The 5.5 Hole

Albert Pujols is back to hitting the ball like an MVP.  He's now hit six home runs, five doubles, and is hitting .424 in his last seven days.  But it's not just the last seven days.  Pujols has been coming on strong since Mike Trout was called up to the Angels on April 28th.  Because of the hole he dug himself through the first month of the season, it took some time to realize that Pujols was back to his old self, but he is hitting .289 on the season, he has 24 home runs, he's driven in 76 runs, and may very well cross the .300 batting average plateau before the season's over.  His Los Angeles Angels are planted in the play-off, but they are trailing the Rangers - and they have been all year.

So the question is, how much did Albert Pujol's early-season slump cost the Angels.  There are two ways to look at this question and thus two sets of answers, both equally important.  How much money did Pujols cost the Angels, and how many wins did he cost the team?

It's not a normal occurrence.  The fact is, two brothers playing in the Major Leagues is simply abnormal.  Sure, it's been done before.  Brett and Aaron Boone, Chris and Tony Gwynn, Cal and Billy Ripken, Phil and Joe Niekro.  Those are just a few, but consider this; only about 0.5% of high school baseball players are ever drafted by a Major League club.  This doesn't mean they make the 25-man roster.  No, it simply means the odds of even being drafted - and in turn being given the opportunity to ride around on an old bus between cities hours apart - is a mere half a percent.  So, the odds of two brothers both playing Major League Baseball is significantly less.  The odds of two brothers hitting their 100th career home run on the same night?  Almost non-existent.

But it happened.

Justin Upton struck first.  He was facing Kyle Kendrick of the Philadelphia Phillies in the second inning of the Diamondbacks game in Philly last night.  On a 2-0 count, Justin took an 81 mph change up to left field for his 100th career home run.  B.J. hit his about an hour later.  On the first pitch he saw in the fourth inning of his game against the Orioles in Tampa Bay B.J. took a 91 mph cutter from Tommy Hunter to centerfield.