When you think of players who are notoriously slow starters in the game of baseball, such names as Mark Teixeira of the New York Yankees quickly come to mind. But Albert Pujols who many have gone as far as saying will go down in history as the greatest ballplayer to ever play the game when his career is all said and done? Though he's had a few slightly sluggish starts to his standards when kicking off the season, nobody saw the future Hall of Fame slugger who signed a $254 Million pact with the L.A. Angels during the off-season, beginning his new 10-year deal in the worst slump of his distinguished career. Through the first 18-games, Pujols, a 3-time NL MVP and former batting champion, remains homer-less in 2012 and has logged a whopping 4 RBI's this season while hitting an anemic .232 to start the year. At this rate, not even the rally monkey could help Pujols find his swing.
Now hit-less in 19 straight at-bats, spanning over a career-worst five-game stretch, Pujols and the 6-12 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim who many predicted would give the 2-time defending American League Champion Texas Rangers a run for their money in the AL West, have instead found themselves 8.5 games back in the division where they currently own the distinction as cellar dwellers. Meanwhile, the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals who decided to pass on offering Pujols the long-term deal he coveted, seem to be doing just fine without him having been energized by off-season acquisition Carlos Beltran who the team signed to help fill the void Pujols would leave on offense. Unlike Pujols, Beltran has been off to a blazing-hot start, connecting for 5 home runs, driving in 10 RBI's and stealing 5 bases before running into an 0-for-18 skid just recently. But even after taking his slump into account, Beltran is still hitting .033 points higher than Pujols. Currently atop the NL Central at 12-7, it's likely that the Red Birds and their fans have already forgotten about arguably the greatest player to ever don a Cardinals uniform.
Though it's still early, it's hard not to compare the early disappointment of Pujols to Adam Dunn who after solidifying himself as one of the game's premier sluggers for so many seasons, simply couldn't translate his power numbers from the National League to the American League when he relocated from Cincinnati to the south side of Chicago last off-season. Fortunately for the Halo's, Pujols and company still has another 144 games left to help turn the ship and find their stroke. We all know an end to Pujols' home run drought is inevitable, but assuming his struggles at the plate continue, how much longer until Angel fans begin to shower the 9-time All-Star with boo's?
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