Salmon Aware of His Dwindling Home Run Production

By nature, Tim Salmon is not a worrier. Especially after a day such as Sunday, with two doubles and a season-high three runs batted in in the Angels’ 12-2 pounding of the Boston Red Sox.

But even Salmon acknowledges he is treading on, for him, some dangerous psychological ground.

The cause? The missing home run clout he had been providing the Angels the past two seasons.

Salmon had hit six homers through Sunday. It’s not that far removed from last year’s total of eight through May. Yet there is a difference.

For one thing, Salmon already has endured a 26-game stretch between homers, the longest of his career. He has hit only one on the road, May 19 in New York. That’s the last one he’s hit anywhere.

It’s easy to endure when the team wins, as it did Sunday. It isn’t so easy when the team is losing.

“I know it’s the part of my game missing that could help the team,” Salmon said. “Home runs are something I’ve never tried to hit in the past. It’s on my mind now, but you can’t go up there trying to do that. But it just hasn’t been home runs. It’s getting that key hit. I’ve been guilty of trying to be too perfect, and when I get my pitch I’ve either missed it or been late on the ball.”

And the weight could get a bit heavier if club leader Jim Edmonds (13) has to miss any extended time with the abdomen and groin injuries that kept him out of Sunday’s game.

“It’s easy to get caught up [in expectations],” said Salmon, who hit 30 homers as a rookie and 34 last year. “When you’re not playing well, everyone tends to analyze everything, trying to figure something they could do different. When you’re hitting well, you don’t think about it at all.

“I’ve been struggling, but I also know I have three to four months left in the season. I know there will be better days. Without that faith, I’ll never get out of this.”

His teammates are convinced Salmon will get hot, and soon.

“I’m not worried about him,” said Chili Davis, who hit one of three Angel homers Sunday. “I’ve told him and Jim that they will no longer be pitched at while people pitch around me. Both have hurt enough pitchers that every team will be careful with them. But Tim’s the kind of guy who can hit 10 homers in a week, none the next week, then five more the week after.

“The league has adjusted to them. When they adjust again, it will be harder for the league to readjust.”

Rod Carew, Angel hitting coach, said he is watching closely, trying to make sure Salmon does not fall into a mental abyss.

“When Tim is frustrated he gets it right out of his system in the dugout after the at-bat, and that’s it,” Carew said. “That’s important, especially for a guy who wants to do everything right.

“All hitters make adjustments, and sometimes they hinder as well as help. He’s doing some of those things. Right now I’m trying to give him the time to try and figure how to get out of it. I can try to help, but sometimes you have to give a guy that leeway.”

Salmon thought the doubles, in particular the one that one-hopped the right-field wall in the third, provided a clue to where his missing power swing might be. “That one had the ‘feel’ of how I was driving the ball last year,” he said. And the three RBIs were an even bigger boost.

“That’s what feels best about today--driving in runs,” Salmon said. “That means more than the home runs.”