St. Louis ? At last, Albert Pujols is second to no one.

Runner-up 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.

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.

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 make 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.

St. Louis' Albert Pujols heads for home to score on a two-run home run by Scott Rolen. The Cardinals defeated Houston, 5-2, Thursday night in St. Louis to win the best-of-seven NL championship series, 4-3.

“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.