Home Run Derby

Tony LaRussa’s caught a lot of flak this season. 

First there was that whole drinky-drinky-drivey-sleepy thing back in Spring Training.  That didn’t go over too well.

Then the regular season began and the Cardinals got off to a horrid start.  They got swept by the Mets in St Louis to open the season and were below the Reds in the NL Central standings for a little while.  And it doesn’t look like they’ll be making a run at the playoffs anytime soon.

And most recently, LaRussa (mis) managed the National League and left Cardinals star sluggger and clutch RBI machine Albert Pujols on the bench with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth during last week’s All-Star game in San Francisco.

Pujols was less than happy about not playing in the midsummer classic.  Was there a method to LaRussa’s madness?   Maybe.

Heading into the All-Star Game, Pujols was in a bit of a power drought.  In 22 games before the break, Pujols was hitting .329 but only had 4 doubles and no Home Runs in 73 At-Bats. 

After the All-Star break, a pissed-off Pujols broke out the lumber and smacked the Phillies around to the tune of a .429 average with four Home Runs in 14 At-Bats in the three game series.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 16th, 2007 at 12:42 pm and is filed under Home Run of the Day, Stats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.