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Albert Pujols is in legendary company.

With his 700th home run, the St. Louis Cardinals slugger has accomplished a feat that only Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds have managed. His placement under them on the all-time home run list tells you just how incredible his 22-season career has been.

Pujols has been in the league for such a long time, in fact, that the world looked very different when he hit his first home run, in April of 2001, off the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ Armando Reynoso. Here’s a look back at just how much things have changed in the intervening years.

Baseball and other sports

We can get such a sense just from looking at the Cardinals’ and Diamondbacks’ rosters at the time Pujols hit his first. Pujols batted fifth in that early-season game. Batting ahead of him were Fernando Vina, Edgar Renteria, J.D. Drew and Ray Lankford. All of them were legitimately good players — none of them has been in MLB since 2011. Mike Matheny batted after Pujols — he’s now managing the Kansas City Royals and has been a major league skipper since 2012.

Their opponents, the Diamondbacks, would go on to win the World Series that year. Their lineup was a who’s who of Baseball Guys — Tony Womack (last game in 2006), Mark Grace (2003), Luis Gonzalez (2008 — and this was the year in which he hit 57 homers), Matt Williams (2003), Steve Finley (2007) and Jay Bell (2003), just to name a few. Grace, Williams, Finley and Bell all started playing major league baseball in the 1980s.

This was a year of incredible numbers in baseball. Bonds famously hit 73 home runs (and walked 177 times), Ichiro Suzuki led the league with 242 hits, Randy Johnson struck out 372 batters. The oldest player in the league, 44-year-old Jesse Orosco, was born in 1957. Even then, among all this incredible talent, Pujols stood out, winning Rookie of the Year honors with 37 home runs and a 1.013 OPS.

When Pujols hit his first, Tom Brady had 6 career passing yards. He’d end up filling in for an injured Drew Bledsoe in the 2001 NFL season, on his way to leading the Patriots to their first Super Bowl win. Now he has seven Lombardi trophies, and has added almost 85,000 passing yards to those initial six.

Ed Reed was a senior on the Miami Hurricanes’ 2001 National Championship team. He then played in the NFL, retired and made the Hall of Fame, all before Pujols hit No. 700.

LeBron James was just starting to make his name … in high school. James was a sophomore at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in April 2001.

Nolan Gorman, Pujols’ teammate this year on the Cardinals, was not yet a year old. Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was barely a month old. LaMelo Ball wouldn’t be born until August.

Technology

Not only was the original iPhone still six years away from release, the original iPod wouldn’t come out for another six months. iTunes was only 4 months old.

Anyone looking to buy an original Xbox would have to wait — the debut console didn’t come out until November. This was, however, an incredible year for video games. The original “Halo: Combat Evolved” would launch that year, as would “Max Payne,” “Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal,” “Super Smash Bros. Melee” and “Unreal Tournament.” By year’s end, console gamers would have their choice of the Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, or Dreamcast.

Wikipedia, now a ubiquitous source of information and ultimate resolver of barroom debates, was only 4 months old by the time of Pujols’ first home run. Pujols himself wouldn’t have a Wikipedia page until June 2004.

Pop culture

The Harry Potter, Fast and the Furious, and Ocean’s franchises would all debut in 2001 — as would “Shrek,” which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature that year. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” would gross more than $317 million in 2001. That means Pujols’ career outlasted the 11 total movies in the Potter and Ocean’s franchises. In April of that year, when Pujols hit his first, the highest-grossing film was “Spy Kids” with more than $17 million.

The Billboard top song of April 2001 was a Shaggy beat … and surprisingly, it wasn’t “It Wasn’t Me.” Shaggy’s “Angel” was in the middle of a two-month run as the top song when Pujols launched No. 1. Lifehouse’s “Hanging by a Moment” was the most successful song of the entire year. Future Billboard No. 1 artist Billie Eilish wouldn’t be born until December.

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Landeskog scores 1st NHL goal in nearly 3 years

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Landeskog scores 1st NHL goal in nearly 3 years

Perhaps the only detail more emphatic than the goals in the Colorado Avalanche‘s 4-0 win over the Dallas Stars Saturday night, was the impact provided by their captain, Gabriel Landeskog.

Landeskog, who returned in Game 3 of this Western Conference first-round series after missing nearly three seasons while recovering from a knee injury, scored his first goal since June 20, 2022, in a multi-point performance that saw the Avalanche tie the series at 2-2 in Game 4 at Ball Arena. Game 5 is Monday in Dallas.

“It means a lot,” Landeskog told reporters after the win. “Obviously, I’ve envisioned scoring again for a long time. There obviously days when I didn’t know if I was ever going to score again. It obviously feels good. It’s a tight playoff series in a big game here at home. To get to do it here at home in front of our fans obviously means a means a lot. Super exciting. Hopefully more to come.”

A short-handed goal from Logan O’Connor midway through the first period followed by a late power-play goal from Nathan MacKinnon staked the Avalanche to a 2-0 lead entering the second period.

That set the stage for Landeskog, who was in the slot when Brock Nelson fed a pass that the 32-year-old winger launched for a one-timer that beat Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger for a 3-0 lead.

Landeskog, who was playing on the second line, was instantly mobbed by his teammates on the nice such as Samuel Girard, Valeri Nichushkin, Devon Toews and Nelson, who joined the Avalanche at the NHL trade deadline.

As Landeskog returned to the bench, he was congratulated by the entire team which also included a hug from a smiling MacKinnon, who along with Landeskog, have been with the franchise for more than a decade.

“I was just proud of him again,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar told reporters after the game. “I was proud of him regardless of if he scores or not because I know what he’s gone through, and I know how difficult that was. I think that takes it to another level. You know he wants to come back and contribute like he did in the past and he’s off to a great start.”

Landeskog’s goal was the latest milestone in what’s been a lengthy recovery from a chronically injured right knee. He missed what amounted to 1,032 days since his last NHL game.

In that time, the Avalanche have remained in a championship window but have dramatically altered their roster. The Avs have nine players from that championship team who have remained with the franchise and have since reshuffled a roster that led to them re-acquiring defenseman Erik Johnson, one of Landeskog’s closest friends, in their bid for the fourth title in franchise history.

Even with all the changes, there were still questions about when they could see Landeskog return to the lineup. And if Landeskog did return, what he could look like?

His first professional game in three years came April 11 with the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate where he logged 15 minutes. Landeskog would then score a goal and get an assist in his second and final game.

And much like his AHL stint, all it took was two games for Landeskog to score and have another two-point performance.

While Landeskog’s goal became the most celebrated moment of the evening, what he did to help create the Avalanche’s fourth goal was an example of why he’s so crucial to their title aspirations.

Landeskog played a pass to Nelson who then found a Girard for a shot from the point that gave the Avs a 4-0 lead in the fourth. In the time Landeskog passed the puck, he anchored himself at the net front to gain position on 6-foot-7 Stars defensemen Lian Bichsel to screen goaltender Casey DeSmith, who replaced Oettinger for the third period.

Jockeying with Bichsel, who is six inches taller and 16 pounds heavier, allowed Landeskog to test both his strength and that right knee to gain leverage.

The result? Girard’s shot found space in traffic with Landeskog making it hard for DeSmith to see the puck.

“He’s a big boy,” Landeskog said with a smile. “He’s a big strong guy, a physical player and hard to play against. I was trying to get in front of their goal, and he was trying to get me out of there. It was a good battle.”

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Mariners shut down Gilbert (elbow) for 2 weeks

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Mariners shut down Gilbert (elbow) for 2 weeks

The Seattle Mariners placed right-hander Logan Gilbert on the 15-day injured list Saturday with a right elbow flexor strain.

The All-Star pitcher left his start Friday night against the Miami Marlins after three perfect innings because of right forearm tightness.

An MRI revealed a Grade 1 flexor strain, the team said. Gilbert won’t throw for two weeks, at which point he’ll be reevaluated.

Gilbert, 24, entered Friday’s game with a 1-1 record, 2.37 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 20⅓ innings. He is 42-31 with a 3.55 ERA in five big league seasons, all with the Mariners.

In other moves announced Saturday, Seattle recalled left-hander Tayler Saucedo and right-hander Troy Taylor from Triple-A Tacoma, and designated righty Casey Lawrence for assignment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Counsell on Brown’s implosion: ‘We need better’

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Counsell on Brown's implosion: 'We need better'

CHICAGO — Cubs manager Craig Counsell gave a blunt assessment of Ben Brown‘s start against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday after the righty gave up six runs in the fourth inning on the way to a 10-4 loss.

“We need better, frankly,” Counsell said.

Brown cruised through the first three innings, striking out five, but then fell apart after hitting Kyle Schwarber to lead off the fourth. After Nick Castellanos hit an 0-2 pitch for a single to left field, the Phillies began piling on.

Brown went from getting ahead of hitters, inducing swings and misses and soft contact, to giving up six hits and six runs in the inning. He lasted just 3 2/3 innings, which has been a trend in his starts.

“It’s the length in the game that we need more from, and whether it’s pitches within innings that kind of get you in trouble or an inning like today as a starter, you got to be able to navigate and limit damage,” Counsell said. “Give up runs, yeah, it’s going to happen. But you got to be able to navigate the damage to get your way [through] the game.”

Brown has completed at least five innings in just two of his five starts this season. Counsell noted that the Cubs have had a lot of off days and so they’ve been able to navigate the shorter outings, but that won’t be the case all season.

Brown concurred.

“Even last week with the four innings against Arizona, the team needs better out of me,” he said. “The bullpen needs a break when they can get it, and I think I was cruising towards that today, and what happened just didn’t seem like there was an end in sight, which is unfortunate.”

Saturday’s outing raised Brown’s ERA to 6.04, though he has shown the ability to miss bats, especially with his curveball. He has 31 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings this season but simply isn’t going long enough into games.

“So there’s been some bright spots here and there,” Counsell said. “The inning just snowballed a little bit on him, and that’s where the big inning comes from.”

Brown was excited to face the Phillies, who traded him to the Cubs in the summer of 2023. It looked like he was in for a pitchers’ duel against Philadelphia starter Jesus Luzardo as the game was scoreless after two innings. Instead, a hit batter, five singles, a double and a sacrifice fly ended his afternoon.

The Phillies snapped a five-game losing streak.

“I’m not going to go out there and try to reinvent it myself and try to be someone else,” Brown said. “I’m going to go out there and just keep executing pitches.

“I have to wake up tomorrow and do my best to get out there in six days and give that length that the bullpen needs and that the team needs.”

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