Pujols to take cuts

~ Pujols joins Toronto's Rios as a late addition to the Home Run Derby.

ST. LOUIS -- The irony of being in a career-worst power slump when he was persuaded to participate in tonight's Home Run Derby was lost on Albert Pujols.

Pujols and Alex Rios of the Toronto Blue Jays were the final two participants added to the field, Major League Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney said Sunday. The Derby will be held in San Francisco, site of Tuesday's All-Star game.

"I know it's not going to be long before I hit one, but I'm not going to go out there and look for it," Pujols said. "Every time I get myself ready I say, 'What can I do today to help my team win?'

"With my defense, with my at-bats, with whatever I can do."

Pujols' homerless streak reached 22 games and a career-worst 74 at-bats when he was 1-for-3 with an RBI single and walk in the Cardinals' 7-0 victory over the Giants on Sunday. He's tied with Chris Duncan for the team lead with 16 homers and last homered off Jimmy Gobble in Kansas City on June 14.

The All-Star first baseman was batting .310 with 52 RBIs and was among the league leaders with a .411 on-base percentage.

Since his last homer, Pujols is batting .324 with an impressive .475 on-base percentage, 22 walks and four doubles.

"I think you'll see he hasn't forgotten how, if you watched batting practice today," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "Just watch where they're pitching him.

"They're not giving him much to drive, so he's taking what they're giving him."

Throughout the team's seven-game homestand heading into the break, La Russa criticized talk of Pujols' power outage, pointing out his run production. He also worried that if the talk kept up, Pujols might start pressing.

"I don't make anything of Albert. Nothing," La Russa said. "He's elevated his average and he's driving in runs.

"Actually, it's one of those irritating things that gets brought up."

Rios is hitting .294 with 17 homers and 53 RBIs. The All-Star outfielder drove in the winning run in the Blue Jays' 1-0 victory over Cleveland on Sunday.

Rios, Minnesota's Justin Morneau, Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels and Magglio Ordonez of the Tigers are the AL's representatives for the Derby. Pujols, Philadelphia's Ryan Howard, and Prince Fielder of the Brewers are the NL contestants. Florida's Miguel Cabrera was scratched Sunday because of a shoulder injury.

The only other time Pujols participated in the Home Run Derby was at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago in 2003. He made it through the first round on a tiebreaker before belting 14 homers in the second round to reach the finals, where he lost 9-8 to Garret Anderson of the Los Angeles Angels.