Albert Pujols has temporarily left the Los Angeles Angels to have his left foot examined, as the injury continues to bother him during what's been the worst statistical season of his career.
Albert Pujols injury: Angels 1B to have left foot examined
Albert Pujols has struggled with a left foot injury all season and now he’ll leave the team to have it looked at. The pain has kept him from playing the field and may be a factor in what’s easily his worst statistical year ever.
More on the Angels: Halos Heaven
Pujols headed back to Southern California while the team remained in Oakland to play the AL West-leading A’s. Various beat writers had different impressions of how bad the injury might be:
#Angels DH Albert Pujols has returned to SoCal to be evaluated. Re-injured L foot Fri night. Doesn't look good. Out for a while.
— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) July 27, 2013
#Angels Albert Pujols has gone to SoCal to have his foot evaluated. It's worse than it's been this season, Scioscia said.
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) July 27, 2013
Albert Pujols is back in SoCal getting left foot evaluated. Asked if this can be more than a one-day thing, Sosh said, "We'll see." #Angels
— Alden Gonzalez (@Alden_Gonzalez) July 27, 2013
At the very least, he’ll be out of the lineup Saturday. Pujols played all nine innings on Saturday, managing a RBI single as the Angels attempted to mount a comeback, but was pulled after the base hit for a pinch runner.
Due to the foot pain, Pujols has been forced into a designated hitter role for the first time in his career. He’s played in all but two of the Angels’ 101 games, but only 34 of them have been at first base. In April, Pujols was quoted as saying he was “dying,” and that the foot was “hurting real bad.”
Pujols has struggled mightily at the plate this season. After posting batting averages over .300 in each of his first 10 seasons, his .258 average is a steep dropoff, even from the career-low .285 average he posted last season. He’s on pace to hit 27 home runs, which would also be a career low and his OPS of .767 is downright pedestrian after leading the league in the metric three times.
By the way, the Angels owe Pujols $222 million over the next eight years through 2021.
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