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ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Albert Pujols ripped a long drive down the left-field line, and the Los Angeles Angels rose in the dugout along with the crowd. The ball sliced through the heavy night air, soaring into the stands -- and hooking just a few feet foul outside the yellow pole. The collective groan in Angel Stadium was audible from the dugout to the back of the bleachers Monday, and its getting louder every night. One month into a lavish contract with a new team, baseballs most feared slugger has lost his pop. "I know I can hit home runs," Pujols said. "When its going to happen, I dont know." Pujols didnt hit a homer for the Angels in April, shockingly going 23 games and 92 at-bats without once doing what he did 445 times over 11 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals. Dating back to late last season, the three-time NL MVP and two-time World Series champion is in the longest longball drought of his career, going 29 games and 121 at-bats without a homer. For a gifted power hitter in the ostensible prime of his career, its a distressing stretch of futility even in the earliest stages of his 10-year contract. For the Angels, who are paying $240 million for homers and victories from arguably the best offensive player of his generation, its a simmering problem thats threatening to boil. "I dont think about that, man," Pujols said. "It could be tomorrow, maybe the next day, a month from now, I dont know. My job is to get myself ready to play and take my swing. ... Home runs, when they come, they come in bunches." Theyre not coming at all in Anaheim, and thats not what the Angels expected after signing Pujols away from the Cardinals for the next decade with the third-richest contract in major league history. Even worse, Pujols new teammates have slumped along with him, and last-place Los Angeles heads into May in an 8-15 funk despite Mondays 4-3 win over majors-worst Minnesota. Not even matching the worst start in franchise history has caused the Angels to waver from publicly backing their new first baseman. They still expect to see the sublime power of the man who hit three homers in Game 3 of the World Series last fall, matching a feat only accomplished by Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson. "Even though hes a leader and has been around, weve still got to lift him up, because the game will slap you in the face sometimes and humble you," said fellow veteran Torii Hunter, who shared Pujols power drought until hitting three homers in the last four games. Pujols has the highest batting average and slugging percentage of any active player, but hes hitting .217 with just four RBIs and eight extra-base hits -- all doubles, and just one in the last nine games. Pujols deploys a frustrated smirk whenever hes asked about his homerless start, saying he has "been in this situation before." He insists hes "putting good swings on the ball," as evidenced by that 350-foot foul ball in the fifth inning Monday night. "I know what I need to do, and Im making my adjustment," Pujols said. "Ive been doing it for 12 years, so I know my hitting. Only God knows my swing better than me. When youre going through things like this, youve got to be careful who you listen to, because you have so many hitting coaches." His actual hitting coach, Mickey Hatcher, irked Pujols on Monday night after the slugger learned the coach had shared fairly innocuous details about a pregame team meeting. "That stuff needs to be private," Pujols said. "He should have never told the media. What we talked about at the meeting, not disrespecting Mickey, but that stuff should stay behind closed doors." If Pujols wants extra coaching, he could get it from fellow players, talk-radio callers, and even fans on the street in Anaheim and Los Angeles, where Pujols arrival was heralded by a massive marketing campaign and a sharp spike in ticket sales for the already-popular Angels, who outdrew the Dodgers for the first time last season. The solutions range from swing adjustments to pressure-relieving mind games to extra days off. Pujols downplays the difficulties of switching leagues and studying the innumerable idiosyncrasies of 13 new pitching staffs, but Hunter acknowledges its tough for Pujols. Even ex-players have theories on Pujols, including Jim Leyritz, the former Yankees and Angels catcher who now hosts an Internet radio show. "I can tell you that coming over from New York and playing here that first year (in 1997), it was tough to get motivated because the fans werent the same," Leyritz said. "Every at-bat wasnt the World Series, and it took me a little while to get used to the slower pace. Im sure thats what hes going through right now is that this is a little different pace than it was in St. Louis. Its different surroundings. Its going to take some time to adjust. Once he makes that adjustment, the rest of the American League better be careful." Angels manager Mike Scioscia has tried numerous changes to his lineup, which ranks 13th out of 14 AL teams with just 80 runs in the Angels first 23 games. Scioscia insists Pujols will find his own way out of the slump, even while it deepens. "Hes got a routine thats worked for him, hes committed to it, and theres nobody working harder to get out of this than Albert," Scioscia said. "Anyone who plays this game accepts the fact that there are going to be tough times during the season and during a career. But his talent is real, and hes going to grind it out until he gets to where he needs to be." But 247 players have homered this season before Pujols, who led the NL in homers in 2009 and 2010. He hasnt even had many narrow misses, among them that foul ball and a drive off the top of the left-field fence against Oakland during the Angels previous homestand. Scioscia has no intention of moving Pujols from his No. 3 spot in the lineup. The Angels still have five months left in a season of enormous expectations, and theyre confident Pujols has plenty of time to help fulfil them. "Pujols, hes always going to get the nastiest of everything," Hunter said. "Hes going to get the hardest pitches. The ball is going to move the most. ... I know, and everybody else knows, this guy is going to hit. Once he gets that big home run to win a game, its over." Mike Tolbert Jerseys . -- Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is listed as probable to return to the lineup Sunday against the New Orleans Saints after missing the past three games with a high ankle sprain. Charles Godfrey Jersey Carolina Panthers . The reported price for the Jays was Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez. Would you make that deal? The Blue Jays are in first place in the AL East. http://www.officialpanthersjerseysforsale.com/authentic-jaso n-avant-pink-jersey/ . The Texas Rangers quickly got even, and the right-hander felt like he was starting over when he got back on the mound. Brad Nortman Jersey Carolina Panthers .C. -- The Grand Rapids Griffins are back atop the Western Conference thanks to a gritty come-from-behind win Saturday night. Jason Avant Jersey Carolina Panthers . Showing more spark after not taking enough challenging shots on goal in their 1-0 loss Friday night, the Bruins had 18 shots in the first period after managing just 25 in the entire opener. Luke Glendening cut Bostons lead to 2-1 at 13:20 of the second period before Milan Lucic scored late in the second and Zdeno Chara added a power-play goal early in the third.ERIE, Pa. - Connor Brown and Dane Fox both scored in regulation and in the shootout, as the Erie Otters extended their win streak to 10 games by defeating the London Knights 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Foxs goal was his league-leading 41st of the season for the Otters (29-4-1). He has 18 goals in his last 10 games. Hayden Hodgson and Darren Raddysh also scored for Erie. Ryan Rupert, Chris Tierney and Brady Austin scored for the Knights (24-6-3), who had their seven-game win streak halted. Devin Williams made 30 saves for Erie as Jake Patterson stopped 15-of-18 shots for London. The Otters went 0 for 3 on the power play while the Knights went 0 for 4. --- ICEDOGS 5 BULLS 3 BELLEVILLE, Ont. -- Brendan Perlini scored once and set up two more as Niagara downed the Bulls. Aaron Haydon and Anthony DiFruscia each had a goal and an assist for the IceDogs (10-20-4) while Graham Knott and Mitchell Fitzmorris rounded out the scoring for Niagara. Aaron Berisha, Cameron Brace and Remi Elie supplied the offence for Belleville (8-21-4). Brent Moran made 35 saves for Niagara, while Charlie Graham allowed five goals on 24 shots for the Bulls. --- PETES 3 WHALERS 2 (SO) PLYMOUTH, Mich. -- Jonatan Tanus scored the shootout winner as Peterborough handed Plymouth its eighth loss in a row. Josh Maguire and Michael Clarke scored in regulation for the Petes (13-18-3). The Whalers (11-19-4) got both goals from Ryan Horvat. Andrew DAgostini stopped 29 shots for Peterborough as Alex Nedeljkovic turned aside 28-of-30 for Plymouth. --- FRONTENACS 9 STING 1 SARNIA, Ont. -- Ryan Verbeek scored four times and Darcy Greenaway had three assists as Kingston crushed the Sting. Michael Moffat scored once and added two assists for the Frontenacs (17-10-4) while Robert Polesello, Lawson Crouse, Warren Steele and Conor McGlynn tacked on the others. Alex Carnevale scored Sarnias (11-19-3) lone goal. Matt Mahalak made 25 saves for Kingstoon as Barrick Brodie gave up all nine goals on 52 shots for the Sting.dddddddddddd --- GREYHOUNDS 3 GENERALS 0 SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. -- Matt Murray turned away all 40 shots he faced as the Greyhounds blanked Oshawa for their first win in three outings. Blake Speers scored twice for Sault Ste. Marie (22-8-3) while Jared McCann had a goal and an assist. Ken Appleby started in net for the Generals (24-9-2) but was pulled after two periods after allowing three goals on 17 shots. Daniel Altshuler came in for the third and stopped all six shots he faced. The Greyhounds went 2 for 7 on the power play as Oshawa went 0 for 5. --- RANGERS 5 SPIRIT 1 SAGINAW, Mich. -- Darby Llewellyn scored twice and Matthew Greenfield made 45 saves as Kitchener snapped a three-game slide by defeating the Spirit. Scott Teskey, Max Iafrate and Curtis Meighan also scored for the Rangers (12-19-1) and Ryan MacInnis chipped in with two assists. Jimmy Lodge scored for Saginaw (16-13-5). Nikita Serebryakov stopped 36-of-40 shots for the Spirit. --- COLTS 4 SPITFIRES 3 BARRIE, Ont. -- Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 52 shots and Andrew Mangiapane scored the winner at 15:03 of the third period as the Colts slipped past Windsor. Mangiapane earned the games first star after scoring three times for Barrie (17-13-3) while Brendan Lemieux had the other. Cristiano DiGiacinto, Ben Johnson and Chris Cobham scored for Spitfires (20-11-1) and Brady Vail had two assists. Alex Fotinos stopped 33-of-37 shots for Windsor. --- STORM 4 ATTACK 0 OWEN SOUND, Ont. -- Matthew Mancina stopped 35 shots and Robby Fabbri scored twice as Guelph shutout the Attack. The Storm (22-7-3), who jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes of play, also got goals from Scott Kosmachuk and Pius Suter. Brandon Hope turned away 31-of-34 shots for Owen Sound (16-11-5). Guelph went 2 for 6 on the power play while the Attack failed to score on three chances with the man advantage. cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '
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