Tigers' Manager Jim Leyland on walking Albert Pujols

"It isn't difficult for me," Leyland said. "It's common sense. My team would be disappointed in me if I let Albert Pujols beat us. I've been watching Albert Pujols since he came to the major leagues. I watched him during his first six years when I was scouting for the Cardinals. And to me he's the best player, the best hitter, in baseball. I know Chris Duncan can hit the ball to the moon. I know that Rick Ankiel or Ryan Ludwick can hit the ball out of the ballpark on any swing. I respect them and I know that it can happen. But I can live with that. I can't live with letting Albert Pujols beat us."

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Pujols does have the most intentional walks (22) in the majors this season. He'll likely exceed his career high, 34, from 2008. Pujols is walking once for every 5.6 plate appearances this season, the highest walk rate of his career.

According to fangraphs.com, Pujols is seeing a strike on only 43 percent of the pitches thrown to him this season. That's the lowest percentage of strikes offered to Pujols in his nine-season career. Only San Francisco's Pablo Sandoval has seen fewer strikes than Pujols so far in 2009.

No doubt, pitchers are wary of Pujols. But that said, it's not as if Pujols is getting the Bonds treatment. The retired San Francisco slugger had 232 walks, including 120 intentional walks, in 2004. And Bonds has six of the eight highest intentional-walks totals in a season. In the context of the times, isn't Pujols nearly as dangerous? He leads the majors with 26 homers and has the highest slugging percentage (.722). If Pujols maintains that slugging percentage, it would be the highest in the majors since Bonds (.812) in 2004.

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MLB cardinals, albert pujols