THE SCORE

Albert Pujols                .288/.349/.538-29 HR 92 RBI
Carlos Beltran             .268/.340/.502-28 HR 86 RBI

Pujols

OK, Pujols has 20 percentage points on his average more than Beltran, the facts don’t lie, but the Cardinals really lucked out in acquiring Carlos Beltran. If you live in the St. Louis area and were worried that no one could replace Pujols, you have a nothing to worry about and a great front office running your team.

Of course if you are a Mets fan, you will NEVER forgive Beltran for standing there at the plate in the final game of the NLCS at the bottom of the 9^th and men on base and taking the third strike that sent your team home.

Pujols to his credit came back from a very bad start, only to finish stronger. He has acclimated to American League pitching and the strike zone to do terrible things once again.

                             W             L             PCT               GB

St. Louis               72            62            .537               9.5

LA Angels            71            63.            530            10.5

Beltran

Above is the record as of September 3, and shows what an impact it has on both teams. Yet I can’t help think that the Cards have the better of the deal for now and long term. Pujols contract is big, and will be around for a while. ($254 million, 10-years), while Beltran’s contract (two-year, $26 million) points out the fact that Pujols will be old and decrepit when they finish paying his contract off, with playing skills diminished considerable, while Beltran will be long gone and the contract finished 8 years sooner.

How will the long term and big number contract tie-up the Angels and at what year do they start to look for a way out of it?

That’s all I wrote, folks!