Column: Pujols, Trout not just playing out the string with Angels

No one would have blamed Albert Pujols for taking himself out of the Angels lineup Friday.

The same left hamstring that forced him to miss to two games earlier in the week was still bothering him. The Angels started the day 16 games out of first place in the American League West and their rotation remained ravaged by injuries.

Pujols wouldn’t hear any of it.

“If I can play, I play,” said Pujols, who batted cleanup as the team’s designated hitter.

So, yes, at the age of 36 and his batting average a pedestrian .230, the best offensive player of his generation was as defiant as ever.

“If not,” Pujols said, “I wouldn’t be sitting in this chair.”

He emphasized the point a few hours later, when he pounced on a first-inning offering by Oakland Athletics starter Eric Surkamp and launched the baseball over both bullpens in left field. The home run was the 573rd of his career, which tied for him for 11th all-time with Harmon Killebrew.

With Pujols in the 16th season of a Hall of Fame career, it’s easy to forget how he reached this point. The 402nd player selected in the 1999 draft, he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals for only $60,000.

Common sense then said he wouldn’t reach the major leagues, much as how common sense now says that he’s on his last legs.

Again, Pujols isn’t backing down. Even as he takes on the most formidable obstacle of his career — Father Time — he won’t go out quietly.

Last year, at 35, he homered 40 times.

This year, he was supposed to miss opening day because he was recovering from an off-season foot operation. He was ready for the start of the season and has played in 72 of the Angels’ 74 games.

He entered Friday with 12 home runs and 45 runs batted in, ranking second to Mike Trout in both categories. While his on-base percentage of .308 was third-worst among the team’s starters on this day, he insisted he could still influence a game the way he did when he was at his peak.

“Why not?” Pujols asked.

You’re old, he was told. Your body is breaking down.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said.

Really?

“I feel good enough,” he said. “I have faith in God.

“This game, it’s more mental than physical. You have to be mentally strong.”

If Pujols was frustrated, he wasn’t showing it. If he was concerned, he wasn’t saying it.

“It’s a long season,” he said. “The season’s not over. Talk to me in September.”

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Trout acknolwedged the team’s record has weighed on him.

“You know, it’s tough,” he said. “Obviously, it’s not a good feeling.”

Still, if you didn’t know where the Angels were in the standings and saw Trout interacting with his teammates, you would think the team wasn’t in any kind of trouble.

Pop music played over the clubhouse sound system, as Trout and other Angels shared laughs on the far side of the room. Some of them later moved to a nearby table and played cards.

“I haven’t changed,” Trout said. “Still come to park ready to play. It’s still fun. We’re a team. We’re a family here. We have good chemistry.”

Some players say that, only for their words to be betrayed by their body language. Not Trout.

Trout was reminded of the widespread perception of the Angels — how they don’t have the personnel to win this year, how their depleted farm system will prevent them from doing so in the foreseeable future, how his talents are being wasted. He didn’t offer any solutions, but said General Manager Billy Eppler could.

“You have to trust the people up top, that they’re going to make things right,” Trout said. “He obviously knows what he’s doing. I can only do what I can control.”

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In the past, Mike Scioscia has claimed to not know where the Angels were in the standings. Now, the manager is saying he doesn’t know doesn’t know if his team will be sellers leading up to the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline.

“That’s the front office,” Scioscia said.

But isn’t the field staff being asked for input?

“Lot of sources have input on the evaluation process, the whole field staff, but as far as the moves that will be made, that’s not our department,” Scioscia said.

Asked if he has any sense of what the front office will do, Scioscia replied, “I’m trying to figure out what we’re going to do between now and 7:05.”

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

Twitter: @dylanohernandez