Maybe he's already there. Albert Pujols, perhaps the greatest hitter to ever step into a batter's box, had an awful, auspicious beginning in Anaheim. Now that the Angels have won 8 out of 9 games and his average has went up from .188 to .243 in May, the Angels 5.500 games behind the Rangers in the AL West. With the Orioles struggling and the White Sox sudden emergence, wild card spots are opening up and the Angels are reaping the benefits of the actual Albert Pujols (or Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo). AP5 is hitting .393 in May, a far cry from his .217 average in April, the worst month of his career. But like those sweet summer nights in St. Louis, Pujols will blast balls onto the rocks in left center at Angel Stadium (not like Busch Stadium). The Angels could take the AL West, even though a second wild card slot is more likely. His OPS's and SLG's are not terrible far off from where they were at this point last year and he only has 1 less Home Run than he had through May of 2011. There are those perennial slow starters, like Mark Teixeira, Alexei Ramirez just to name a few. Perhaps Albert Pujols wil be on that list year in and year out. For Albert to get .300-30-100 (like he did from 2001-2010) HR 1 every 5 games AVG 117 hits in final 348 at-bats (Pujolsian .336 AVG) RBI 72 RBIs in last 110 games (0.655 RBIs per game, basically a little more than 1 in every 2 games. Last year, after Pujols missed the AVG and RBIs mark by 1 each last year, the Cardinals went on to a miracle run to win the World Series. If the Angels can win it all, it won't matter as much how he does, even if he has $237 million spread out over the next 20 years left on his contract. While, he might never hit .359 again, or hit 49 home runs, he can still have the .300-30-100 mark on a yearly basis. It is not that rare for a player to do so and with a player of the caliber of Albert Pujols, it should come decently easy. When he comes back, everyone will know and he will just rake. Even though he is hitting a lot better, I'm not convinced it's just yet. When he is, AL pitchers will have to watch out.