Dodgers’ Albert Pujols continues to drop bombs while his role shifts

My knee jerk reaction when Albert Pujols first signed with the Dodgers on May 15 was hopeful, but aggressively skeptical. At the time he was a site for sore eyes after hitting .198 with a .250 OBP to start off his 2021 campaign for the Angels. 

Two weeks have passed and my mood has turned into slightly optimistic after hitting ding dongs on Saturday and Sunday against the Giants.

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Sunday’s bomb would have been three in a row if it wasn’t for Mike Tauchman deciding to make the play of a lifetime Friday night.

ALBERT PUJOLS ROBBED BY MIKE TAUCHMAN OF A WALKOFF HOMERUN

https://t.co/NyMkcLgXUq

— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) May 29, 2021

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This would’ve been a back-to-back walk-off homerun to cap off a 3-run comeback. Instead of unbridled joy and jubilation, I had my hands on my head while looking at the sky questioning if all human beings were made to provoke evil on Earth. 

Pujols getting robbed of a walk off home run is still more clutch than anything DJ Peters, Sheldon Neuse and Luke Raley have done this year. 

It’s hard not to lament about the holy trinity of disappointment when they are averaging a .182 BA with a total of five home runs and 10 RBIs between the the three of them. I will take the high road and say getting them to combine for a .250 BA is more difficult than winning the Iditarod with a pack of pregnant cows. 

One of the main reasons the Dodgers are leading the MLB in 1-run losses with 12 is because they don’t have guys answering the bell in late inning situations. It’s a tall order for guys with little experience to pinch hit for relievers and smoke baseballs, but it’s what it will take to snatch first place from the Padres.

With Cody Bellinger and Zach McKinstry off the IL and AJ Pollock coming in soon after, Pujols will soon be utilized primarily to come in and deliver clutch moments after riding the pine for multiple innings. 

Granted his pinch hit numbers aren’t great, I’d take the guy with 670 career home runs and 1,357 extra base hits to deliver a bomb over the currently struggling Matt Beaty and Yoshi Tsutstugo. 

One of the main indications of Pujols becoming a productive second stringer is the hustle he has shown. 

Albert Pujols with the hustle and crafty slide to give the #Dodgers their first baserunner of the night. pic.twitter.com/PdDICwRVy7

— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) May 28, 2021

The future hall of famer clearly has a skosh of baseball left in him and is going to do everything to use the most of it, even if it means a situation where he starts seldomly.