Behind The Box Score

The man just flat out hits home runs. Last night, Albert Pujols hit his 5th(correction, my bad) grand slam of the season, and helped the Cardinals (59-50) beat the New York Mets 12-7 in extra innings. He broke out of his slump last night, gaining 7 points on his batting average. Since his recent peak of .338 on July 11, The Machine has only hit .266, including last night’s 4 for 5 effort. “I didn’t change my approach,” he said. “I just made sure I had good swings.”

The Cards had to play catch-up on the struggling Mets (50-56), trailing 7-4 going into the 8th inning. The 8th opened up with non other than Pujols, who homered for the first time of the night, his 35th at the time. Nothing happened again till the top of the 9th, when the Red Birds started off with a bang. Doubles by Julio Lugo, and Rick Ankiel brought home the first run of the 9th, chopping the lead to 7-6. Colby Rasmus struck out, and then Skip Schumaker singled into right field, tying the game at 7, Francisco Rodriguez had his 4th blown save of the season.

The bottom of the 9th went fairly quietly, even with a runner getting to second. The top of the 10th went the Cardinals way, as they loaded the bases, and Mark DeRosa getting hit by a pitch, bringing in the first run in extras. Albert Pujols connected on a 0-2 pitch deep in to the right centerfield, giving the Cards the indefinite lead of 12-7. “I work hard. I’m ready every day. I didn’t put my head down. I don’t change myself and I don’t change my approach,” Albert said after the game.