Albert Pujols now has the one individual award that eluded him for his first four big league seasons. He was named the NL's Most Valuable Player on Tuesday by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Pujols had finished fourth or better in the balloting in each of his first four seasons, placing second twice. Barry Bonds won each of the previous four MVPs in the NL. Pujols edged out two other strong candidates, Atlanta's Andruw Jones and the Cubs' Derrek Lee. Jones led the Majors with 51 home runs while playing for an Atlanta team that, like the Cardinals, was hit hard by injuries. Lee won the batting title and finished ahead of Pujols in batting average, slugging percentage, home runs and doubles, but toiled for a losing club.