No panic in Pujols despite slow start

Someday Albert Pujols might hit his 630th home run, as Alex Rodriguez did Friday. Pujols could very well hit many more than that. There sure is no rush, given that he is signed with the Angels for the next 10 years, at $240 million.

Pujols would just as soon not take such a long view. At this point, now that he is homerless and batting only .222 after a 1-for-4 game against the Yankees, he is focused on his next at-bat. "I've been in this situation before," he said. "I take it day by day."

For the moment, he might be battling some of the same pressures that shackled Rodriguez early in his stay in New York. "I can't speak for Pujols, but overall, when you come into a new city, with a new contract, there is a tendency to try to do too much," Rodriguez said after going 3-for-4 in the Yankees' 5-0 win.

A-Rod enjoyed his status of not being the most scrutinized guy on the field. "Just laying in the weeds," the Yankees' third baseman said. "Kind of a new role."

Pujols' role, of course, is much different from the one Rodriguez assumed when he came to the Yankees. The latter felt the need to earn his championship stripes. Pujols is coming off his second World Series triumph with the Cardinals and is seen as the person who can boost the Angels.

The trick is to avoid trying to lift the franchise all by himself, even if he is the consensus No. 1 hitter in baseball with 445 homers. "You have 25 guys. This is not a one-player crew," he said. "The worst thing you can do is to try to think you have to carry everyone. That's not going to happen, believe me."

So he takes a steady-as-she-goes approach, which he applied even to being in the electric atmosphere of a Yankee Stadium home opener. "No disrespecting the history of the Yankees, but I take it like every other park: getting here early, watching my video, getting prepared for the game," Pujols said. "At the end, it's just a game. Obviously, maybe the fans are louder, but everything else is the same."

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Sameness is an early problem for the 2-5 Angels. They aren't hitting or pitching. But Pujols isn't worrying, having started this way last season. "I took four quality at-bats. If I do that for the 155 games we've got left, at the end, I'm going to be right where I want to be," he said.

He said he considers each day a blessing, thinking back to the time when he was a teenage immigrant from the Dominican Republic in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood (once having fled gunfire, he said).

If people want to debate the wisdom of a long contract for a 32-year-old hitter, let them. "I take it one day at a time," he said, "and then maybe we'll look 10 years from now and see how good a contract it was."