Major League Baseball

Rangers won't let Pujols beat them

Published Oct. 26, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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Albert Pujols is down to his final swings before free agency. If he wishes to leave the Cardinals as a champagne-drenched champion, he has two games left to be a hero.

That’s the obvious setup for Game 6 of the World Series. It sounds romantic. It reads well.

It’s naïve.

Pujols, of course, is capable of such superhuman feats. As short as our attention spans may be, we haven’t forgotten what he did in Game 3. The issue is what has happened since Pujols joined Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth as the only men to hit three home runs in a World Series game.

Game 4: 0-for-4 with few pitches to hit — in a St. Louis loss.

Game 5: 0-for-2 with three intentional walks and a botched, Pujols-initiated hit-and-run — in a St. Louis loss.

The Texas Rangers have swung the series back into their favor, and they have done so by removing the bat from Pujols’ hands whenever possible.

Think the Rangers will change course, one win from the first world championship in franchise history?

“I just don’t think any manager, when the games are dwindling down, will allow Albert to swing the bat to beat you,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “That’s not taking anything away from (Matt) Holliday or (Lance) Berkman, because we know what they’re capable of doing.

“We’re just not going to let Albert do it.”

Translation: If the Cardinals wish to force Game 7, they can’t hope that Pujols morphs into a right-handed Bambino for the second time in five days. They must collectively improve on a dismal 1-for-12 showing with runners in scoring position during Game 5.

Sure, it’s fair to criticize Tony La Russa’s Monday mismanagement and miscommunication. One-liners about the rogue bullpen phone have become fashionable. (Did the Rangers send this month’s bill to an old address for MCI?) Of greater importance, the Cardinals followed Saturday’s 16-run eruption by scoring twice in two games. That’s no way to win a title.

Ironically, the onus in Game 6 will be on just about every St. Louis hitter except Pujols. Washington laid out the challenge during his travel-day news conference at Busch Stadium, saying, “What he did the other night, no, I wouldn’t mess with that.”

When Pujols is walked intentionally Wednesday night — note the usage of when, not if — Berkman will have the first opportunity to turn the Rangers’ strategy upside down. La Russa said Berkman will bat cleanup against Colby Lewis in Game 6, his first such assignment since the second game of the series.

The move makes sense on two levels: 1) Berkman, as a switch hitter, will provide a left-handed presence against the right-handed Lewis; and 2) Berkman (.389) has fared much better in this series than Holliday (.167).

Holliday’s struggles almost certainly are related to an inflamed tendon in his right middle finger, which first became an issue near the end of the regular season. The injury was serious enough that it kept Holliday from starting the first two postseason games against Philadelphia.

Holliday recovered to hit .435 during the National League Championship Series, but he has just one extra-base hit, and zero RBI, in the World Series. Holliday insisted after Game 5 that the hand is “no problem at all,” but it’s typical of veterans to downplay injuries this time of year.

Holliday did say he was pleased with his at-bats Monday night, and his seventh-inning single would have driven in a run if it had landed deeper in the gap. So maybe he’s due to have a big performance.

For that to matter, though, the Cardinals’ top two hitters must generate more traffic on the bases. Leadoff man Rafael Furcal has had a quiet series, with an on-base percentage of just .261, while Jon Jay and Allen Craig have combined to go 1-for-17 in the No. 2 spot. The lone hit was a Craig home run; not surprisingly, it came in a St. Louis win.

The Cardinals’ second hitter in Game 6 may be the most important of all. If he is standing on first base, Pujols is more likely to see pitches to hit. La Russa has indicated that the crucial assignment could belong to veteran Skip Schumaker, who didn’t play in the NLCS because of an oblique strain and has started only one game since.

Maybe Schumaker is the key. Maybe Holliday has a few good swings left in his ailing hand. Maybe NLCS MVP David Freese, a non-factor in the past two losses, will re-emerge.

Clearly, St. Louis can’t win the World Series if its offense remains this bland. Vince Coleman and Willie McGee would be dismayed to learn that the Cardinals have yet to steal a base in this series. Power has been in short supply, too; outside of Pujols’ grand display in Game 3, St. Louis has hit one home run.

Now the Cardinals must deliver, knowing that winter is one loss away. And they can’t rely on Pujols to save them. “We’ve been dealing with this for two months,” Freese said. “We’ve had the word ‘elimination’ in our heads for a long time. We play with urgency. This is nothing new.”
 

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