![\"http:\/\/a323.yahoofs.com\/ymg\/ept_sports_fantasy_experts__28\/ept_sports_fantasy_experts-148054460-1274629244.jpg?ym8BuLDD59bFph4R\"](\"http:\/\/a323.yahoofs.com\/ymg\/ept_sports_fantasy_experts__28\/ept_sports_fantasy_experts-148054460-1274629244.jpg?ym8BuLDD59bFph4R\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Let’s play choose your own adventure<\/a>, MLB-style. <\/p>\n Here’s the situation: There are two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, your team has a four-run lead, the greatest hitter who ever lived is at the plate, a pitcher with a 4.44 career ERA is on the mound, and there’s a runner at first base. And let’s just say, hypothetically, that the baserunner is 0-for-2 on steal attempts this season and 16-for-30 lifetime.<\/p>\n The St. Louis Cardinals<\/a> found themselves in precisely that situation on Friday. Albert Pujols<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> was facing Angels reliever Jason Bulger<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> while Ryan Ludwick<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> stood on first. That’s obviously a terrific setup for Pujols, the reigning National League MVP. <\/p>\n But on Bulger’s first pitch, Ludwick took off for second — and he was thrown out by a mile. (Or if not literally a mile, then a significant percentage of a mile. It wasn’t close). The inning thus ended, and Pujols was denied a chance to extend the Cardinals lead. He was not pleased<\/a>. <\/a><\/p>\n The St. Louis Post-Dispatch offers these details:<\/p>\n Pujols flipped his bat and helmet as he returned to the dugout then smacked two trays of gum from a bench against the Cardinals dugout wall.<\/p>\n La Russa reprimanded Pujols, saying, "That’s enough."<\/p>\n Pujols responded and, according to eyewitnesses, the exchange escalated with La Russa telling Pujols at one point, "I [expletive] know how to manage."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n No one can dispute that La Russa knows how to manage, obviously. He’s won five pennants and two World Series titles. But that’s just a crazy spot to attempt a steal. If Ludwick would have been successful, Pujols probably gets walked. Only Ludwick’s fantasy owners appreciated the decision. <\/p>\n Albert has been in a semi-slump — at least by his ridiculous standards — batting .267\/.396\/.400 so far in May. He hasn’t driven in a run in his last eight games. His between-innings reaction was either A) evidence of his frustration with his recent performance, or B) a total condemnation of gum. <\/p>\n Both La Russa and Pujols have downplayed the incident, and it sounds like nothing more than typical heat-of-battle bickering. These were Albert’s comments:<\/p>\n Pujols didn’t dispute that the incident happened but considered it "I was hitting and we got thrown out stealing. I wanted to hit. That’s Pujols added, "It’s over. We said what we said. It’s over."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Such things happen when you trail the Reds in the N.L. Central. <\/p>\n Not to be out-done (or out-outed), the Angels allowed Erick Aybar<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> to lay down a bunt in the ninth inning, trailing by four. (He was credited with a sacrifice, though he was no doubt looking for a hit. Aybar has a bit more speed than Ludwick). <\/p>\n No word on whether objects were attacked in LA’s dugout, or whether Mike Scioscia declared that he [expletive] knows anything.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Photo via US Presswire<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let’s play choose your own adventure, MLB-style. Here’s the situation: There are two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, your team has a four-run lead, the greatest hitter who ever lived is at the plate, a pitcher with a 4.44 career ERA is on the mound, and there’s a runner at first base. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-575987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\ninsignificant.<\/p>\n
\nall it was," he said.<\/p>\n
![choose your own adventure<\/a>, MLB-style. <\/p>\nHere’s the situation: There are two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, your team has a four-run lead, the greatest hitter who ever lived is at the plate, a pitcher with a 4.44 career ERA is on the mound, and there’s a runner at first base. And let’s just say, hypothetically, that the baserunner is 0-for-2 on steal attempts this season and 16-for-30 lifetime.<\/p>\nThe St. Louis Cardinals<\/a> found themselves in precisely that situation on Friday. Albert Pujols<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> was facing Angels reliever Jason Bulger<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> while Ryan Ludwick<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> stood on first. That’s obviously a terrific setup for Pujols, the reigning National League MVP. <\/p>\nBut on Bulger’s first pitch, Ludwick took off for second — and he was thrown out by a mile. (Or if not literally a mile, then a significant percentage of a mile. It wasn’t close). The inning thus ended, and Pujols was denied a chance to extend the Cardinals lead. He was not pleased<\/a>. <\/a><\/p>\nThe St. Louis Post-Dispatch offers these details:<\/p>\n\nPujols flipped his bat and helmet as he returned to the dugout then smacked two trays of gum from a bench against the Cardinals dugout wall.<\/p>\nLa Russa reprimanded Pujols, saying, "That’s enough."<\/p>\nPujols responded and, according to eyewitnesses, the exchange escalated with La Russa telling Pujols at one point, "I [expletive] know how to manage."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nNo one can dispute that La Russa knows how to manage, obviously. He’s won five pennants and two World Series titles. But that’s just a crazy spot to attempt a steal. If Ludwick would have been successful, Pujols probably gets walked. Only Ludwick’s fantasy owners appreciated the decision. <\/p>\nAlbert has been in a semi-slump — at least by his ridiculous standards — batting .267\/.396\/.400 so far in May. He hasn’t driven in a run in his last eight games. His between-innings reaction was either A) evidence of his frustration with his recent performance, or B) a total condemnation of gum. <\/p>\nBoth La Russa and Pujols have downplayed the incident, and it sounds like nothing more than typical heat-of-battle bickering. These were Albert’s comments:<\/p>\n\nPujols didn’t dispute that the incident happened but considered it\ninsignificant.<\/p>\n"I was hitting and we got thrown out stealing. I wanted to hit. That’s\nall it was," he said.<\/p>\nPujols added, "It’s over. We said what we said. It’s over."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nSuch things happen when you trail the Reds in the N.L. Central. <\/p>\nNot to be out-done (or out-outed), the Angels allowed Erick Aybar<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> to lay down a bunt in the ninth inning, trailing by four. (He was credited with a sacrifice, though he was no doubt looking for a hit. Aybar has a bit more speed than Ludwick). <\/p>\nNo word on whether objects were attacked in LA’s dugout, or whether Mike Scioscia declared that he [expletive] knows anything.<\/p>\n—<\/p>\nPhoto via US Presswire<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let’s play choose your own adventure, MLB-style. Here’s the situation: There are two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, your team has a four-run lead, the greatest hitter who ever lived is at the plate, a pitcher with a 4.44 career ERA is on the mound, and there’s a runner at first base. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-575987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.gamebooks.org\/gallery\/cyoa025.jpg\"){kind=link}