Atlanta @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Apr 28, 2010 ) Atlanta 0, St. Louis 6
It’s been a good week for St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols.
Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard signed a five-year extension averaging $25 million a season, thus raising the bar for Pujols’ next contract, and Pujols’ bat has been even hotter than usual.
Pujols is 9-of-15 in four games this week entering Thursday’s series finale between the Cardinals and Atlanta Braves. Overall, he’s hitting .333 with seven homers and 19 RBIs.
Pujols will be the biggest beneficiary of Howard’s new deal since he’s widely considered the best player in the game. It’s possible Pujols could be the first player to draw a contract that averages $30 million per season.
Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said earlier this week that Pujols was worth $50 million a season. While that’s a crazy number that won’t happen, Cox’s point that Pujols is worth more than Howard is valid.
Pujols, who has hit 32 or more homers in all nine of his major-league seasons, hits for a higher average (career .334 to Howards’s .279) and is a better fielder than Howard, the highly productive Phillies’ star. Pujols also has driven in 100 or more runs in every season of his career.
Pujols is in the final season of a seven-year, $100 million deal with the Cardinals holding a club option for 2011, so it will be interesting to see what transpires in the offseason.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals are looking to complete a four-game sweep of the beleaguered Braves, who have lost eight consecutive games. The last time Atlanta had a longer losing streak was when it lost 10 straight games in June, 2006.
The Braves have been outscored 34-13 during the skid and have been shut out in three of the eight games. Atlanta is last in the National League in batting average (.227) and has scored just 77 runs in 21 games.
Rookie phenom Jason Heyward was benched Wednesday night after a 1-for-20 skid that has dropped his average to .224. Heyward (four homers, 16 RBIs) is the only Atlanta player with more than two homers and the only one with a double-digit RBI total.
The Braves could be hard-pressed to end their hitting woes Thursday with St. Louis sending Adam Wainwright to the mound.
Wainwright (3-1) has a 1.69 earned-run average and has allowed just 20 hits in 32 innings. He has struck out 26 and walked just six.
Wainwright is 4-0 lifetime against the Braves, the team that traded him to St. Louis while he was still a minor-leaguer. The main player Atlanta got back in the five-player trade following the 2003 season was outfielder J.D. Drew.
Jair Jurrjens (0-2) will start for the Braves. He has a 5.48 ERA but has pitched well in his last two starts in a no-decision against Colorado and a loss to the New York Mets.