Less than 10 days removed from one of the best months of his career, his first extended hot streak of this season and one frightful slip off a tarp, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols declined to connect that fall to the sudden end of his surge.
He declined to offer "excuses."
His manager insisted there was an "explanation."
Pujols ended an 0-for-18 slide — the longest hitless run of his career — with a single in Saturday's 6-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. After the game, manager Tony La Russa described the three-time MVP as "physically affected" in recent at-bats. Pujols dismissed that notion with a stern "I'm fine."
"Do you want explanations or do you want excuses?" La Russa said. "It sounds like an excuse if you talk about it. But the explanation is that I don't think he's 100 percent. He's playable. If it's a push, I'll give him the rest he needs."
On the same night he hit the 400th home run of his career, Pujols tracked a fly ball in foul territory at Nationals Park in Washington. He hopped up on the slightly slick and rolled-up tarp and slipped to the ground. Pujols twisted his ankle on the play but finished the game, all 13 innings of it, and has started every game since. This season he has ongoing treatment for nagging back soreness — an ailment that surfaced during spring training — and he's recently had his left elbow wrapped in ice before and after games.
Pujols insisted his right ankle was fine when asked, that he wasn't compromised, and he waved away a question about his fall off the tarp.
"Why, because I'm one for 20? Is that why you ask?" Pujols said. "I don't give an excuse, man. I'm getting some good pitches to hit. And I'm getting under them and missing the ball. That's the way it goes. Just the same way I was killing the ball in August, I'm getting some good pitches to hit so I'm not going to look for an excuse or point at something. I don't take cheap shots. I'm not a guy who likes to put out an excuse."
Before the start of this series vs. Cincinnati, Pujols' production in August earned him the sixth Player of the Month Award in his career. He did it with 11 homers, 23 RBIs and 29 runs scored. Pujols' .379 average in August was the most for any month since August 2008, when he hit .398. His .777 slugging percentage and 1.230 on-base plus slugging in the past month were the most since June 2009, the last time he won the Player of the Month Award. The National League's reigning MVP has won three of the past 11 monthly awards.
Yet the Cardinals squandered Pujols' singular performance with an 11-15 record and a late-month free fall from first place.
When Pujols went hitless in 10 at-bats at Houston this past week, the Cardinals, not coincidentally, managed to score two runs in 27 innings. Since tumbling off the tarp, Pujols has hit .125 with three RBIs. The Cardinals, the engine sputtering in the middle of the lineup, have averaged 2.1 runs per game and gone 2-6. When Pujols or Matt Holliday aren't producing, lingering offensive woes are exposed or aggravated.
"That's how we've been all year long," Pujols said of the inconsistent offense. "You want to still figure out why. I don't know why. I wish I could tell you how. Myself, Matt, everybody — we get some key hits and then you go a couple, two or three at-bats, and you don't get a base hit. That's the way it goes. That's part of the game."
Pujols started Saturday's loss 0 for 2 before ripping an infield single that glanced off Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips. Holliday followed with a single, but the inning collapsed when Nick Stavinoha hit into a double play. In the eighth inning, Pujols faced lefty Aroldis Chapman, the flame-throwing rookie Cincinnati promoted last week. Pujols saw three pitches at 100 mph or faster before hitting a 99 mph fastball for a double-play grounder.
In the past, Pujols' manager has mentioned that the first baseman has a tendency to expand his strike zone when he knows the team is aching for runs. Teammates also have noticed it at times this season, especially during one of the lineup's recurring rolling blackouts.
La Russa saw something else in Pujols' recent at-bats.
He called them "ouches."
"This guy was just named player of the month. He's having a great year," La Russa said. "Here's my explanation. Take it for whatever it's worth. I think he's physically affected in some of his last at-bats. But he got a base hit (Saturday). He's capable. At less than 100 percent he's still a great player."
