“You can see a lot of players have success out there, but nobody respects them how they respect ‘the Machine,’ ” said the Cubs’ Franmil Reyes, Pujols’ fellow Dominican. “That means a lot to all of us.”
ST. LOUIS — When Cubs rookie Christopher Morel was a boy in the Dominican Republic, he often stood at the plate and imitated a superstar and countryman he deeply admired.
Feet spread extra-wide, rear end down low, hands and bat up high — that was how the great Albert Pujols did it.
Morel even imitated Pujols’ stance when playing “vitilla,” a baseball-like game played with the large, plastic cap of a gallon water jug in place of a ball and a broomstick in place of a bat.
“In the Dominican, I think Pujols is the one who sits at the top with the numbers that he’s put up,” Morel said through a translator Saturday before the Cubs lost 8-4 to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
Maybe during Sunday’s series finale — as the first-place Cardinals go for a three-game sweep and a 13-6 finish in the season series against the Cubs — Morel can imitate Pujols one more time. It’ll be the Cubs’ final game against the first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, who, along with catcher Yadier Molina, will call it a career at season’s end.
“Since I’ve gotten to this level, it’s a privilege to be able to meet him or talk to him,” Morel said.
