Of course, he would say he never went away.

His bat, uncommonly quiet for the season's first month, erupted on Tuesday night. Extending the Angels' winning streak to a season-high four games, Anderson drove in all five runs in a 5-3 victory at Kauffman Stadium over the Royals, whose victim of Anderson's outburst put it best in the aftermath.

"That game was pretty simple," Brian Bannister said. "They were better with runners in scoring position. And by 'they,' I mean Garret Anderson all by himself."

Bannister was nursing a 3-0 lead in the fourth, courtesy of four two-out hits at the expense of young Nick Adenhart, when Anderson brought the Angels even with one swing.

Casey Kotchman had singled and moved to third on Torii Hunter's double when Anderson stepped up and parked Bannister's first delivery over the wall in right.

"Garret just jumped on me, first pitch," said Bannister, who retired Anderson on a fly ball his first time up. "I know he's a good guess hitter, and I got him out that first time on a changeup.

"He was guessing changeup [on the home run], and he was all over it."

His fourth homer of the season and second in three at-bats gave Anderson seven RBIs in two nights after he'd produced two in the previous 13 games. He chose not to elaborate on why he's alive and bashing again, but the most productive hitter in franchise history clearly was happy to be a factor.

"The win, that's the most important thing," Anderson said, deferring questions about his sudden surge. "I've made an adjustment; all I can say is it would be very hard to explain, so I'll just leave it at that."

There never is any big mystery, really, when a great hitter finds his stroke. Something clicks, the game slows down, he feels in charge and everything seems clear and ordered again.

What happened for Anderson also happened, coincidentally, with the Angels' other great hitter. Vladimir Guerrero's own breakout game was obscured by Anderson's timely shots.

Mired in a 2-for-23 slumber, Guerrero smoked a triple to right-center field in the first, and he went there again for a double in the seventh. He lashed a line drive that nearly capsized second baseman Mark Grudzielanek in the eighth, depriving Vlad of an RBI he wanted.

"I felt good tonight, much better," Guerrero said, grinning.

He has started to make solid contact the other way -- always a good sign for Vlad.

The Angels, who are without John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar, are tied with the Red Sox at 22-13 for the best record in the American League. Halos reliever Scot Shields ran down reasons to be upbeat, smiling when he came to Guerrero.

"It helps that No. 27 might be finding his way back," said Shields, who worked a perfect eighth inning in front of Francisco Rodriguez's perfect ninth. K-Rod notched his Major League-leading 14th save.

It also helps -- and provided immeasurable comfort -- that the bullpen is back in fine operating order.

Darren Oliver dismissed all five Royals he faced after Adenhart fell two outs shy of his first big league victory. Successive one-out walks in the fifth ended his night.

"I'm doing what I'm supposed to do," said Oliver, who moved to 2-1 with the win. "Everybody's at full strength [in the bullpen]. It feels good to know you're going to be coming in mentally ready."

The only disturbance after Oliver struck out Mark Teahen and Miguel Olivo to finish the fifth came in the seventh, when Justin Speier loaded the bases with one out. He struck out Teahen and retired Olivo on a foul popup.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia saw progress in Adenhart's effort after a rough debut (two innings, five runs) against the A's.

"Nick looked like he wasn't going to get back into his release point," Scioscia said of the decision to remove the 21-year-old right-hander in the fifth. "He threw more good pitches, but isn't as consistent as he has been down there [at Triple-A Salt Lake] or will be.

"It's a step forward, but he's still feeling for some things."

Adenhart agreed with the boss' assessment -- always a wise course.

"I set the bar high for myself," he said. "My goal is to have a really good start every time out. I didn't do exactly what I wanted tonight. My control is still not where I wanted it to be, where it can be.

"There are some things I need to work on, some adjustments."

The Angels banged out 13 of their 15 hits against Bannister before he departed with two outs in the seventh.

Erick Aybar, Kotchman, Hunter and second baseman Sean Rodriguez, in his fourth start, each had multihit games. But the focus was on Anderson and Guerrero, men who have been known to carry offenses for weeks at a time.

"Garret's starting to feel it," Scioscia said. "He had a big night tonight, and we definitely needed it. Vlad had good at-bats the last two days. Those two guys are big for us."