Pujols puts Cubs away
All season long, the question has been out there: What's wrong with St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols?
A slow start in this his contract year, and putting up numbers well below previous Pujolian levels left a lot of people shaking their heads.
Pujols was well aware.
“I've been where I wanted to be all year,” Pujols insisted to FOX after his game-winning solo home run in the 12th inning capped a crushing 5-4 loss for the Cubs, who have now dropped five straight. “It's a long season. It's not where you start, it's where you finish.”
It's already been a long two days in steamy St. Louis for the Cubs, and the main reason has been Pujols, who has suddenly come to life against Cubs pitching. His two-out scoop shot to left-center off Jeff Samardzija in the 12th was his third of the series and accounted for his fourth and final RBI of the day.
“I knew he was probably going to throw a slider,” Pujols said of Samardzija's 2-1 offering. “I was sitting on it.”
Pujols, whom Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa described after the game as “greatness all over,” now has 3 home runs and 6 RBI in two games against the Cubs.
That leads to another question — one that was lighting up the web all night and is sure to be topic No. 1 for days to come — and it's for Cubs manager Mike Quade: Why in the world would you even pitch to Pujols in that situation?
“I'm not in the habit of walking people with two out and nobody on,” Quade told reporters. “I understand how good this guy is, so we'll have to rethink that a little bit.
“You figure you can keep him in the ballpark, you take your chances, and we couldn't.”
Quade said he would “take the heat” for visiting the mound and telling Samardzija to be careful with Pujols.
“I'm not talking about being careful anymore,” he said.
The loss spoiled a solid day for the Cubs' bullpen, which did all it could in relief of Randy Wells, but the offense sputtered big time after a 4-run sixth inning, highlighted by a Carlos Pena 2-run home run.
In fact, the Cubs' final hit of the afternoon came an inning later on Pena's infield single.
One bright spot Saturday was the performance of Carlos Marmol, who came in and got the Cubs out of a bases-loaded jam in the tenth. Marmol has now thrown 25⅓ consecutive scoreless innings on the road, a franchise best for Cubs relievers.
But the fact is the Cubs have now lost eight of their last 10, are 10 games under .500 and are in a dangerous downward spiral.
No question about that.