Albert Pujols by Tania Rodriguez

Author:Tania Rodriguez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Superstars of Baseball
ISBN: 9781422291658
Publisher: National Highlights Inc
Published: 2014-08-27T16:00:00+00:00

Albert proves to children in the Dominican Republic that dreams can come true!

Chapter 4

BECOMING

A CHAMPION

In 2004, many people didn’t think that the Cardinals would do very well. Some said the team’s pitching would still keep them from succeeding. So the team brought on some new pitchers to join their starters. The Cardinals’ hitting was still not a problem. Albert helped a lot with that!

Albert hits a home run.

St. Louis won 105 games that season, and the team only lost 57. The Cardinals won the Central Division by 13 games. The team’s pitching ended up doing very well. Albert played well, too. His leg was sore in the beginning of the season, but he still hit 22 home runs before the summer’s All-Star Game.

Albert’s leg slowly got better. And so did his playing. Albert ended the regular season with 46 home runs, the most he’d ever hit in the regular season. What’s amazing is that Albert had 84 walks, too! Albert scored more runs than anyone else in baseball.

A Big Postseason

The Cardinals went into the playoffs ready. They wanted to win the World Series this year. The team thought it could be St. Louis’s first win since 1982.

In the Division Series, the Cardinals played Los Angeles, and in the first two games, St. Louis won by five runs. The Dodgers won Game 3, but that wasn’t enough to win the series. The Cardinals came back in Game 4 to win it all. Albert hit a three-run home run to put St. Louis ahead. Los Angeles never caught up.

In the National League Championship Series, the Cardinals played the Houston Astros. St. Louis again won the first two games of the series. In the next three games, though, the Cardinals kept losing. In Game 6, the team could have lost the series. Instead, the Cardinals beat the Astros.

In the seventh game, the score was close for most of the game. Albert had a big hit in the sixth inning, and St. Louis took the lead. In the end, the Cardinals won 5–2. The team was headed to the World Series! It would be Albert’s first World Series. But it wouldn’t be his last.

The Cardinals faced the Boston Red Sox in the World Series that year. Albert hit five home runs in the series, and he had 11 RBIs, too. Albert was chosen as series MVP.

St. Louis had had an amazing season, but it all ended in the World Series. The team lost badly to Boston. Albert played well, but he didn’t hit one home run during the Series. He didn’t have any RBIs either.

The Cardinals’ other big hitters did not play well either. It was a tough series for St. Louis. They’d had such a great season. But they couldn’t keep their winning streak going into the World Series. The team couldn’t beat the Red Sox.

Albert had played very well, but he still hadn’t gotten what he wanted. He wanted to win a World Series.

Soon, though, Albert would get his wish. He just had to be patient.

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