Cardinals’ Pujols goes right to the top

ST. LOUIS | The Washington Nationals step into the path of arguably the greatest right-handed power hitter in baseball history on Thursday night, and he is on a rampage.

No, neither Manny Ramirez of the Los Angeles Dodgers nor Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees will be at Nationals Park. The same holds for a pair of living Hall of Famers, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.

Indeed, the designation of most powerful force from the right side may fall squarely upon St. Louis’ Albert Pujols. As the Cardinals drop in to make up a game postponed in May, Pujols is pulling away from the field.

“At this point, he should be considered with the greatest players who have ever played,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “He’s got to keep doing it, doing it, doing it.”

Pujols’ .630 career slugging percentage is the highest all-time among right-handed hitters. Jimmie Foxx (.609) and Hank Greenberg (.605) are the only other right-handed hitters with a career slugging percentage of more than .600.

Now, Pujols is pushing to become the first Triple Crown winner since Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. No one discounts his chances.

Pujols went into Wednesday night’s game at Houston leading the National League in homers with 34 and RBI with 90. He ranked fourth in average at .332, 16 points behind Florida’s Hanley Ramirez. Pujols has hit better than .355 twice in the last six seasons.

“It’s realistic,” Dodgers manager Joe Torre said of Pujols’ chances at a Triple Crown. “He’s scary because he doesn’t have any holes. That’s frightening.”

Pujols led the NL in average (.347), homers (51) and RBI (153) from last year’s All-Star break to this year’s.

“It’s certainly no disrespect to the other players, but this guy is the best hitter and the best player in all of baseball,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said.

With that comes an extra responsibility.

Like all other players, Pujols performs under the cloud of the steroids era. Every extraordinary performance is viewed skeptically.

Pujols has passed every drug test in his career, but he knows the whispers are out there. Because of that, Pujols used the All-Star Game platform to invite more scrutiny.

“My house is always open,” Pujols said, speaking in his native Spanish. “They can come anytime to do all the testing they want to do in the offseason.

“I challenge them to try training with me. They can come check every place in my house. They can come with me in my bathtub. I have nothing to hide.”

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