"The Cardinals have great fans," and "Albert Pujols is a great guy off the field."

[mlh1981]

I have yet to hear these worn out talking points today, but is it necessary to include these in EVERY SINGLE broadcast that involves the Cardinals?!?!?!

[GIDP]

Yes because not only is he this good and the fans that great, the players never complain and Pujols is nothing but the most professional guy on the field.

[Jack Burton]

He's great until his HGH usage comes to light.

[Vottomatic]

Pujols seems like a hypocrite to me.

He mouths off to Masset for showing emotion and pumping his fist when he induces a ground ball double play to end the game the other night.

But when Pujols draws a bases loaded walk from Mike Lincoln last night, he pumped his fist and showed emotion as he went to first base.

Can you say hypocrite?

[muddie]

Originally Posted by Jack Burton

He's great until his HGH usage comes to light.

I have no idea what his history is regarding this...but I can say based on McGwire's presence in the dugout...he's on the right team if he needs some good ol' understanding.

[mlh1981]

Originally Posted by GIDP

Yes because not only is he this good and the fans that great, the players never complain and Pujols is nothing but the most professional guy on the field.

but do we have to hear about it nearly EVERY game?

[redsfanmia]

Originally Posted by Vottomatic

Pujols seems like a hypocrite to me.

He mouths off to Masset for showing emotion and pumping his fist when he induces a ground ball double play to end the game the other night.

But when Pujols draws a bases loaded walk from Mike Lincoln last night, he pumped his fist and showed emotion as he went to first base.

Can you say hypocrite?

If the Reds pitchers had a problem with it then they should have planted one in his rear.

[GIDP]

Originally Posted by mlh1981

but do we have to hear about it nearly EVERY game?

I was being sarcastic

[NorrisHopper30]

Originally Posted by Jack Burton

He's great until his HGH usage comes to light.

Pujols said if he gets caught with anything he'll give all his money back.

[GIDP]

Yea because we all believe that would happen.

[mlh1981]

Originally Posted by GIDP

I was being sarcastic

Ok, gotcha

[gedred69]

Pujols is better than a once in a generation hitter. He has few equals in the annals of Baseball History. (Unless, he is proven to be a Bonds-esque cheater, which I would seriously doubt).

[The Operator]

I dunno, the last guy to have that kind of power, that kind of plate coverage... the ability to hit pretty much any pitch out of the park was Barry Bonds.

I'm not saying he's a user. But I just can't fathom a guy coming into the league and never hitting less than 30 homers, never having less than 100 RBIs, OPSing .900 nearly every year and over 1.000 most years, OBPs always at or above .400 - and that not being somehow due to chemical enhancement.

Maybe it's just the fact that I hate the guy because he consistently kills the Reds, I don't know. But he does have some tell tale signs. Acne, receding hair at a young age, and he's gotten A LOT bigger since he first came into the league.

Then again, maybe he's clean. If he is, he's the best hitter the game has seen in 50 years and probably for the next 50 years. If not, well, we've seen that before.

Here's a question - say Albert did test positive for a PED. Would MLB risk the huge PR hit they would take by outing Albert? Part of me thinks they wouldn't. Then again, I'm probably wrong. Wouldn't be the first time and it won't be the last time. :-p

[Griffey012]

Originally Posted by The Operator

I dunno, the last guy to have that kind of power, that kind of plate coverage... the ability to hit pretty much any pitch out of the park was Barry Bonds.

I'm not saying he's a user. But I just can't fathom a guy coming into the league and never hitting less than 30 homers, never having less than 100 RBIs, OPSing .900 nearly every year and over 1.000 most years, OBPs always at or above .400 - and that not being somehow due to chemical enhancement.

Maybe it's just the fact that I hate the guy because he consistently kills the Reds, I don't know. But he does have some tell tale signs. Acne, receding hair at a young age, and he's gotten A LOT bigger since he first came into the league.

Then again, maybe he's clean. If he is, he's the best hitter the game has seen in 50 years and probably for the next 50 years. If not, well, we've seen that before.

Here's a question - say Albert did test positive for a PED. Would MLB risk the huge PR hit they would take by outing Albert? Part of me thinks they wouldn't. Then again, I'm probably wrong. Wouldn't be the first time and it won't be the last time. :-p

PEDs or no PEDs you have to be able to flat out hit to spend 1 year in the minors and come to the bigs and hit over .300. Only odd thing is that in his only minor league season he hit 19 home runs. Then comes to the bigs the next season and hits 37. Maybe he is half man half machine.

As far as his number, Frank Thomas put up Pujols like numbers from his 2nd year in the bigs for a good 7 yeah stretch. Both guys had the same body types, just big, thick, strong men. I am pretty sure Thomas played some football at Auburn or was at least recruited to along with baseball. Pujols sure as hell has a football body, but just seemed to have a bit more natural athletic ability. I don't think anyone has ever considered Thomas to be included in the PED mess. I think Thomas is about the best "clean" player to compare Pujols to.

[The Operator]

And you could certainly be right about that.

Albert could be as clean as a whistle. It's just hard to ignore the fact that he's an unstoppable hitting machine, managed by Tony LaRussa.

It may not be fair but such is life in the post-steroid era.