Albert Pujols just struck out in the 9th inning of Game 5 of the World Series; not only did he strike out, he didn't make contact on a hit and run play, which is one of the cardinal sins of baseball, and the runner was thrown out on a strike 'em out/throw 'em out play. Two batters later, the Cards lose.
That made Pujols 0 for 12 in games other than his historic night in Game 3 when he hit 3 dingers and had 6 rbi, over which baseball writers are popping their hamstrings to declare to be the greatest performance in World Series history. And maybe it is. But the game was a 16-7 laugher; one of Pujols' homers came in the 9th inning and the score was already 15-7, and another came when the score was 12-6. Not exactly high-pressure situations. Reggie's 3 homers in the 1977 World Series not only came in the Game 6 clincher, but the final score was 8-4. Not exactly the "let Albert tee off because it's a laugher" game we saw a few days ago. If A-Rod had taken the opportunity to pile on like Pujols did and then pulled a choke job (so far) the rest of the Series (let's not forget Pujols' game-changing fielding error in Game 2), the scorn piling upon A-Rod as someone who can't get it done when it counts but pads stats in garbage time would be stifling; nobody would be calling such a Game 3 performance "historic", they'd be calling it A-Rod's love letter to himself, probably fueled by children being incinerated and Nathalie Holloway chained to the radiator in his bedroom.
I'm not saying Pujols isn't great - hell, I'm not even saying he's not a better hitter than A-Rod. And there's possibly two more games left; I wouldn't bet a nickel against Pujols doing it again. But it will be interesting to see what baseball historians do with Pujols' Game 3 if he goes 0-4 in a Cardinal Game 6 loss.
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