insane
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 11 August 2022 16:06 (one year ago) link
a playoff season, all by himself
haha, even better! a team of replacement players would win about 52 games in a season, so adding career pujols would be like it would be like 152 wins (or a mere 139 by fWAR).
of course...this scenario cannot exist in time and space, but still! haha
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 11 August 2022 16:10 (one year ago) link
what we need is compressed- super-career ted williams and albert pujols on the same team! finally, the vaunted 200 wins in a season record would be demolished!
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 11 August 2022 16:12 (one year ago) link
albert had maybe his last monster game, last night
what a cynical bastard i am! he topped it today, in his very next game. 2 home runs, including a no doubter that put the game out of reach in the 8th. the kind where the outfielders don't move as it flies over their head. it warms my heart
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Sunday, 14 August 2022 20:39 (one year ago) link
the next albert pujols (?!?!)
👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/xXm8NGDSoe— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) August 16, 2022
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 00:07 (one year ago) link
#690 today (pinch-hit grand slam)...What do you think--can he hit 10 in 46 games, KM?
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 August 2022 22:41 (one year ago) link
i wish he could, but no, i do not think so. would be awesome if he does, obviously.
the number i'm thinking about more is 696, and i think he has an outside shot of that. he's definitely on a hot streak, when he's playing: 159 wRC+ in July, 262 (!!) so far in August. But that's across only 55 PAs in July, 24 so far in August. he's mostly getting played against lefties, and i support that because he is no longer good or ok against righties and it's getting close to playoff season.
696 is a-rod's total, of course. it'd be cool to see him tie or pass that up. if he does, it will be because he's on a continued hot streak. it'll be a great moment and cool end of career thing for him.
i think i used to care more about PEDs than i do now. still, i see pujols as the #3 legit home run king, behind aaron and ruth. if i had a HoF vote i would definitely vote for bonds (and clemens, and some others) who i think were good enough that they deserved it. but when it comes to the big counting stats records, fuck bonds and a-rod, you're off the list imo
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 18 August 2022 22:56 (one year ago) link
the biggest crime of PEDs was not about cheating or the enjoyment of watching them play (it was amazing to see the big neck guys hit balls into rivers) it was about how they complicated the big counting stats and made an irritating conversation even worse
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 18 August 2022 22:58 (one year ago) link
is joe jackson in the hall of fame? i would vote for him, pete rose, bonds, clemens, a-rod, and your mom
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 18 August 2022 22:59 (one year ago) link
the hall of fame's mom i mean
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 18 August 2022 23:00 (one year ago) link
feel like, down the stretch, there's gonna be at least 7 plate appearance in blowouts or just meaningless games where pitchers(/hitters) who don't care about their ERAs are just gonna groove him one to help him get there
so he's really only gotta get 3 for real
― ✖, Thursday, 18 August 2022 23:49 (one year ago) link
691!
― ✖, Sunday, 21 August 2022 00:53 (one year ago) link
Came to post...I like your theory about getting some pitches grooved down the stretch. They finish with six games against the Pirates; any ex-teammates pitching over there?
― clemenza, Sunday, 21 August 2022 00:55 (one year ago) link
José Quintana. It'll all come down to the generosity of José Quintana.
― clemenza, Sunday, 21 August 2022 01:12 (one year ago) link
another one tonight! by that, i mean, 2 tonight. the second just happened. maybe he will get 700? the more he crushes lefties, the more playing time he'll get vs righthanders, i guess
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 21 August 2022 01:17 (one year ago) link
the diamondbacks fans just requested a curtain call. denied.
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 21 August 2022 01:18 (one year ago) link
jose quintana is on the cardinals
― na (NA), Sunday, 21 August 2022 15:38 (one year ago) link
Oops--read that trade in the wrong direction.
― clemenza, Sunday, 21 August 2022 15:44 (one year ago) link
Anyway, if he can keep hitting two HR a game, he's going to make a run at Bonds.
― clemenza, Sunday, 21 August 2022 15:52 (one year ago) link
In celebration of Albert Pujols (@PujolsFive) passing Stan Musial (@stanthemaninc) and becoming 2nd All-Time in MLB history in total bases, I have created a progressive timeline for All-Time Career Total Bases! Huge congratulations to the @Cardinals legend on this feat! 🔥📈 pic.twitter.com/BXOLDyQcuS— Greg Harvey (@BetweenTheNums) August 21, 2022
― Karl Malone, Monday, 22 August 2022 19:01 (one year ago) link
found in this prince albert piece: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/albert-pujols-is-enjoying-a-renaissance/
― Karl Malone, Monday, 22 August 2022 19:06 (one year ago) link
Pujols does it again tonight. 693. They've faced a lot of lefties recently (including tonight), so i expect things to drop off when it's back to mostly righties and he either sits or plays and sucks against righties. but man, he has made the absolute most of his opportunity against all these lefties. it's really been a feel good month for him, since the all-star break. he's not "not embarrassing" himself on terms relative to how bad the last 5+ years were, but he's just straight up crushing it. his two other PAs tonight were a 106 EV single off the wall and a 103 EV GIDP. he consistently hits the ball harder than anyone else in the game, when he appears. he just can't run. at all.
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 23 August 2022 01:44 (one year ago) link
i also read today that he apparently had offers from at least 4 other teams, some of which offered more money and playing time. i'm glad that he chose to come back to St Louis, and i'm glad Oli Marmol is walking the very awkward line of a 36-year-old limiting the PAs of Albert to the ones where he's in a position to succeed
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 23 August 2022 01:46 (one year ago) link
Cubs finally brought in a righty, and Pujols weakly grounds into another GIDP, looked frightened of the ball as it was flying toward him.
i have to say, this does set up a very dramatic Rated PG kind of family sports movie ending scenario. it's the playoffs. game 7. or game 3 of a wild card. whatever. last at bat. it's a right handed pitcher - Pujols completely sucks against them, even if he can still destroy lefties. everybody knows it. especially star right handed pitcher TJ Tornado, who hates children. Oli Marmol has a talk with Pujols in the dugout and calls him the big brother he always wanted. not the ones he actually had. not like Will. Don't do it for this guy, Marmol says, pointing the finger toward his chest. do it for this guy. and with that, Pujols and Marmol lift 4 arms up toward heaven and point. that's where god lives. but then he strikes out. can't win them all, read Job
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 23 August 2022 02:22 (one year ago) link
Also tied Bonds tonight for homering off the most pitchers, 449. So he has to make sure he hits one more off someone for the first time.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 23 August 2022 02:45 (one year ago) link
There were only 30-35 pitchers in baseball when Babe Ruth played, and all threw 600 innings a year, so his victim count is very low.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 23 August 2022 02:47 (one year ago) link
Ya but after three years of that, most pitchers back then would just die and be immediately forgotten
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Tuesday, 23 August 2022 14:27 (one year ago) link
On the flip side, they were rewarded with excellent baseball nicknames and a newfound commitment to chewing tobacco
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 23 August 2022 14:28 (one year ago) link
Which was often tied to the quality of their moustache.
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Tuesday, 23 August 2022 14:31 (one year ago) link
it would be kind of a grim but fascinating study to see how many players of that era ended up with tobacco-related disease
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 23 August 2022 14:34 (one year ago) link
xp correlated with quality of mustache factor, of course!
albert's platoon splits this season:
vs RHP: 135 PA, .186/.289/.322 (.611 OPS)vs LHP: 101 PA, .398/.436/.807 (1.242 OPS)
i'm not a scholar of platoon splits, but that seems pretty extreme! and yeah, nice job by marmol
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 24 August 2022 17:49 (one year ago) link
*scholar of platoon splits walks in wearing a gigantic top hat*
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 24 August 2022 18:25 (one year ago) link
With Albert Pujols nearing the 700 HR milestone, do you have any evidence of pitchers in the past who threw pitches down the middle to help a player reach a milestone like 3,000 hits, 500 HRs, hits records, HR records, etc.? Asked by: Taylor
Answered: 8/24/2022No. I don't think I have ever heard of that happening.
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Hey Bill, it's very likely that Denny McLain -- finishing up his legendary 31-win 1968 season -- intentionally gave up a homer to the retiring Mickey Mantle. Jim Price, who caught the game, says this was the case. (Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/sports/baseball/09mclain.html) The game itself was meaningless in the standings, and it was 6-1 Tigers in the 8th inning, with no one on base. This allowed Mantle to break his tie on the HR list with Jimmie Foxx. The article says "Price, who has broadcast Tigers games for more than three times as many years (18) as he caught them (5), said he has never heard of such a scene happening with any other player, past or present."Asked by: Mean Dean
Answered: 8/24/2022Oh, I remember watching that game! I really do remember seeing it on TV. I don't think you can intentionally give up a home run, though. You can groove a pitch, if you want to, but it's still a 1-in-10 or 1-in-20 shot that the batter will put it in the seats, even if you throw it right down the middle.
The Home Run Derby suggests otherwise, no? If they only hit even 1 out of 10, seven HR would win it.
― clemenza, Thursday, 25 August 2022 03:07 (one year ago) link
that is correct
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 25 August 2022 07:49 (one year ago) link
I always think of wainwright admitting to grooving one to jeets his last ASG - showed how seriously the players took the home field advantage thing
― ✖, Friday, 26 August 2022 00:02 (one year ago) link
#694 tonight, against the Reds. it's the 3rd inning and it's 8-0, so i expect he'll get some more chances to hit tonight
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 00:56 (one year ago) link
that's a record-breaker, the 450th different pitcher he's hit a HR against, one more than mr. bonds.
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 00:57 (one year ago) link
i've noticed, watching the opposing team's broadcasts as per usual, that pujols is now routinely referred to as "the machine". "the machine" is not found in any of the previous 850+ posts. i admit, during pujols' 2001-2011 with the cardinals, i was barely paying attention to baseball. is "the machine" a newish nickname or was it always there? i don't like it
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 01:04 (one year ago) link
Makes me think of the 70’s Reds
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Tuesday, 30 August 2022 02:25 (one year ago) link
I vaguely recall Pujols' robotic and emotionless nature being a thing when he was first with the Cards. There was a Sportscenter commercial about it.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 02:33 (one year ago) link
you'd think the nickname would have to be retired during the 2010s, though. that was brutal
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 02:33 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5VH7ZudR0c
― ✖, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 05:09 (one year ago) link
pujols' last AB against the cubs is a pinch hit home run, a no doubter, #695, a 2-run shot putting them up 2-0 in the bottom of the 8th. he's had extra good final performances against the reds and cubs now. dang
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 4 September 2022 21:54 (one year ago) link
#697 is a 2-run shot over the center field wall that puts the Cardinals up 3-2 in the top of the 9th, after being held to 2 hits for the rest of the game
that was classic
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 11 September 2022 20:07 (one year ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/TBJ4SmA.png
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 11 September 2022 20:08 (one year ago) link
bold of them to mention bonds
― mookieproof, Sunday, 11 September 2022 22:45 (one year ago) link
Matt and Samantha Brown caught Pujols’s 697th homer. Samantha’sfather passed away one year ago today. They met with Albert to give him the ball back — he told them to keep it and signed two more for them. Said it would mean more to her than to him. pic.twitter.com/FuXXFiYCIa— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) September 11, 2022
albert "cool guy" pujols ftw
― Karl Malone, Monday, 12 September 2022 22:56 (one year ago) link
That is cool. That ball is probably worth a ton
― frogbs, Monday, 12 September 2022 23:22 (one year ago) link