I read in yesterday's papers that St. Louis Cardinals first baseman and first-class moron Albert Pujols has been shooting off his big mouth once again, this time to a TV reporter in the Dominican Republic. He basically said that he, and not Ryan Howard, deserved to win the National League MVP award this past season.
Pujols totally disrespected that big time, breakout season that Howard had with the Phillies. Pujols' reasoning why he should have won was simple in his mind, "The MVP should come from a playoff team."
Earth to Pujols: there's nothing in the baseball by-laws that says the league MVP MUST come from a team that's made the postseason. There are numerous examples, before and after baseball went to its current playoff system, of an MVP from a team that didn't make the playoffs. Heck, Ernie Banks won two MVP awards in the 1950s playing on last-place Chicago Cubs teams. He got them because he deserved them.
Compare Pujols' tirade to the AL second place MVP finisher, Derek Jeter. Say whatever you want about Jeter, and whether he merited winning the award or not, but at least he took the high road when the AL MVP award was announced. He complimented Justin Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP, and didn't disrespect him. Once again, Pujols comes off sounding like a whining, immature jerk. He seems to think everything revolves around him.
I lost a lot of respect for Pujols for the crap he pulled against the Mets in the 2006 NLCS. He showed plenty of disrespect for Tom Glavine and Cliff Floyd. You can now add Ryan Howard to that growing list.
I've said before that we have the new Barry Bonds in Pujols. And I don't mean that in terms of baseball ability. Bonds has an incredible talent for alienating those people around him, and apparently Pujols has that same "gift."
Once a jackass, always a jackass.
4 comments:
Lord Albert of The Pool Halls?
CLASSLESS!
He has all the Class of Bonds:
I wonder if Albert has the same personal trainer?
Albert Pujols, visiting the Dominican Republic, made seemingly sour-grapes comments about being more deserving of the NL's Most Valuable Player Award than the man who won it, Philadelphia's Ryan Howard. Of course, U.S. journalists and sports-news outlets took the reported comment at face value and ran the most acerbic Pujols blurb.
But Tom Finkel, editor of The Riverfront Times, read the Spanish-language newspapers to get a more informed handle on what Pujols actually said. And on his blog on www.riverfronttimes.com, Finkel offered a translation of comments as reported by news organizations in the D.R.
Some examples, as translated by Finkel:
— In Listin Diario, Pujols was quoted as saying: "I was a little hurt because I think I deserved the award, considering I had better numbers than (Ryan) Howard, but these things happen." And: "A player who doesn't help his team make the playoffs isn't the MVP. That's what I think, but, sadly, I don't vote."
— In Hoy, Pujols was quoted as saying, "I put up good enough numbers to be MVP again, but it's the baseball writers who vote and it's not within my power."
— El Dia reported that Pujols was stung by not winning the MVP but was happier to win the World Series. "I won the MVP in 2005 and said I'd trade it for a World Series ring, and that's what happened this year," Pujols said.
Pujols came across as a sore loser in his comments about losing the MVP, but his remarks weren't quite as harsh as reported in the United States.
This is from Bernie Miklasz of the STL Post Dispatch on STLToday.com
Originally I thought it was a TV reporter, but it actually was newspaper reporter. Thanks for the clarification and further explanation, Howard.
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