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Albert Pujols has to be very, very tired

Mark Buehrle, when asked how he would pitch to Albert Pujols if he faces him tonight:

“High and inside. Hit ‘em. Knock him off the plate. Hopefully he charges the mound.”

Of course he immediately backtracked, admitted he was joking and gave all kinds of respect to Pujols. A shame, really, as I think a real war of words and a genuine villain would make tonight a hell of a lot more fun for everyone. Can you imagine the crowd’s reaction if someone threw some chin music Pujols’ way at the All-Star Game? And then stood on the mound and stared him down as he dusted himself off? Oh well, a boy can dream, can’t he?

Of course, it may be a better move to simply challenge Albert with straight fastballs, because the guy is probably gassed at this point:

Albert and Deidre Pujols awoke early Monday morning, particularly early given the Cardinals’ 1 a.m. return from a marathon day-night doubleheader against the Cubs in Chicago . . . He arrived home at 2 a.m. Barely nine hours later, El Hombre walked into the downtown Hyatt as baseball’s resident rock star, commanding a legion of media, a crush of questions in English and Spanish and acknowledgment as unofficial centerpiece for the Derby and tonight’s All-Star Game.

I’m pretty sure Pujols has been on every single broadcast, podcast, cut-in, setup and photo-op originating from St. Louis since yesterday morning. Understandable, but one wonders when, if at all, he gets a break. More than any single player on any single team, the Cardinals live or die with Albert Pujols’ performance. One hopes for their sake that he can get a breather before the second half of the season starts.