Pujols' failure to talk part of larger issue

ARLINGTON, Texas

As the World Series moved -- to the appreciation of all -- from Missouri cool to Lone Star heat Friday, much of the chatter didn't concern Matt Harrison, Kyle Lohse, late-inning matchups or Josh Hamilton's health.

Instead, the name and role of Brian Bartow, evoked by the powerful duo of Albert Pujols and Tony La Russa, took center stage at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

That's telling, and you should care, because it shows that the Cardinals might as well function in a different universe from that of the Yankees and Mets. And it demonstrates that if impending free agent Pujols actually changed his work address to New York, he'd experience culture shock.

"My responsibility is to God and my family. I don't have a responsibility to anyone else," Pujols said after the Cardinals' workout. "And try to do the best that I can to represent the game of baseball. I do that.

"Sometimes I make a mistake. Do I feel that last night, I made a mistake? I don't think so. I was waiting, and nobody approached me. What can I do? There's nothing I can do."

Let's backtrack. Cutoff man Pujols committed a critical error in the ninth inning of Thursday night's Game 2, failing to glove centerfielder Jon Jay's relay after Elvis Andrus' single and allowing Andrus to move to second. Andrus ultimately scored the go-ahead run on Michael Young's sacrifice fly and the Rangers held on for a 2-1 victory to tie the series at 1-1.

When you play such a critical role, particularly in a loss, you face the heat and explain what happened. This is standard operating procedure in media relations and, more importantly, being a good teammate. Had Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, David Wright or Jose Reyes goofed, they absolutely would have stood by their locker and not only cooperated with the media but taken heat off their teammates.

Instead, Pujols never appeared for questioning. Neither, reportedly, did Lance Berkman, Matt Holliday nor Yadier Molina.

"I was there," Pujols insisted. "Usually, Brian [Bartow, the director of media relations] comes around and says, 'You know, they need you over there.' No one approached him until 40 minutes [after the last out]. You know what? Forty minutes, I was on my way home."

I swear a thousand times, this isn't about me and the rest of the media. We'll get our stories done with or without Pujols' comments. It's about the code of the clubhouse and not making others speak on your behalf.

It's not something that other Cardinals players can discuss comfortably, given Pujols' identity and the fact that La Russa protects him and his teammates.

"I think we've got a history, unless people want to correct me, about being responsible about being accessible," La Russa said, "but I think the press should be fair. I sat next to Brian Bartow on the plane, and it was 40 minutes before anybody let anybody know that they wanted to talk to those guys."

Know that Rafael Soriano blew off the media this season after blowing a save for the Yankees, and Brian Cashman took it seriously enough the next day to speak to Soriano's agent, Scott Boras, which prompted a Soriano apology.

Know that the Yankees' clubhouse culture, initiated most recently by folks such as Jeter, Joe Torre and a scrappy catcher named Joe Girardi, mandates that big names make themselves available after every postseason game -- and that goes double for goats and wrongdoers.

If it honestly didn't occur to Pujols that he should talk after Game 2, then that reflects a Cardinals organization that consistently displays little respect for the media.

The Yankees have no great need for Pujols, and the Mets can't afford him, and look, no one is disputing just how amazing a player he is.

But he has grown up in an organization that possesses a different world view. And that could create a rocky transition if he decides to go elsewhere this winter.