Arlington, Tex.
This is the Ballpark. This is the place to be if you are a hitter and you want to do amazing things. And Saturday night in Game 3 of the World Series, Albert Pujols did them, in triplicate and at a level no man ever has.
- Thomas Boswell
- Columnist
World Series: Albert Pujols speaks loudly with three homers at cozy Rangers Ballpark
MIKE SEGAR/REUTERS - Rangers relief pitcher Mike Gonzalez rather not watch as the Cardinals' Albert Pujols rounds third base after his two-run home run in the seventh inning.
In a 16-7 St. Louis Cardinals win, he homered three times, drove in six runs and had five hits — all tying World Series records. The third homer came in the ninth inning into the left field stands; it was a baby blow compared to his earlier blasts off the facing of the club level in left field and a line drive into the center field stands. His 14 total bases set a new World Series mark.
Yet though his performance was statistically unique, it also came with a pure bizarre Rangers Ballpark touch: all of his homers and RBI came after the Cards already lead 8-6 and, technically, constituted insurance runs.
Of course, nowhere on earth are insurance runs more valuable.
“Someday I hope I can look back and say, ‘Wow, what a game that was in Game 3 of the 2011 World Series,” Pujols said. But this isn’t yet that someday for him. It is still just one day in an undetermined World Series.
“It is pretty special, but you enjoy it for a minute, then get ready to play tomorrow,” he said. “I know Texas will show a lot of heart.”
In the Ballpark, hope never dies. No matter how far ahead, or behind you are, no lead — and no record — is safe.
Pujols’s last two homers were, to be candid, icing on his personal cake. For impact on a championship, they didn’t reach the three homers by Reggie Jackson in the Game 6 clincher for the Yankees in ’78. However, when the Pujols biography is finally written, this night will have as large a symbolic meaning as a statistical one. After all, who made the error in the ninth inning of Game 2 in St. Louis that put the eventual game-losing run in scoring position: Pujols, of course.
When he stayed in an off-limits area of the clubhouse and didn’t answer questions afterward, that, too, became an off-day controversy. “I was really embarrassed to be in the middle of that,” said Pujols, pointing out how his error and his flap with the press took attention off the pitchers in a 2-1 duel.
“This is the latest example of how great he is,” Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa said. “In the dugout, guys were saying to him, ‘Have a day they’ll never forget.’ ”
So, now Pujols stands alone with Jackson and Babe Ruth (twice) as the only players with three homers games. Whether or not this is actually regarded, in time, as the best offensive game in World Series history — or a spectacular, come-to-the-party star turn in a blowout — may be determined by whether it is a punch to the gut from which the Rangers cannot recover.
If Pujols’s comeback from his Game 2 error, and his titanic 5-for-6 night, convinces Texas that it is on the wrong side of history — or Cardinals magic — then that’s where it may eventually land.
However, if the Rangers come back from these haymakers, then this night may be seen as equal parts Pujols majesty and Rangers Ballpark slapstick, especially if the next two nights here produce more football-like final scores. Maybe you have to be here to feel was a unique and goofy venue this is.
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