updated 9:04 a.m. ET Oct. 22, 2004

ST. LOUIS - At last, Albert Pujols is second to no one.

Runnerup in National League Most Valuable Player voting the last two seasons, Pujols was an obvious choice as MVP of the NL championship series after the St. Louis Cardinals’ clinching 5-2 Game 7 victory Thursday night over the Houston Astros.

“It’s every little boy’s dream,” Pujols said. “I’m glad to have won the MVP, but that trophy is going to stay right in this room. Because everybody here is MVP.”

Pujols tied the game with an RBI double that punctured the mystique of 42-year-old Astros ace Roger Clemens in the sixth inning, and scored the eventual winning run when Scott Rolen drove the next pitch over the left-field wall.

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Down 1-2 in the count, Clemens left a fastball up and Pujols drove it down the left-field line to score Roger Cedeno with the tying run.

“The last at-bat against Clemens is one of the best,” Pujols said. “I think I’m going to keep dreaming about it for the next couple of weeks.

“He didn’t make a bad pitch. Just thank the Lord my hands came through.”

The hitters surrounding Pujols makes the Cardinals’ No. 3 even more dangerous. Rolen, the cleanup hitter, was second in the NL with 124 RBIs, and Larry Walker, the No. 2 hitter, is a three-time batting champion.

“As far as Albert Pujols is concerned, he’s a terrific hitter,” Astros manager Phil Garner said. “What makes the lineup so tough is there’s other guys in the lineup that can beat you, too.”

Clemens was more worried about Rolen. He said there was no notion of pitching around Pujols.

“No, no, not at all,” Clemens said. “At that point, I thought Rolen was taking better swings.”

Astros catcher Brad Ausmus said the plan was to run the pitch down and in.

“He’s very good up and in,” Ausmus said. “You know, Albert Pujols is a good hitter.”

That’s an understatement.

Pujols hit .500 (14-for-28) in the NLCS with four homers and a team-leading nine RBIs.

In Game 6, he had a homer, double and single, scored three times and drove in two runs to help the Cardinals right themselves after losing three straight in Houston.

He also had three hits and three RBIs in Game 4, including a two-run homer, and was 3-for-4 with another homer in Game 2. He tacked on a single for good measure in the eighth inning of the decisive Game 7.

Pujols’ heroics helped the Cardinals stay unbeaten at home in six postseason games.

“We went to Houston, they got the crowd going,” Pujols said. “Brought the series back here, did it in front of our home crowd. Like I said, it’s amazing.”

But nothing unusual for the 2001 NL rookie of the year and 2003 NL batting champion.

Year after year, Pujols has put up gaudy numbers. He’s the third player to reach 500 RBIs in his first four seasons, joining Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, and he’s the first player to start his career with four consecutive 30-homer seasons.

In spring training he became the highest-paid player in franchise history with a seven-year, $100 million contract, and he went on to hit .331 with 46 homers and 123 RBIs.

“It was a typical case of a guy that got a big contract and hasn’t let up at all,” general manager Walt Jocketty said. “He’s trying to find ways to get better.”

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