#Cardinals at #Angels Tonight at Anaheim Stadium

I'm taking the family to a 4th of July baseball extravaganza tonight. (There will be fireworks!)

The St. Louis Cards are in Anaheim, losing Tuesday night 5-1, but winning last night in a 12-2 blowout.

Interestingly, Albert Pujols hasn't put on much of show since his old team's been in town, the first time he's faced St. Louis since joining the Angels.

More here, "Angels' Albert Pujols to face old friends, new foe: the Cardinals":

You can take the slugger out of St. Louis — the Angels did, prying Albert Pujols from America's heartland with a 10-year, $240-million deal before the 2012 season — but you can't take St. Louis out of the slugger.

Pujols keeps his home in St. Louis, his charitable foundation is based there, and though he's a year and a half removed from a Cardinals career in which he won three most-valuable-player awards and World Series titles in 2006 and 2011, his fingerprints are all over a team that has thrived in his absence.

"If you watch the Cardinals play, they really go about it right; they're very aggressive and they compete," said Tony La Russa, who managed Pujols for all 11 years in St. Louis. "For this generation of Cardinals, the most important player to help that transition from what they used to be to what they are now is Albert, because they learned how to play the game from him.

"He had such a strong mentoring relationship with the position players. Yadier Molina is like a brother to him. Albert had an effect on David Freese, Matt Holliday, Jon Jay. They wanted to work like Albert, compete like Albert, be a teammate like Albert."

This week, they want to beat Albert.

Pujols, 33, will be a Cardinals opponent for the first time Tuesday night when St. Louis, which fell one win short of the World Series in 2012 and is second in the National League Central with a 49-32 record this season, opens a three-game series at Angel Stadium.

"It's a little different because I'm usually rooting for them," said Pujols, who has been slowed by knee and foot injuries and is hitting .249 with 13 home runs and 49 runs batted in. "Now, I'm going to be rooting against them for three days."

More at the link.

Plus, "Mark Trumbo's web gem could change perception of Angels slugger." Video here, "Trumbo dives to start an amazing double play."

More blogging late tonight or in the morning. Either way, I'll be on Twitter until then.