The new Mr. October

ARLINGTON, Texas - Tony La Russa asked the question, and it's one baseball fans everywhere are likely debating.

"Has somebody had a better day than this ever in the World Series?"

For those who watched Albert Pujols crush three home runs among his five hits, collect 14 total bases, drive in six runs and score four times to help settle a 16-7 thumping of the Texas Rangers that gave his St. Louis Cardinals a 2-1 lead in the Fall Classic on Saturday night, it's difficult to imagine that's possible.

Consider the following:

- Pujols is only the third player to hit three home runs in a World Series game, joining Babe Ruth (who did it in Game 4 of both the 1926 and '28 series) and Reggie Jackson;

- His 14 total bases surpassed the previous Series record set by Ruth and tied by Jackson;

- His six RBIs match the Series record established by Bobby Richardson (Game 3 in 1960) and Hideki Matsui (Game 6 in 2009);

- His five hits tied Paul Molitor's mark set in 1982 (Game 1);

- He is only the 10th player to ever score four runs in a single Series contest.

So, pretty good case.

"Move over Mr. October," Cardinals hitting coach Mark McGwire said in reference to Jackson, "there's a new one."

Asked how he felt to be in the company of Ruth and Jackson, Pujols genuinely seemed to appreciate the moment.

"It's pretty special," he told a gathering of media so large it spilled out of the Ballpark in Arlington's interview room. "Those are great players and to do it at this level and on this stage is amazing."

Awe was certainly everywhere Saturday night, as Pujols responded to the messy controversy created when he made himself unavailable to media after his ninth-inning error helped the Rangers rally for a 2-1 win in Game 2. Questions about his clubhouse leadership followed, prompting him to chastise reporters for not requesting his presence in time.

Was his performance connected to the criticism? Perhaps, but that could also be oversimplifying things.

Either way, the bound-for-free-agency superstar was clearly locked in after going hitless in the first two games of the Fall Classic, delivering a performance headed straight to baseball lore.

"To tell you the truth, I just come and get ready to play," Pujols said, uninterested in playing the vindication card. "I've been in that situation before where people just blow things out, and it is what it is, and you can't really think about that. My main focus is the World Series."

Oh, that.

The shift south to warmer climates, American League rules and a cozier ballpark, certainly flipped the pattern of play seen during a pair of tight, low-scoring contests at Busch Stadium on its ear, with both La Russa and counterpart Ron Washington struggling to find somebody who could consistently get outs.

One of the trickier elements of AL play is picking the right time to make a pitching change, since in the National League, moves are often dictated by where the pitcher's spot is coming up in the batting order. With the designated hitter in play in the junior circuit, things become a lot tougher.

"In the American League is every decision that you make about the pitcher is based on your evaluation of who should pitch, how long the guy in there should pitch, and who you should bring in," La Russa said before the contest. "There are times, a lot of times it's a really close call, you're splitting some really fine hairs. In the National League a spot comes up and you've got to hit, and you don't have to make that decision. You never have that decision taken away from you in the American League."

Even before Pujols turned the contest into one his signature moments - "I've seen a lot of great things out of him but that's got to be right at the top of the list," said teammate Matt Holliday - there were runs aplenty, and tough decisions for each manager to make in the ERA-destroying affair.

"You don't get away with much in conditions like this," said La Russa.

Still, things weren't settled until Pujols stepped in.

His three-run blast off the facing of the second deck, a rocket that even drew awe from the home crowd of 51,462, put the Cards up 11-6 in the sixth, and after Yadier Molina's sacrifice fly later in the frame extended the lead, Pujols bashed a two-run shot to dead centre in the seventh that made it 14-6.

His solo shot in the ninth capped the scoring.

"What I liked tonight was that he was working the count really good and he was getting pitches to hit," said McGwire. "We were talking in the cage earlier and he said his swing felt so good. I said, 'Albert, it just comes down to getting pitches to hit. Be patient, get pitches to hit.'"

Pujols executed to perfection.

"You could see he was on everything, putting great swings on the ball," said ace Chris Carpenter. "It was an Albert Pujols night that you know no matter what happens, he's going to smash the ball somewhere."

Derek Holland gets then unenviable task of trying to cool Pujols down in Game 4 Sunday night, when the Cardinals try to take a stranglehold on the World Series with Edwin Jackson on the mound.

Washington insists the Rangers won't pitch him any differently.

"I just hope that we can make him chase some stuff, not put stuff in the wrong spot and get it up in the zone and out over the plate," he said. "When the opportunity presents itself to put him on the bag, I'm not going to let him swing the bat. But tonight we couldn't get the ball out of the middle of the plate, and he just didn't miss."

Rangers starter Matt Harrison surrendered a first-inning solo shot to pinch-hitter Allen Craig - starting in right field with Lance Berkman at DH - and then came undone in a four-run fifth after first base umpire Ron Kulpa missed a tag call at first base on what should have been a double play.

Instead, Holliday was safe at first with one out, Berkman followed with a single, David Freese doubled home a second run, Molina was walked intentionally and after Mike Napoli fielded Jon Jay's grounder to first, he threw wildly to the plate allowing two more to score.

Ryan Theriot followed with an RBI single and after Holland prevented another run by throwing out Jay at the plate on Rafael Furcal's soft grounder, the lefty was done.

"At the time of the play, I had him on the base at the time of his tag," said Kulpa, admitting that after seeing the replay, he got the call wrong on Holliday. "I had a tag, but I had him on the base."

Kyle Lohse, unscathed in the first three innings, did his best to give the 5-0 lead back in the fourth, allowing a leadoff homer to Michael Young, a single to Adrian Beltre and then a two-run shot to Nelson Cruz.

After a Napoli single, La Russa figured his slop-tossing righty was done and brought in Fernando Salas, who kept the game at 5-3.

The Cardinals responded with three more in the top of the fifth off Scott Feldman on Freese's RBI groundout and Molina's two-run double, but Salas coughed that up in the bottom of the frame, allowing a Young RBI double before leaving two runners on for Lance Lynn, who gave up an RBI single to Beltre and Napoli's sacrifice fly.

But once Pujols opened things up again in the sixth and seventh, Lynn kept things under control, allowing just a run in the seventh on Napoli's second sacrifice fly of the night. He went 2.1 innings, and despite giving up three hits and two walks, ended up being one of the cleaner lines of a night that belonged to his first baseman.

"At the end of my career I can look back and say 'Wow, what a game it was in Game 3 in 2011,'" he said. "But as of right now, it's great to get this win and just move on."

Shi Davidi is the MLB Insider for sportsnet.ca. Come back to read his insight and opinion regularly.