The Angels dropped their Saturday afternoon game to the up-and-coming Royals, as Luke Hochevar had an excellent outing and stars-in-the-making Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas homered for K.C. But there was still a great reason for optimism for the Angels: Kendrys Morales is raking.

Morales went 4-for-4 with a double and two runs scored Saturday, so he's now 5-for-7 (.714) on the ridiculously young season.

Remember, we're talking about a guy who finished fifth in AL MVP voting in 2009, but then broke his leg in May of 2010 and hadn't been healthy enough to play in a regular-season game until this week. If Morales can keep his leg strong enough to simply return to form, the Angels have an outstanding 1-2 punch in the middle of the lineup -- along with, obviously, Albert Pujols -- neither of whom were around last season.

So while the Royals deserve all the credit for the victory Saturday -- and are certainly a sleeper in the AL Central -- don't gloss over Morales' big day. It's a big deal.

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