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A day after improbably reaching .300 with a 4-4, 2 BB performance in the St. Louis Cardinals' series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies, Pujols went 1-4 to hang at .300567, singling in his last at-bat of the loss to push his average back over the magic number. Pujols, who hit at least .300 with 30 home runs and 100 RBI for 10 consecutive years to start his career between 2001 and 2010, is now within range of going it again, despite hitting just .280 before the All-Star Break.
Provided he continues to hit .300 for the rest of the season—he's hit .421 thus far in September—Pujols, who leads the National League with 35 home runs, is just seven RBI away from putting those round numbers together for 11 seasons in a row to start his career.
That achievement's usually considered on a year-to-year basis, but it's worth looking at the counting stats it's allowed him to accumulate, too—thanks to that consistency he's now got 2059 hits, 443 home runs, and 1323 RBI in his age-31 season. If the way he's pulled out of his early-season tailspin is any indication, he'll have plenty of chances to accumulate more over his next 11 seasons.