The only sound you could hear inside Rangers Ballpark was the collective gasp of all the slack-jawed Texas fans who were witness to the sort of damage Albert Pujols can inflict when he is properly provoked. It was the same sort of shock-and-awe silence he had produced six years ago during Game 5 of the National League championship series in Houston when he rattled a moon shot off the center-field glass with such frightening urgency and raw power that it provoked Astros starter Andy Pettitte to gasp “Oh … My … GOSH!”
So here he was in the midst of Game 3 of the 2011 World Series, putting on the sort of historic power display that emphatically shifted the story line of his championship season from post-game interview no-show back to its rightful place as baseball’s premier slugger.
“I’ve seen him on TV before,” said Rangers manager Ron Washington, “but in person tonight was something special.”
What Pujols did this warm Saturday night in a 16-7 victory over the Rangers was something no one had ever seen in the other 106 World Series before. He did something that Babe Ruth never did, Reggie Jackson never did, Willie Mays or Frank Robinson or all those other celebrated baseball legends who are bronzed in Cooperstown could not do in the history of the Fall Classic.
He became the first player in World Series history to have a five-hit, three-home-run game, while collecting 14 total bases. It happened while doing the most important work of the night, giving his Cardinals a 2-1 edge in this best-of-seven matchup and regaining home-field advantage in the Series. And he did it in typical Pujols style: with a flare for drama and power the likes of which Rangers Ballpark have never seen.
This was arguably the greatest offensive performance in World Series history. Think about that for a moment. There have been 106 other World Series played spanning three different centuries, and some of baseball’s legendary figures have had a chance to make their marks at the plate in the Fall Classic. But Pujols now stands all alone for this performance in Game 3.
Jackson and Ruth each hit three home runs in a World Series game. But Pujols is in a class of one when you add his other production. He did not hint that this sort of power display was coming because he had been rather silent coming into Game 3. After two games, he was 0 for six without a single RBI.
But the power display didn’t start until the sixth inning, and it was arguably the second most frightening home run of his career after that memorable shot in 2005. When he stepped into the box against Rangers reliever Alexi Ogando, he sent Ogando’s 96-mile-an-hour fastball on a trajectory that banged off the concrete facade above the left-field Diamond Club. The 423-foot, three-run rocket gave the Cards an 11-6 lead.
Pujols stroked that ball so hard that the sold-out crowd let out a collective gasp, then fell silent as he paused to admire his handiwork, letting the bat go with an insolent flip, then quickly trotting around the bases.
It wouldn’t take long for the crowd to find out that Pujols work wasn’t done.
With the Cardinals protecting a 12-6 lead in the top of the seventh, Pujols came up again with one runner on and for some strange reason, Washington thought it was a good idea to pitch to him again.
On the first pitch he smoked another bomb, this one going into the left-center field seats and the Cardinals were in control, 14-6.
The historic third rocket shot came in the top of the ninth inning with the game already in hand. The sold-out crowd had thinned out by now, but the half-empty ballpark could sense that maybe Pujols wasn’t finished. They were right.
This was Pujols at his best. This was baseball’s top player deciding that he needed to do something to turn the hot glare of controversy off him and instead return the attention to what he does so extraordinarily.
This was another reason to understand why Pujols is the game’s most dominant player and deserves to be celebrated (and paid) for that. Sometimes Pujols forgets that his role as the face of baseball comes with special obligations like dealing with the media win or lose. But once he crosses the lines and steps onto the field, there is never an issue with how he goes to work.
What he did here in Texas was a stunning reminder to all these Rangers fans who expected the tide to turn in the World Series toward their bash-and-smash home team, that these Cardinals know how to crash the fences, too.
What he did was show everyone in the American League crowd what so many folks in the National League have known for a long time. He possesses that rare, magnificent, wrecking-crew power that only the rudest house guest the state of Texas since Santa Anna can possess.
Those three clouts produced the sort of World Series magnitude on par with a Reggie Jackson moment. This was as dramatic as Kirk Gibson’s stiff-legged trot around the Dodger Stadium base path. This was Bobby Thomson chilling. This was Carlton Fisk amazing. This was Bill Mazeroski magnificent.
Now add Pujols’ performance to that stunning list of World Series power moments.
“Someone said, ‘Have a day that no one will forget,’” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “That’s exactly what he did.”
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