I’m letting go of Albert Pujols. He can have his fun, sun and money in southern California. It takes nine guys on a field to win a baseball game. Although Pujols is a game-changer, his 11 seasons in St. Louis were treasured.

One of the reasons the Cardinals won the 2011 World Series was a trade made in late July just before the trading deadline. Rafael Furcal came over from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a trade that also got a handful of relief pitchers to bolster the ailing pitching staff.

Now Furcal has a two-year, $14 million contract in hand. ESPN reports he just underwent an appendectomy but will ready in time for spring training. Furcal’s signing is bittersweet for the club as there are good and bad points to the veteran shortstop.

First is that he’s 34 years old. You have to have an experienced player at shortstop. He’s probably past his prime in the batting department, but 12 years on the middle infield is what the Cards need to have on the defensive end. That being said, Furcal had a slew of errors the end of September that very nearly cost the Cardinals a shot at the postseason. He only bat .195 in the playoffs.

Furcal isn’t the best hitting shortstop in baseball. He is a career .282 hitter who hit .255 with the Cardinals in 2011. With great bats around him such as David Freese, Matt Holliday, Lance Berkman and (eventually) Allen Craig, the Cardinals clearly got him for his defense.

Plus the Cardinals were able to afford him. That’s the good thing that came out of the Pujols situation. St. Louis has so much more wiggle room to get players they need to fill gaps. Heaven for fend if St. Louis paid megabucks for Pujols and then he goes down with an injury, the team would be toast because other staff were gutted to bring keep him in St. Louis.

Furcal will be a welcome addition to St. Louis. He needs to focus and forget about the errors and his horrible postseason batting. Now that he has new life for the next two years in Major League Baseball, Furcal and relax and simply play baseball. He needs to be a defensive shortstop and let other batters around him take over and drive in runs.

William Browning was born in St. Louis and is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

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ST. LOUIS, Aug. 15 (UPI) — Albert Pujols hit a mammoth homer and Yadier Molina drove in a pair of runs Sunday in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 6-2 victory over Colorado.

After spotting the Rockies a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, the Cardinals stormed back in the next half-inning, starting when Pujols hit a 465-foot, two-run shot to left field — the longest clout in the five-year history of Busch Stadium.

David Freese and Molina (3-for-3) followed with back-to-back RBI doubles for St. Louis, which stayed five games behind National League Central-leading Milwaukee with the victory.

Edwin Jackson (2-1) pitched well enough for the win, giving up two runs on eight hits while going 5 1/3 innings.

Rockies starter Esmil Rogers (6-2), meanwhile, was wild, issuing seven walks en route to the defeat while yielding four runs on six hits in a five-inning effort.

Mark Ellis went 2-for-4 with a solo homer for Colorado, which dropped the rubber match of a three-game set against the Cards.

By Dan Moore

– Managing Editor

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Aug 13, 2011 – The Milwaukee Brewers had moved on to the Pittsburgh Pirates but the St. Louis Cardinals were more than able to keep up with them Friday, putting together a dink-and-dunk five-score sixth inning to propel Kyle Lohse past the Colorado Rockies 6-1 in the opening game of their weekend series. The Cardinals had nine hits, paced by two each from David Freese and Albert Pujols, and got doubles from Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman besides. 

Lohse, who had been skipped in the rotation for the Brewers series after an ugly post-All-Star Break stretch, looked strong, going six-and-one-thirds innings and allowing just one run to pick up his 10th win. It marked the first time he’d gone six innings in more than a month. Pujols improved to .286 in his improbable run at .300. 

The Cardinals will bring two of their top starters to the mound over the weekend. Jaime Garcia gets the Saturday assignment, while midseason acquisition Edwin Jackson looks to close the series out against Esmil Rogers on Sunday night. 

Read More: Lance Berkman (RF – STL), Kyle Lohse (P – STL), Matt Holliday (LF – STL), Albert Pujols (1B – STL), David Freese (3B – STL), St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers

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MIAMI, Aug. 4 (UPI) — Albert Pujols scored the go-ahead run in the third Thursday and added a solo homer in leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-4 victory over Florida.

The Marlins had a three-game winning streak snapped, wasting a 14-hit attack that forced the Cardinals to use seven pitchers.

Both sides scored three times in the first, but St. Louis went in front for good with another three-run inning in the third.

Pujols scored the first run in the inning when David Freese was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

The pitch from Clay Hensley struck Freese in the head. He lay on the ground while being treated but eventually left the field under his own power with what team officials said was a mild concussion.

After that scare, Skip Schumaker delivered a two-run double for a 6-3 lead. Pujols hit his 25th homer of the season in the fourth. Matt Holliday’s three-run homer in the first had given the Cardinals an early lead.

St. Louis starter Kyle Lohse gave up three runs and was replaced after three innings. Kyle McClellan (9-6) worked three scoreless frames of relief to get the win.

Hensley (1-4) suffered the loss, allowing six runs in just 2 1/3 innings. Fernando Salas recorded a four-out save, his 20th.

Florida second baseman Omar Infante suffered a fractured middle finger on his right hand while making an attempt to stop Schumaker’s hard-hit grounder in the third inning that wound up going for a double. Infante stayed in the game for three more innings and wound up with three hits before being replaced by Wes Helms.

ST. LOUIS, July 29 (UPI) — Albert Pujols reached 2,000 hits for his career Friday and David Freese hit a three-run homer to bring the St. Louis Cardinals a 9-2 win over the Chicago Cubs.

Starter Edwin Jackson completed a wild week by getting the win in his debut for the Cardinals. He started the week as a member of the Chicago White Sox, was traded to Toronto and then came to St. Louis in an eight-player deal.

Pujols needed two hits to get to his milestone — the second coming in the eighth inning when he doubled to drive in the final run of the game. He joined Stan Musial (3,630), Lou Brock (2,713), Rogers Hornsby (2,110) and Enos Slaughter (2,064) as the Cardinals who have reached the 2,000 mark.

The homer by Freese came in the fourth inning and gave St. Louis a 3-1 lead.

Jackson (1-0) allowed a run on seven hits in seven innings. He had compiled a 7-7 record while with the White Sox this season.

The loss went to Matt Garza (4-8), who was touched for six runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Ryan Theriot drove in three runs with doubles in the sixth and eighth innings.

By Dan Moore

– Managing Editor

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Jul 23, 2011 – It took an especially stereotypical St. Louis Cardinals victory to break up the Pittsburgh Pirates’ monopolization of the National League Central news cycle Friday night–Chris Carpenter went eight innings for the win backed by Albert Pujols’s first-inning home run, his 22nd of the season. David Freese and Yadier Molina also hit the stands for the Cardinals, who needed every last bit of scoring on their way to the 6-4 win. With the victory the Cardinals improve to 51-47, one game back of the Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the crowded, average division.

The Pirates had 11 hits of their own, including doubles from Garrett Jones and Lyle Overbay, but Carpenter allowed just one walk in his eight innings and kept the Pirates’ punchless lineup in the park. The Pirates also got a worrisome look at what might happen when Paul Maholm–and the rest of their rotation–has to deal with league-average BAbip and HR/FB numbers; Maholm’s batting average against on balls in play was just .264 heading into Friday’s action, but he allowed ten hits and two home runs in his six innings.

Jaime Garcia and Kevin Correia will get Saturday night’s start, while Kyle Lohse–dealing with apparent inflammation on his pitching hand–was nevertheless cleared to get Sunday’s gig for the Cardinals.

Read More: Paul Maholm (P – PIT), Kyle Lohse (P – STL), Albert Pujols (1B – STL), Yadier Molina (C – STL), David Freese (3B – STL), St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates