Pujols in lineup!

    At about, say, 5 o’clock in the afternoon on Friday, the St. Louis Cardinals fan base went beserk. 
It was all over the forums, chats, and blogs within minutes.  A
St. Louis area radio station had reported that Albert Pujols had been
activated by the St. Louis Cardinals and was in the starting lineup against the hot swinging Chicago White Sox.  This news brought the most mix reactions one may ever see. 

   
The fair-weather fan was very happy Pujols was back, most likely for
his fantasy team’s success.  Pujols is the best hitter in baseball
after all, and we all know it.

   
Your everyday Cardinals fan was pleased that Pujols was playing,
because they knew it helped the Cards chances of winning. 

    The die-hard fans, much like myself, were extremely worried
about this decision.  Wasn’t this injury supposed to keep Pujols
on the bench for 4-6 weeks?  Why is he playing after exactly 15
days on the DL? 

    As we can already
assume, Albert is half-man, half freak-of-nature.  He is a
superstar baseball player, and apparently we now know he has healing
powers.  Coming back after just over 2 weeks, Pujols looked
healthy as he could be.  His comeback would only be hampered by
his mental approach. 

    In his first
at-bat, Albert Pujols looked like the Albert Pujols of old.  He
hit a pitch hard to left field that looked gone off the bat, but
unfortunately it was caught in deep left field.  After that,
Pujols looked very uncomfortable at the plate.  His timing was way off. 
If anything about his plate appearances remained the same from earlier
this season, it was his discipline.  I can only remember one pitch
where Albert looked bad with his swing. 

   
When I talk about timing, you have to look at the results of his
at-bats.  He flew out to deep left, and grounded out several
times.  In every one of those plate appearances, it seemed like
Pujols was way out in front of those pitches, swinging too early. 

    These things may be tough on Albert now, but they mean absolutely nothing. 
Albert’s swing can’t be perfect after a two week layoff.  He needs
to get back into the flow of things, and while it may seem to be bad
that he’s coming back so early, it may turn out to be a good
thing.  If he can come in early and get his timing down, we may
still see him hitting 50-60 homers this season.  Let’s just
hope—and pray—that Albert’s injury stays about as far away from him  as the
Pirates are from the division lead. 
   
    Written by new APC Staff Writer Brady Holzhauer