.300 average, 30 home runs, 100 RBI—if you've glanced at the back of Albert Pujols's baseball card at any point in the last 10 years then you're aware that he's hit those numbers every time since he joined the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001. His cold start and recent injury have made them more of a chase than usual in 2011, but Pujols's 20th, a three-run shot, was at least enough to put the Cardinals over the Cincinnati Reds 4-1. Chris Carpenter turned in another strong performance, allowing one run in eight innings to improve to 5-7 on the season.
Jon Jay's three hits provided the rest of the offense for the Cardinals, whose struggling bullpen only had to pitch one inning a night after every reliever was used in the Cardinals' bitter loss in game one. He also provided one of the Cardinals' three unusual double plays when he picked a runner off at second base after catching a line drive; Pujols caught a runner between second and third, while Daniel Descalso, playing shortstop for the fourth time in his Major League career, charged toward second base for the 6-3 double play before that.
And in case you were wondering, Pujols is now on pace for a .282 average, 34 home runs, and 95 RBI. Not a bad year for anyone else on the planet, but he's got 18 points of batting average and five more RBI to add before the baseball card fans will be satisfied.