Astros manager Cecil Cooper considers St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols the most feared batter in baseball, which is why he hopes to be extra careful with a slugger who has punished the Astros many times in the past.
"I have no doubt," Cooper said. "If I have to walk him in the first inning, he gets walked in the first inning, simple. The last time we played them at home there was never an opportunity. Get an opportunity, it's done." Pujols hit two home runs to help beat the Astros 6-4 at Minute Maid Park on April 9.
"He's beat us up," Cooper said. "It seems like every time we play him he gets a homer. I'll bet we're right up there if we're not at the top (of the team Pujols has the most home runs against). He might not do it in the first couple of games, but he always seems to get one or two. This guy can hurt you so many ways."
Cooper wishes there was a solid approach to pitch to Pujols, but he cannot think of many.
"If you look at ways to pitch him, there's no real way to pitch to him," he said. "You've just got to mix it up and hope he's off that day or has a bad swing or something because he takes his base-hits to right when you pitch him away and he takes his base-hits to left. He takes what you give him."
Pujols has 30 regular season home runs and six in the postseason against the Astros.
"Watch it when he walks up there, he's got such a presence about him and you're not even throwing it to him," he said. "He can hurt you just by standing in the on-deck circle. We've got one of those guys (Lance Berkman), too.
"They can affect the game and they don't even have to get a hit. We need about eight of those guys in the lineup. We'll be careful with him, that's for sure. We'll pitch to him if there's nobody on, but we can't let him, we just can't. He's too dangerous of a guy."
ASTROS 3, CARDINALS 2: For the first seven innings Friday the Astros managed next to nothing against Braden Looper. But they did all their damage against St. Louis Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen. Carlos Lee's home run capped a three-run rally off Isringhausen in the ninth inning of a 3-2 victory Friday night for their sixth straight victory. Miguel Tejada had an RBI triple and Lance Berkman's sacrifice fly for the second out tied it before Lee hammered a first-pitch fastball well over the left-field wall, a drive estimated at 396 feet, for his fifth homer.
