Okay, folks, while the Cardinals are starting to run away with the NL Central, Albert Pujols is putting up SERIOUS numbers. He has a shot, and a really good one, at winning the Triple Crown in the NL. How amazing is this guy? Well, after last night’s bomb against Cincinnati, here are his stats.

.327 batting average(tied in 3rd in NL) – leader Hanley Ramirez – .351

38 homeruns (1st)

102 runs batted in(1st)

91 runs(1st)

Keep on supporting our boy Albert Pujols! If you haven’t yet, JOIN US here at AlbertPujolsClub!

The 2009 All Star Game will be played in St. Louis. It was pretty obvious who the fans wanted to see play in St. Louis. Along with catcher Yadier Molina and closer Ryan Franklin, first basemen Albert Pujols was once again selected to the 2009 All Star team. This time Albert garnered the most votes in all of baseball. This is the second time Pujols has been top vote getter in his career, with the first coming in 2006. His 5,397,374 votes in second most in the history of the Mid-Summer Classic behind Ken Griffey Jr’s, 6,079,688 votes in 1994.

This will be Pujols’ eighth All Star appearance and his 6th start. At the season’s halfway point, Pujols was hitting .336, with 31 homeruns and 82 runs batted in. In his career, Albert has never hit below .314, and played in atleast 143 games in every season.

We here at http://www.albertpujolsclub.com would love to be the exclusive one stop stop for all things Albert Pujols. We like to think our product is worth your time, and definitely a unique site dedicated to the one and only Albert Pujols. But we know, as popular as Albert Pujols is – others are going to have websites dedicated to Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals. We are big fans of many of these sites, and sometimes get valuable news from these sites. We decided to list a top ten of Websites related to the St. Louis Cardinals and Albert Pujols. We know there are many, many more, but we wanted to talk about these ten. If you know of others that we may or may not have seen, email us at webmaster@albertpujolsclub.com, and we would love to take a look at it. Enjoy:

1. http://www.vivaelbirdos.com

This site is an excellent website that seems to be full of fresh, and valuable information pertaining to our Cardinals. This is a great blog, that seems to have material that any Cardinal, and even Baseball fan would find interesting. The Webmaster of this site should be given some kind of award for his contribution to the game of baseball!

2. http://www.cardinalsgm.com

This website talks about all the things this individual, or group of individuals would do as General Manager of the Cardinals. Now, we understand some readers and writers out there haven’t a clue what goes on inside the life of a General Manager, but this site seems to be pretty accurate on all things pertaining to the Cardinals.

3. http://www.pujolsfans.com

You cannot get enough Albert Pujols. This is a great site for more information regarding Albert!

4. http://www.birdsonthebat.com

Now beware, some of the folks here at BOTB are kind of brutal. Sometimes, you wouldn’t think you were dealing with Cardinals fans when you are here. But, rest assured, they are all Cardinal fans, just some of different views on the team and the players. If you can survive the heat some of the posters put on, you will love this site!

5. http://cardinal70.com/

Another excellent St. Louis Cardinal blog. Not all Pujols, but could the Cardinals win games with only Albert? Check out this sites latest on the Cardinals Winter Warm up. Good Recap of the WW.

6-10 (in no order):

www.stlouissportsforum.com

www.pitchershiteighth.com

www.redbirdblog.com

www.perfectknight.blogspot.com

http://509bleachers.wordpress.com

Just over a month to go until two time MVP Albert Pujols and his St. Louis Cardinals report to Jupiter Florida for Spring Training 2009! We here at www.albertpujolsclub.com CANNOT wait. Not much being said about Albert’s offseason surgery, but we figure he will be JUST FINE!
Go Cardinals!

Stars from the past — in the form of Cardinals and players from other teams who have participated in baseball All-Star Games — and stars from the present, including Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, the National League’s Most Valuable Player for 2008, and St. Louisan Ryan Howard, runner-up for the MVP and a star for the world champion Philadelphia Phillies, will feature the program for the 51st St. Louis Baseball Writers’ dinner on Jan. 19 at the Millennium Hotel.

Tickets, priced at $150 each, which includes admission to the Cardinals’ Winter Warm-Up on Jan. 17-19, can be obtained by sending check or money order to St. Louis BBWAA, P.O. Box 605, St. Louis, Mo., 63188. Tables of 10 are $1,500.

The All-Star theme for the dinner, to be emceed by Cardinals broadcaster John Rooney, is in honor of the Cardinals playing host to the All-Star Game next July for the first time in 43 years.

Among players to be honored from the 2008 Cardinals are Gold Glove catcher Yadier Molina, Silver Slugger winner Ryan Ludwick, outfielder Skip Schumaker, third baseman Troy Glaus and pitchers Kyle Lohse and Kyle McClellan.

Righthander Adam Wainwright will be saluted as the winner of the Darryl Kile Award, as voted on by Cardinals players, and longtime Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan will receive the meritorious service award

ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals on Friday announced two big draws for the club’s annual Winter Warm-Up. The club confirmed that two-time National League MVP Albert Pujols will attend and also released the extensive list of auction items that will be available to fans in attendance.

Passes for the 13th annual Winter Warm-Up are still available and may be purchased at stlcardinals.com. Each pass, which is good for all three days of the event, costs $40 for those 16 and older and $10 for ages 5-15.

Kids under 5 are admitted free. Additionally, members of the military, police and fire departments with an active ID will receive one free adult pass, which must be obtained by coming to the Cardinals offices.

The club did not divulge any autograph times for the 2009 Warm-Up, which takes place Saturday through Monday, Jan. 17-19. Proceeds from the Winter Warm-Up benefit Cardinals Care, the team’s charitable arm.

In addition to announcing Pujols’ attendance, the Cardinals also released the list of auction items, and it is lengthy. Among the items available in live auctions on stage over the course of the weekend are autographed, game-used jerseys from Pujols, Yadier Molina, Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick, as well as “broadcaster for a day” and “reporter for a day” packages.

Moreover, autographed baseballs, photos and game-used items from an extremely wide range of Cardinals players will be available at silent auctions over the course of the weekend.

And you thought the awards had dried up for Albert Pujols.

Monday brought one more accolade for the Cardinals superstar, who was chosen as the 2008 Hitter of the Year in MLB.com’s annual This Year in Baseball Awards presented by State Farm. The award was voted on by fans, and a record 12 million ballots were cast — eclipsing last year’s total of 9.6 million.

Pujols beat out nine other contenders, taking 19 percent of the votes to claim his second career win in the Hitter category (2003). Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox came in second, with 16.4 percent, followed by the Twins’ Justin Morneau, at 14.5 percent, and the Phillies’ Ryan Howard, at 13.1 percent. Farther down the ballot were Chipper Jones, Manny Ramirez, Ryan Braun, Carlos Delgado, Josh Hamilton and Mark Teixeira.

“I would say this year was [my] best because of the consistency that I had from Day 1, all the way to the end of the season,” Pujols said recently. “I was really patient at the plate.”

The selection of Pujols ended a trend in the balloting for Hitter of the Year. Each of the previous four winners hailed from the American League East, with Alex Rodriguez winning in 2007, Derek Jeter in 2006, and David Ortiz in 2004 and ‘05. Pujols’ performance, however, was so spectacular as to overcome even Pedroia’s huge built-in fan base.

It made for what was pretty much a clean sweep for the St. Louis slugger. Pujols was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, and he won the Roberto Clemente Award for excellence on and off the field. He was also named the NL or Major League Player of the Year by the Sporting News, the MLB Players Association and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and was also the NL MVP in Baseball Prospectus’ Internet Baseball Awards.

There was virtually no debate.

And why should there be? Pujols batted .357, second in the NL and the second-highest mark of his career. He finished second in the league with a career-best .462 on-base percentage and led the NL with a .653 slugging percentage that was 18 points off his career high.

And the counting stats weren’t bad, either. Pujols racked up 37 home runs, drove in 116 runs, scored 100 runs, laced 44 doubles and drew 104 walks against 54 strikeouts.

2+ months to go until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. Albert seems to be healing well from his offseason surgery and the 2008, and two time Most Valuable Player is hungry for another playoff berth. After sitting out in October the last two seasons, you can bet the Birds on the Bat, STL Cardinals will make a run this season. The offseason is going to be interesting, as the Birds look to shore up their 2009 roster. Get all the latest here at www.albertpujolsclub.com !

YES!! Albert Pujols, is just what we thought, once again MVP! 2008 MVP, Albert Pujols edges out Ryan Howard for the award! Congrats ALBERT!!!!

ST. LOUIS — The National League’s best player has also been named its most valuable.

Albert Pujols’ magnificent season earned him his second NL Most Valuable Player Award. Pujols’ 369 points bested the 308 points garnered by Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard, who beat him out by a narrow margin to win the 2006 MVP.

Pujols has finished in the top 10 in the voting in every one of his eight Major League seasons, and has been fourth or better seven times. He is the 11th player to win two NL MVP Awards, and he’s one of three active players with a pair of MVPs. Additionally, Pujols became the third player, along with Sammy Sosa in 1998 and Rod Carew in 1977, to win the MVP and the Roberto Clemente Award in the same year.

“I have to thank my teammates,” Pujols said at a news conference at Busch Stadium on Monday afternoon. “Obviously this is not an award that you win by yourself. My teammates were involved every day, day in and day out, supporting me, getting on base and driving me in. These kinds of numbers, you can’t do it by yourself.”

One of those teammates, Ryan Ludwick, even garnered some MVP consideration himself. Ludwick finished 16th in the balloting with 17 points. He was named on seven ballots out of 32.

Pujols received 18 first-place votes, 10 seconds, two thirds, a fourth and a seventh. He was the only player named on every ballot. He is the first Dominican player to be named MVP twice.

“I couldn’t believe [that],” Pujols said. “There are so many great [Dominican] players. There was one that was in the vote: Manny Ramirez. He’s just a great player, great hitter. Being the first one, I was excited. Hopefully I won’t be the last. Hopefully there will be many more players, not just from the Dominican Republic, but from Latin America.”

As baseball waited to hear the results of the ballot, the discussion centered on the definition of “most valuable.” Some argued that because Pujols’ Cardinals did not make the postseason, he could not be the most valuable player in the league. It was the only possible case against Pujols, who was indisputably his league’s best hitter and who plays Gold Glove-caliber defense at first base.