Remember when 'Albert Goes Deep' wasn't big news?

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Albert homered.

I repeat ... Albert homered.

Shout it from the rooftops, and bang the drums. The world is safe again, for Albert Pujols has hit a little ball over a fence!

Actually ...

The whole Why Can't Albert Hit? story line was one of those rare occasions where the media didn't overhype something.

The fact that Albert Pujols -- the greatest hitter of an entire generation, an absolute run-producing machine, a Hall of Fame cinch, one of the highest-paid athletes ever -- was hitting like a pitcher absolutely was the biggest story of the first month of the baseball season.

In fact, it probably was the three biggest stories: 1, he couldn't hit home runs; 2, he couldn't hit, period; 3, he was dragging the big-money Angels down with him.

It was the perfect storm of ineptitude, mostly because he had been the most ept guy out there for more than a decade.

Sunday, The 240 Million Dollar Man finally went deep, the fans who had been booing him now were cheering, and the last-place Angels won a game.

Oh, and Albert didn't come out of the dugout for a curtain call ... which is pretty cool if you think about it.
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