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Pujols ready to face familiar foe
04/03/2008 7:37 PM ETBy Matthew Leach / MLB.com
Sometimes a hitter sees a ball well against a pitcher. Sometimes he just feels comfortable, or is able to pick up a tip from the pitcher's motion. And once in a long while, a hitter just flat-out owns a pitcher. Dominates him. That's the case with Albert Pujols and Washington's Friday night starter, Odalis Perez. Pujols singled in his first two at-bats against Perez, way back in 2002, and he hasn't looked back. Officially, Pujols is 13-for-20 with five home runs, two doubles and seven walks against his Dominican countryman. That's a ridiculous .650 batting average, .741 on-base percentage and 1.500 slugging percentage.
And the official numbers don't even tell the full story, because Pujols has dominated Perez in the playoffs as well. Counting the 2004 National League Division Series, Pujols has a 15-for-23 mark (.652) against Perez with six home runs and eight walks.
It's the kind of line that makes you wonder why Perez ever throws Pujols a strike.
"Albert is a great hitter and he's going to do that to some guys once in a while," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "If a guy wants to keep challenging him, then ..."
Then he's going to get raked.
For his part, Pujols would rather not talk about the topic.
"I don't think about that," he said after a walk-off home run against Perez in 2006. "It's part of the game. I guess I see the ball real good against him and I don't try to do too much."
If Pujols is able to do damage against Perez once again, the beneficiary will be Braden Looper, who finally gets to make his first start of the season. More than a week after the Cardinals left Florida, Looper has yet to take the mound in a game that counted.
He pitched in an intrasquad Minor League game on Sunday while his teammates had their pre-Opening Day workout at Busch Stadium, then made his way north. Five days before that, Looper also pitched in the Minors, since La Russa didn't want him facing Washington in an exhibition 10 days before pitching against the Nats in the season.
Pitching matchup
STL: RHP Braden Looper (0-0, -.-- ERA)
Considering the skepticism with which his transition was met, Looper's first year as a starter actually went pretty OK. He made 30 starts and pitched 175 innings, and for the most part he was reasonably effective. Looper's ground-ball rate dipped significantly, though, and that's something he'd like to see change. He doesn't have the kind of repertoire to succeed for long as a fly-ball pitcher.
WSH: LHP Odalis Perez (0-0, 1.80 ERA)
Perez will face the Cardinals for the 12th time in his career. He is 3-4 with an 8.46 ERA against them. Perez is looking for his first winning season since the 2004, when he was with the Dodgers.
Tidbits
Looper was 7-4 with a 3.34 ERA at home last year, compared to an ugly 5-8, 6.81 on the road. On the other hand, he was also much better in day games (7-1, 1.82) than at night (5-11, 6.75). ... Yadier Molina hit .288 with a .388 on-base percentage and a .423 slugging percentage against left-handers in 2007. ... The Cardinals have lost three straight series against the Nationals. ... The Cardinals are 2-1. They were over .500 only five times all year in 2007. They have a chance to be two games over .500 for the first time since the end of 2006.
Tickets
Buy tickets now to catch the game in person.
On the Internet
MLB.TV
Gameday Audio
• Gameday
• Official game notes
On television
• FSN-HD
On radio
• KTRS 550
Up next
• Saturday: Cardinals (Adam Wainwright, 0-0, -.--) vs. Nationals (Matt Chico, 0-0, 5.06), 12:10 p.m. CT
• Sunday: Cardinals (Kyle Lohse, 0-0, 0.00) vs. Nationals (Tim Redding, 1-0, 0.00), 1:15 p.m. CT
• Monday: Cardinals (Todd Wellemeyer, 1-0, 1.80) at Astros (Wandy Rodriguez, 0-0, 7.20), 6:05 p.m. CT
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
04/03/2008 7:37 PM ETBy Matthew Leach / MLB.com
Sometimes a hitter sees a ball well against a pitcher. Sometimes he just feels comfortable, or is able to pick up a tip from the pitcher's motion. And once in a long while, a hitter just flat-out owns a pitcher. Dominates him. That's the case with Albert Pujols and Washington's Friday night starter, Odalis Perez. Pujols singled in his first two at-bats against Perez, way back in 2002, and he hasn't looked back. Officially, Pujols is 13-for-20 with five home runs, two doubles and seven walks against his Dominican countryman. That's a ridiculous .650 batting average, .741 on-base percentage and 1.500 slugging percentage.
And the official numbers don't even tell the full story, because Pujols has dominated Perez in the playoffs as well. Counting the 2004 National League Division Series, Pujols has a 15-for-23 mark (.652) against Perez with six home runs and eight walks.
It's the kind of line that makes you wonder why Perez ever throws Pujols a strike.
"Albert is a great hitter and he's going to do that to some guys once in a while," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "If a guy wants to keep challenging him, then ..."
Then he's going to get raked.
For his part, Pujols would rather not talk about the topic.
"I don't think about that," he said after a walk-off home run against Perez in 2006. "It's part of the game. I guess I see the ball real good against him and I don't try to do too much."
If Pujols is able to do damage against Perez once again, the beneficiary will be Braden Looper, who finally gets to make his first start of the season. More than a week after the Cardinals left Florida, Looper has yet to take the mound in a game that counted.
He pitched in an intrasquad Minor League game on Sunday while his teammates had their pre-Opening Day workout at Busch Stadium, then made his way north. Five days before that, Looper also pitched in the Minors, since La Russa didn't want him facing Washington in an exhibition 10 days before pitching against the Nats in the season.
Pitching matchup
STL: RHP Braden Looper (0-0, -.-- ERA)
Considering the skepticism with which his transition was met, Looper's first year as a starter actually went pretty OK. He made 30 starts and pitched 175 innings, and for the most part he was reasonably effective. Looper's ground-ball rate dipped significantly, though, and that's something he'd like to see change. He doesn't have the kind of repertoire to succeed for long as a fly-ball pitcher.
WSH: LHP Odalis Perez (0-0, 1.80 ERA)
Perez will face the Cardinals for the 12th time in his career. He is 3-4 with an 8.46 ERA against them. Perez is looking for his first winning season since the 2004, when he was with the Dodgers.
Tidbits
Looper was 7-4 with a 3.34 ERA at home last year, compared to an ugly 5-8, 6.81 on the road. On the other hand, he was also much better in day games (7-1, 1.82) than at night (5-11, 6.75). ... Yadier Molina hit .288 with a .388 on-base percentage and a .423 slugging percentage against left-handers in 2007. ... The Cardinals have lost three straight series against the Nationals. ... The Cardinals are 2-1. They were over .500 only five times all year in 2007. They have a chance to be two games over .500 for the first time since the end of 2006.
Tickets
Buy tickets now to catch the game in person. On the Internet
MLB.TV Gameday Audio• Gameday
• Official game notes
On television
• FSN-HD
On radio
• KTRS 550
Up next
• Saturday: Cardinals (Adam Wainwright, 0-0, -.--) vs. Nationals (Matt Chico, 0-0, 5.06), 12:10 p.m. CT
• Sunday: Cardinals (Kyle Lohse, 0-0, 0.00) vs. Nationals (Tim Redding, 1-0, 0.00), 1:15 p.m. CT
• Monday: Cardinals (Todd Wellemeyer, 1-0, 1.80) at Astros (Wandy Rodriguez, 0-0, 7.20), 6:05 p.m. CT
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
..........classic quote.....
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