Q. Small-ball style that Mike has got this team playing, he says this is mostly just him adapting to the talent that's here. Had there been much of this before he got here? How hard was it to get the team to buy into this approach?
TIM SALMON: Well, I think it's -- I think every team buys into it to some extent. But I think, like I've been saying, in spring training when we had the hitters meeting early in camp, we talked about how to win our division, to go against the pitching we were going to face in our division, we were going to have to really pay attention and focus on that part of the game, manufacturing runs. It was just an emphasis of focus that we put on early in camp. Everybody was sold on it because we all recognized what lied ahead. When you're thinking about facing those pitchers in Oakland and Seattle, those are the teams that we're looking to leap frog or get past, we recognize that we were not going to be able to score five or six runs every night off those guys. It really wasn't a hard sell. I think the hardest part was just maintaining the focus day in and day out, through spring training, all throughout the year, of just focusing on when you do your routine and batting practice, situational hitting during the game, just to remember to do those kinds of things.
Q. Were you kind of hoping to see Edmonds and Finley on the field rather than in the stand, as they're going to be tomorrow night, after playing with those guys for so long?
TIM SALMON: You know what? Jimmy, boy, I tell you what, he has a lot of history here. He's a big-game player. To be quite honest, it would have been great to play against him, but he scares me. Because I know he's the kind of guy that, playing against us, I'm sure he would play pretty well. He did in the one interleague series we played against them. So, I wasn't real excited about the prospects of what he would do against us at the plate. But we got J.T. over there, he came up with us, and we're excited -- not excited -- but I think it's great, the history, the past that we've had with him.
Q. As long as you've been in the Major Leagues, have you gone out of your way to watch World Series games or avoid it, since you're not in it?
TIM SALMON: I typically always watch the World Series games. The postseason, the playoff games, they're hit and miss, here and there. But the World Series, yeah, I've always been a big fan of watching those games. You always try to, from your living room couch, to imagine what it would be like playing in those situations, in those games, the energy, the excitement. So, it's awesome. Like I said, it doesn't really quite seem real yet. I've heard a lot of people say that it won't seem real until January, when you really get away from it. I did have a lot of memories, sitting at home watching guys, especially with, fortunately, the Yankees being in there as much, we've had a lot of ex-Angels that have been with them - Randy Velarde, Todd Greene was there, Chad Curtis, Chili Davis. I've always had interest in watching those games because of those guys, too.
Q. Can you talk about what percent, physically, you are coming in? Also, how you persevered with the foot injury?
TIM SALMON: Well, injury-wise, right now, I don't know if it even matters. You're playing in a World Series game, so I guess the question is, "What injuries?" As far as the past, I've had some injuries, a lot of guys have had injuries. Just playing the game, the grind, you're going to have issues that come up. With some of the surgeries out there, they're not big deals. But I think last year, coming off the winter before when I had the surgeries, that definitely took its toll. It was a tough year on me. I didn't get to prepare and do what I needed to do to play a full season. It took its toll. You start wondering, you really do. When you're going out there, all of a sudden your skills aren't what they used to be, it makes it tough, but it makes it that much more enjoyable today. That's why I probably smile more today, it's just been awesome. You talk about your lowest lows to your highest highs, that's been me right now.
Q. What does it mean to be part of a team that brings the unprecedented World Series to Anaheim?
TIM SALMON: I think it's awesome. I think this franchise has had a lot of great teams, great players come through. Unfortunately, there was a lot of heartache, too, about being so close. To be a part of a team that kind of gets over that hump, breaks the curse or whatever it was, I think it's just awesome that now all the attention, the focus can be on here, the now, the future, rather than the past. To be a part of that team that does that, it's just been awesome. Four more wins away, it is just going to be unbelievable, so...
Q. What did playing 58 games in the West do for your team?
TIM SALMON: Well, those 58 games, you're talking is that mainly just Oakland and Seattle, or Texas, too?
Q. The whole division.
TIM SALMON: Yeah, there's no doubt you go up against tough opponents day in and day out, you get a lot of opportunities to play those tough teams, you become better. Like I talked about earlier about the offense, we learned and developed and we figured out how to play those tough games and play those close ball games. I just think that the ground work that was preparing us for this point in time, that's why you go through those things I guess. They're not always fun. They're exhausting and they're tiring and they're tough, hard-fought games throughout the year, you sometimes wonder if you're going to make it into September. But I sit back now and think, "Boy, we couldn't have had a better proving ground or training ground for this club." That's what it's been in the postseason, too.
Q. Early in spring training, Mike Scioscia referred to the Angels as a "championship-caliber team." What impact might that have had on you and also the Angels' teammates to hear him say that so many times, so early in preseason?
TIM SALMON: You're talking, with Mike Scioscia, a guy who has been there, he knows what a championship-caliber team is. You're hearing it not only from him, but his coaching staff, who has also been part of those kinds of clubs. In ten years, I've never been part of a playoff contending club. For me to rely on something like that coming from our leader, basically, that's encouragement. You get to a point, after ten years, where you're kind of going, "Do I really know what it takes to be a championship-caliber club?" I thought we did, I thought we had pretty good clubs in the past, but it never panned out. From my standpoint, I probably took as much to what he had said as maybe the young rookie guys sitting in there that had never been in the Big Leagues. I think it had a big impact.
Q. You talked about getting over the hump and breaking the curse. It seemed like such an emotional high for you guys last Sunday, with a victory lap around the field. What has this last week been for you, emotionally? Did you relax, rev yourself back up? Was that necessary?
TIM SALMON: It's been nice, because it's kind of -- I guess, clinching it early, we've had a chance to really relax and to kind of take it all in and deal with the requests that are coming. But there's no doubt that that high and all that energy, it's been awesome, it's been nice to be able to enjoy it a little bit without having to jump right back into another series. But it's time to get back to work. I think the guys are ready to kind of come off that cloud and get back down in the trenches and battle. So, I'm looking forward to it.
End of FastScripts...
