Albert Pujols - .300, 30, 100 at risk

[Jimmy_Chitwood]

Strasburg, Zimmerman and Zimmermann, with Harper on the way, and a not-that-bad crop of supporting talent.

[Frank]

@Frank

1 for 3 now - .29982

1 for 4 - .299 - Pujols may be hoping for a game tomorrow. One more at bat tonight, at least.

[Frank]

1 for 5.

.299, 37, 99

He needs a game tomorrow, or an 8 run comeback by the Astros.

That’s a shame. Ah well, had anyone asked me in the middle of August, I’d have said no way he continues the streak. He made a game effort. As it is, it’s a streak no one has ever done before, and in the 90-odd years since homers became big in baseball, and given the wonderful players that have played in the big leagues since then, it’s a streak worth noting.

[Hawkeyeop]

@RickJay

The Nationals? Dear God, what an abomination that would be; one of history’s greatest players with the Nationals.

It could be worse. He could be a Cub. Really though as others have stated the Nationals have 2 generational talents and a number of other assets. Add Pujols, and I think it would be hard not to build a contender with that sort of a core.

I’d throw your Blue Jays in the list of possible fits for him and Fielder. They have money, need, and a ton of young talent. A 3-5 of Pujols, Bautista, and Lawrie would be all sorts of fun.

[mhendo]

I’ve been following Albert through his monster second half, and was really hoping he’d make .300 and 100 RBIs. It’s worth noting that the only thing that robbed him of the RBIs was his DL stint.

It’s a measure of his greatness that he had a season OPS+ of 151 and we’re starting threads about how it’s his worst season ever. Pretty amazing.

[Dread_Pirate_Jimbo]

@Hawkeyeop

It could be worse. He could be a Cub. Really though as others have stated the Nationals have 2 generational talents and a number of other assets. Add Pujols, and I think it would be hard not to build a contender with that sort of a core.

I’d throw your Blue Jays in the list of possible fits for him and Fielder. They have money, need, and a ton of young talent. A 3-5 of Pujols, Bautista, and Lawrie would be all sorts of fun.

Seeing Prince Fielder playing with the Jays would be a nice touch and a great reminder of the heady days when Cecil Fielder and Freddy McGriff were platooning at the one bag for the Jays. Pujols would look awful damn good in a Jays uniform as well, but I simply don’t think they have the money to land either of those guys.

An interesting thought, moving Pujols to the Natinals. They’d have to move Mike Morse permanently to the outfield, but Pujols would be surrounded by a number of pretty good bats with Morse, Werth, Ankiel, and Zimmerman in the lineup. If Strasburg can stay healthy, they have a legitimate ace on the staff, but the rest of their pitching looks pretty average, so I’m not sure if they’d be ready to contend. Interesting, though…

I agree that it is remarkable that the worst year of Pujols’ career would be considered by most players to be spectacularly productive.

[Marley23]

@Jimmy_Chitwood

I hope he does come up short. When my great grandchildren are looking at Pujols’ numbers and notice how close he came to 15 in a row or whatever it ends up being, I’ll say, oh yes, I remember 2011. That was the year he was out for 6 weeks with a broken wrist. But he played 146 games, they’ll say. Yes, I’ll say, he did.

I’m a bit disappointed he fell one hit and one RBI short (he’d have hit .301 if he went 2 for 5), but I approve of the baseball poetry here. The guy got off to an inexplicably cold start, missed maybe two weeks after what looked like a bad injury, and came up one RBI hit short of continuing this amazing streak.

[mhendo]

@Marley23

…but I approve of the baseball poetry here.

In other baseball poetry news, Brian Matusz of the Orioles pitched 49.2 innings this year, with an ERA of 10.69.

That left him (possibly*) one out short of achieving the highest ERA ever by a pitcher with more than 50 inings. As RickJay noted in another thread recently, the record is currently held by Roy Halladay. I like the baseball poetry of such an inauspicious record being held by one of the greatest pitchers in the game.

• I say “possibly” because if Matusz had got the extra out without giving up another run, his ERA for 50 innings would have been 10.62, slightly better than Halladay’s 10.64 in 2000.