The schadenfreude in St. Louis is regrettable, but understandable. After his worst month ever in April, Albert Pujols in May is even worse. To be sure, he finally got his first home run, and he has 10 RBIs through half a month. But he's hitting third... RBIs will come almost by accident: a ground ball with a man on third; a sacrifice fly; a little dribbling single with a man on second. The real telling statistics are the following:
Extra Base Hits in May - 1
Walks in May - 1
On-Base-Percentage in May - .218
On-Base Plus Slugging in May - .477
The lack of power and the lack of walks go together... no one is afraid of him anymore, so they're throwing him strikes and getting away with it. To put it bluntly, right now Albert Pujols may not be the best player in baseball, he may be the worst.
Sad. I hope he pulls out of it soon, otherwise this is going to be a disaster of epic proportions.
Meanwhile, the two Cardinals who have been playing the most first base this year, Matt Carpenter and Allen Craig, have a combined 8 HRs and 36 RBIs, with Craig hitting above .400. And they're not even the starters! Lance Berkman has been on the disabled list. Sheesh! No wonder people in St. Louis aren't missing The Mang too much.
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