Kendry Morales

After Kendry Morales hit his first home run of the season, a three-run shot in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers on April 22, Manager Mike Scioscia said, "You could almost see him exhale." Morales was batting .234 with four runs batted in before that game, raising some concern -- among Angels fans more than coaches and front-office executives -- that the Cuban switch-hitter was not ready to be a big league regular. But since that night in Anaheim, Morales is batting .

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Designated hitter Kendrys Morales, who missed a year and a half because of a broken left ankle, is experiencing soreness in his left Achilles' tendon and is not in the lineup for Friday night's game against the Texas Rangers at the Ballpark in Arlington. Morales, who played in one of the team's previous three games, said the Achilles' tendon has bothered him for three or four days. He grew so concerned about it Friday that he placed a call to Colorado to speak to Dr. Thomas Clanton, who performed the second surgery on his ankle in May 2011.

It was one at-bat, one of more than 1,500 he has had as a professional, but to the Angels it seemed like so much more. With the score tied in Game 4 of the American League division series against Boston last Oct. 6, Kendry Morales smacked Justin Masterson's 2-and-2 pitch for a pinch-hit double off the left-center-field wall in Fenway Park to lead off the ninth inning.

With all Kendrys Morales has endured these past 22 months — a devastating ankle injury, two major surgeries, endless hours of physical therapy, 1 1/2 seasons missed — he wasn't about to get worked up over a little baseball game Friday night, even if it was the season opener. "I don't think I'll be nervous," Morales, speaking through a translator, said before the Angels played the Royals. "Being nervous is for kids. " Morales batted sixth as the designated hitter (he finished with a single)

After playing six years under an assumed name, Angels first baseman Kendry Morales is getting his identity back. His first name, it turns out, is Kendrys with an "s" on the end. "They've been spelling it wrong," Morales insisted after batting practice Wednesday. In official documents, such as his Cuban birth certificate and manifests the Angels must file for their charter flights, Morales' name has always been spelled Kendrys Morales Rodriguez. But when the Angels signed him to a free-agent deal in 2004, he told then-general manager Bill Stoneman he wanted to drop the "s. " "He was Kendry," Stoneman said.

It seems impossible to believe, but the numbers speak for themselves. The Angels have been a better team since losing their best hitter, Kendry Morales , to a season-ending injury May 29. With Saturday's 12-0 pasting of the Chicago Cubs, the Angels are 15-5 since Morales broke a bone above his left ankle. They have averaged 5.9 runs, hit 25 home runs and raised their batting average from .250 to .259 in the 20 games. Erick Aybar raised his average from .231 to .272 in that span.

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said Kendry Morales "has made great strides on defense and in the batter's box," but the Angels first baseman has not run at anything close to full speed yet, casting some doubt on whether he'll be ready by the March 31 season opener. The 6-foot-1, 235-pound switch-hitter's swing is coming back. Morales rocketed numerous balls high over the right-field wall in batting practice Friday, as the Angels worked out in preparation for Saturday's Cactus League opener against the Dodgers.

It was a fluke accident that ended his season on May 29, pushed him onto sports' most bizarre injuries list and punctured the Angels' playoff hopes, but nearly four months later, Kendry Morales is able to see some humor in it. Morales was in Angel Stadium on Tuesday and spoke to reporters for the first time since he broke his lower left leg jumping on the plate after his walk-off home run against the Seattle Mariners. The first baseman, who hit .306 with 34 home runs and 108 runs batted in last season and had 11 homers and 39 RBIs when he was injured, chuckled when asked what he would do the next time he hits a walk-off homer.

Reporting from Oakland -- The sting of a 6-1 loss to the Oakland Athletics on Thursday felt even more acute for the Angels when they learned that first baseman Kendry Morales will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery earlier in the day. The team held out some hope that Morales, who broke a bone above his left ankle when he leaped onto home plate after a walk-off grand slam against Seattle on May 29, would return in September....

Who's on first? For the Angels, it could be a lot of different people in the coming weeks. Mike Napoli manned first base Sunday in the first game since Kendry Morales fractured his lower left leg in a freak accident during a home-plate celebration. Other alternatives on the current roster include Robb Quinlan , Michael Ryan and Howie Kendrick . General Manager Tony Reagins said the Angels would assess their options within the organization in the short term while also exploring the possibility of adding a player via trade or free agency.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Angels flexed some serious offensive muscle Thursday, pounding 20 hits, including consecutive second-inning home runs by Kendrys Morales, Mark Trumbo and Hank Conger, in an 11-8 exhibition victory over the Kansas City Royals at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Albert Pujols had four hits, including a double, and drove in three runs to improve his spring average to .388 (19 for 49), and leadoff batter Erick Aybar had three singles in four at-bats to improve his spring average to .411 (23 for 56)

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The Angels were in so many close, low-scoring games last season that their starting pitchers, with little margin for error, began to feel like Philippe Petit , the French tightrope walker, every time they took the mound. The offense ranked 10th in the American League with 667 runs and was shut out for the first five innings of games a major league-high 50 times, making the accomplishments of Jered Weaver , Dan Haren and Ervin Santana , who combined for a 45-30 record and 2.98 earned-run average, all the more remarkable.

The Cincinnati Reds called the Angels on Tuesday afternoon and told them pitcher Bronson Arroyo wanted to hit Wednesday, eliminating the designated hitter from an exhibition game against the Angels in Goodyear Ballpark. That took three or four at-bats in a major league game away from Angels slugger Kendrys Morales, who was planning to DH against the Reds, but it was probably for the best. After collecting two hits in four at-bats of a triple-A game against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday, Morales, who is poised to return this season after missing almost two years because of a broken left ankle, said through a translator that he was "tired, I need a day off. " He will not play in a minor league game.

Kendrys Morales defused a potentially awkward situation Friday night when he took the blame for a dash from third base that resulted in the slugger having to stop on his twice surgically repaired ankle and retreat back to the bag. Morales, who hit his first home run in almost two years in the second inning of a 4-1 exhibition victory over the Cleveland Indians at Goodyear Ballpark, singled in the fourth and advanced to third with one out. ...

Reporting from Tempe, Ariz.  Kendrys Morales, facing major league competition for the first time in almost two years, singled twice in three at-bats in the Angels' 7-4 exhibition win over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday in Tempe Diablo Stadium. Morales had not played in a big league game since May 29, 2010, when he broke his left ankle jumping into home plate in celebration of a walk-off home run. Hitting from the right side in his first at-bat, Morales grounded an opposite-field single to right field in the second inning and ran from first to third, with a slide into the bag, on Bobby Abreu's double down the left-field line.

Reporting from Tempe, Ariz. — The two singles in three at-bats —- an opposite-field grounder through the right side and a line drive to center — were nice, but the real highlight of Kendrys Morales' first major league action in almost two years came on the basepaths. Morales was on first in the second inning of Thursday's 7-4 exhibition victory over the Kansas City Royals when Bobby Abreu flared a double down the left-field line. Morales — who hasn't played since he broke his left ankle while jumping onto home plate in celebration of a walk-off home run May 29, 2010, and had two operations since then — didn't hesitate as he rounded second, and he made it safely to third with a hard slide into the bag. Although he didn't draw comparison to speedster Peter Bourjos , Morales did fuel hope that he might be able to return this season and join Albert Pujols in the middle of what could be the most prolific lineup in franchise history.

A perplexing bunch, these Angels hitters. They struggle for the first two months of the season, lose their most productive bat to a freak injury at the end of May, and they take off in June. The Angels turned a tight game into a walk in the park on Saturday, taking advantage of Seattle's control problems to score six runs in the sixth inning and four in the seventh en route to an 11-2 romp of the Mariners in Safeco Field. Ervin Santana won his fifth consecutive start, giving up one run and seven hits in six innings to improve to 6-3 and lower his earned-run average to 3.29.

Manager Mike Scioscia , looking to shake up the offense after the Angels were swept in a three-game series in Detroit, flip-flopped Hideki Matsui and Kendry Morales in the fourth and fifth spots Monday night. Matsui batted cleanup in each of the team's first 26 games, but the designated hitter was mired in a three-for-25 slump that dropped his average from .310 on April 24 to .260 through Sunday. He was one for four in the Angels' 17-8 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Monday.

For the first time in almost two years, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia on Thursday wrote Kendrys Morales' name in a major league lineup. The slugger, who has not played for the Angels since breaking his left ankle while jumping onto home plate in celebration of a walk-off home run May 29, 2010, will start at designated hitter and bat sixth against the Kansas City Royals in Tempe Diablo Stadium. "It's nice," Scioscia said. "Guys are excited. He's one of those players a lot of guys on the team rally around.