Gary A. Vasquez/US PresswireAlbert Pujols nearly homered on this pitch, but ended up hitting it just short of the wall.
ANAHEIM — Fourteen games in, No. 2 batter Howie Kendrick hasn’t noticed a major difference.
Yes, Albert Pujols lurks behind him in the order. And yes, when Kendrick is at the plate, the opposing pitcher is fully aware that Pujols is next. Kendrick, though, hasn’t felt the Pujols Effect.
“Guys have still been mixing [pitches] up,” Kendrick said Friday after driving in three runs and collecting three hits in the Angels’ 6-3 win against the Baltimore Orioles. “Regardless, guys are going to pitch you how they want to pitch you. Obviously there’s an advantage of hitting in front of a guy like Albert, and I may see more fastballs in certain situations, but I think our goal — me and [Erick] Aybar — is to be on base for him, to give him the opportunity to drive us in.”
Kendrick stepped into the box with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth inning, the Angels clinging to a 3-1 lead. Pujols stalked former Angels relief pitcher Darren O’Day from the on-deck circle as Kendrick swung through the first pitch, a sinker. The second pitch wasn’t a fastball, either, but Kendrick smashed it for a bases-clearing double to right-center field.
“He happened to make a mistake out over the plate,” Kendrick said of O’Day’s hanging slider. “I could have missed that pitch but I was able to drive it into the gap.”
It’s widely assumed that the second slot in the lineup sees the most fastballs because, generally, they’re easier to command. Better command leads to fewer walks and, ultimately, fewer base runners when the No. 3 hitter steps up to the plate. The Pujols Effect might be more noticeable as the season progresses, when Pujols starts blasting home runs — he’s still waiting to hit his first of the season — and instilling fear into the league’s pitchers.
Kendrick will be the first to know.
“It’s a 162-game season. We’ve only scratched the surface of that,” Kendrick said. “We haven’t even played a month yet and every guy in here knows that. It’s not what you do in the first month, it’s what you do in the months down the stretch. Hopefully tonight is a sign of things to come.”
