Los Angeles Dodgers vs St. Louis Cardinals Live Online Streaming
Los Angeles Dodgers vs St. Louis Cardinals Live Online Streaming
The Dodgers have held Pujols to a single in six at-bats, and zero at-bats with runners in scoring position. They’ve intentionally walked him three times. Teams stopped issuing so many intentional walks the second half of the season after the Cardinals acquired Holliday on July 24, giving Pujols premium protection in the batting order. Now the free passes are back with a vengeance. “One of the reasons we were a lot better in the last half of the year is we have protection behind him,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “If Albert keeps getting on base, we’ll pick him up.” For Torre, there’s still no question the rest of the lineup is a lot less scary. Even if Holliday batted .353 with 55 RBIs in 63 games with St. Louis, and Ryan Ludwick had 97 RBIs.
Certainly the results have been favorable. Minus Pujols’ clutch bat the Cardinals have a deceptive .300 average, totaling just five runs the first two games. Pujols’ teammates aren’t surprised the tactic is back. Third baseman Mark DeRosa said he’d walk Pujols with a runner on second in the first inning, too.
