[外電] What happened to Albert Pujols on Tuesday night?
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What happened to Albert Pujols on Tuesday night?
July 12, 2007
By Rick Hummel St. Louis Post-Dispatch
SAN FRANCISCO — Albert Pujols made big-league history as a rookie for the
St. Louis Cardinals in 2001 when he became the first player to start 30 or
more games at four positions (third base, first base, left field, right
field), and he even played second base in his first All-Star Game appearance
that year.
It was such versatility that National League All-Star manager Tony La Russa,
also Pujols' manager during the season, had in mind during his club's 5-4
loss to the American League on Tuesday night. The American League's 10th
straight victory (there was a tie in 2002) was achieved with Seattle's Ichiro
Suzuki hitting the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star Game history,
and it also was achieved with Pujols sitting on the bench — the only
National League position player not to have seen action.
La Russa, knowing that Florida third baseman Miguel Cabrera was available
only to pinch hit and not available to play in the field because of a
shoulder injury, moved Pittsburgh's Freddy Sanchez from his projected utility
role to backup third baseman to New York's David Wright. This made Pujols,
the reigning Gold Glove first baseman, the National League's utility man,
which La Russa thought he had explained to Pujols before the game.
Pujols was smiling as he spoke after the game, but he didn't mask his
disappointment about not playing. Nor did a more contentious La Russa hide
his disappointment that Pujols hadn't understood the situation.
Pujols had said Monday that he would do "whatever (La Russa) wants" as a
player chosen not by the fans or the players but by La Russa himself. But
when Pujols didn't play Tuesday night, he said, "Go ask the manager. He's the
one you should ask. I have no idea. He didn't even talk to me at all.
"But if I wasn't expecting myself to play, I wouldn't have come up here. I'd
rather stay home with my family. That's the way it is." Dmitri Young, not
Pujols, pinch hit in the ninth inning when the National League rallied for
two runs on Alfonso Soriano's opposite-field homer and then loaded the bases
on three walks before Aaron Rowand flied out to end the game.
It was clear at that point that Pujols, the Cardinals' only representative,
was La Russa's extra-inning man.
"I was ready," said Pujols. "I was born ready. Maybe he wanted to play the
other guys and maybe he didn't want to leave the other guys out. Maybe if he
would have played me and left another guy out, they would have said, 'Why did
he play Albert instead of the other guy?' "I was loose and ready to go. Maybe
he was saving me for next year's All-Star Game." Though disappointed, Pujols
was laughing at this point.
La Russa was told about Pujols' generally genial mood but still couldn't
fathom Pujols' surprise at not playing. And La Russa, biting his words,
clearly was not laughing.
"Albert was the guy who was going to do whatever we needed," said La Russa.
"If Albert doesn't understand that, I'm surprised and disappointed. It isn't
that tough a thing. I explained his role to him before the game.
"Let me ask you this. If we go to extra innings, who's going to be our player
to move around and play? Can Dmitri move around and play? Or is Albert going
to do that? Who's the most versatile guy not playing? It's Albert. It isn't
even that tough. He'll figure it out sooner or later.
"But I'm more disappointed that we lost than that he doesn't understand it."
La Russa, who won three straight All-Star Games for the American League from
1989-91 when he was with Oakland, has suffered two All-Star losses as a
National League manager in 2005 and this year.
Baseball's two best leadoff men, Suzuki and Jose Reyes of the New York Mets,
reigned head and shoulders over their peers. The difference was that Suzuki
had just a tad more help from his American League confreres.
The .359-hitting Suzuki had two singles and then homered in his final at-bat
in the fifth, wrapping up the Most Valuable Player award.
Reyes, the majors' stolen-base leader at 46, singled twice and doubled in his
first three at-bats and stole a base before scoring the National League's
first run.
The All-Star Game victory ensured that the American League will have the
home-field advantage in the World Series, marking the fifth straight time
that has happened since the home-field carrot was offered first in 2003.
But La Russa said, "If we compete like this every year, we'll win. We took
care of our business. We just came up a run short."
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