting extremely well right now, so teams are going to pitch inside to slow them down. Unfortunately, in the good ol’ days, the Cards pitchers could return the favor and put some fear in other teams. Anymore, they aren’t allowed to do that.
Personally, I would like them to change the rules to what it used to be–basically repeal the silliness of putting the pitcher and managers on “notification.”
Albert’s HBP today sure didn’t look unintentional to me and it was a shame that Wellemeyer couldn’t have just plunked the Pirates first batter the next inning.
I know there have been some beanball injuries in the history of baseball, but for the most part it was a self-regulating system which I thought worked pretty well.
You crowd the inside of the plate, you’re going to get hit. That’s all there is to it. Pitcher is going to make sure he gets his full strike zone, and if you try take it away you’re going to feel some pain.
Steve, are you new to baseball? Do you really think any pitcher that hits a batter should be ejected? That may be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. HBPs are a part of the game. ETP
Right, ETP. The WORST part.
I’m only half serious with my suggestion, because I realize it happens accidentally sometimes. I’m just trying to keep baseball from degenerating into something along the lines of a hockey game, where pea-brained drunks cheer for the neanderthal goons that interrupt the game with a crude boxing match that the crowd actually celebrates. NO other sport tolerates that kind of garbage, and I don’t go to hockey games for that very reason. Keep baseball clean, I say.
Steve so Bob Gibson was a goon? That was the dumbest post I have ever seen in my life…
I’m confident that this won’t happen all season long. Everybody is right to be angry about it. Let the players take care of it on the field. That’s the way it should be.
I was thinking that Wellemeyer should get a little retribution in the top of the next inning but he didn’t. Then I realized that he was up to bat in the bottom of the next inning. That may be why he didn’t plunk anyone.