Happy first day of summer, readers.
Pujols out 4-6 weeks.
Albert Pujols fractured his left wrist on a first-base collision on Sunday. Results came in yesterday afternoon. This injury - which should keep Pujols out til early August at the soonest - creates an interesting situation in the NL Central, which looks to remain tight all season with Milwaukee and Cincinnati playing well and the Pirates being better-than-expected. For the Cardinals, it's just another dose of bad news that started when they lost staff ace Adam Wainwright for the season in spring training. They've persevered without Wainwright, however, and I think this injury hurts the team's long-term playoff chances less than one might expect.
What this injury does potentially hurt, in my opinion, is the value of Pujols in the off-season, should he continue on his path to free agency rather than re-sign with the Cardinals. Admittedly, I'm not entirely sure what Pujols expects. He is, without a doubt, one of the best players in baseball, but the market for big-money first basemen isn't great. The teams that have money to spend are already locked up at first base - the Red Sox and Yankees, for example. It's going to be hard to find a team that has the available cash and desire to pay him $30M/year that isn't set at the position already. And I don't think even the Yankees will pay $30M/year for him and create an awkward platooning 1B/DH situation between him and Teixeira, but who knows. Those factors, combined with this injury, may very well pave his way to come back to St. Louis, ultimately, especially if he ends up posting lacking numbers after he returns.
Not quite, no-no...
Two pitchers threw shutouts last night - well, one threw 8 innings; the other threw all 9. Tim Hudson, for the Atlanta Braves, went 8 innings and threw 8 strike-outs and 1 walk, allowing 1 hit. His record improved to 6-6 afterwards. The Braves had closer Craig Kimbrel finish the game in the 9th; he allowed the second hit of the game for the Blue Jays. More amusingly, the only runs scored in the game - a 2-0 final - were scored on Hudson's 2-run home run in the 7th inning. His first of the season, second of his career.
The other shutout was a two-hitter thrown by Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He went all 9 innings, striking out 11 and walking only 1. It was his second shutout of the season and improved his mark to 7-3; pretty impressive for the 23 year-old in his 4th Major League season. After going 13-10 last year with a 2.91 ERA, he looks poised to continue to improve this year (his ERA is currently 3.01). He currently leads the majors in strikeouts, with 117. Like Hudson, Kershaw decided to have some fun at the plate, too, notching his 10th hit of the season (the most among pitchers) when he hit a two-out, 2-RBI single in the bottom of the 8th to put the game away. Ironically, he was brought to the plate by an intentional walk before. For the Tigers, this was the first time they've endured a shutout since the 2006 season.
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