With this week’s MLB’s All-Star Game taking place in St. Louis, Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols—who, with his 32 home runs, 85 RBIs, and .338 average, fell .012 points short in batting average of becoming the first player since Hank Aaron in 1957 to hold the Triple Crown at the All-Star break—is the centre of attention, and not always for the best of reasons.

Now, I don’t want to say anything here that might rile up little Ken Rosenthal, but according to a piece by Bob Nightengale in USA Today, some people are suspicious that Pujols’ unnaturally large numbers may be just that—unnatural.

Pujols hears the talk, and he doesn’t care for it. Actually, he thinks even less of it than that.

“For people to be suspicious of me because of the year I'm having and for people to say I just haven't been caught, that makes me angry and disappointed,” he said. And it gets more emphatic from there. “I can understand people being disappointed with A-Rod and Manny, but just because Manny made a mistake, now I have to pay? Just because A-Rod made a mistake, now I have to pay? Oh, guilt by association? That's wrong.”

“I would never do any of that crap. You think I'm going to ruin my relationship with God just because I want to get better in this game? You think I'm going to ruin everything because of steroids? Come test me every day if you want.”

Granted, it’s not like we haven’t heard this talk before—and maybe it’s just because I’ve had him in a keeper pool since about a week into his career, so I’ve followed him almost since day one—but I kind of want to believe him.

“I can understand why people don't know who they can trust or their hero was caught. I want to be the guy people look up to. But I want to be the person who represents God, represents my family and represents the Cardinals the right way,” he said. “So many people can't wait until I do something negative. I can't understand it. That's sad, because I want to be that poster boy in baseball. Just give me the chance.”

At least he understands the fans’ cynicism, but these are exactly the kind of words that could come back to haunt him if he ever is caught doing something he shouldn’t. Ask Rafael Palmerio how forgiving fans when you lie so emphatically. Which, of course, is not at all to say that Pujols is lying, just that, statements like these won’t do him any favours if one day it turns out that he is.