Starry-Eyed Salmon Sees Changeup for Image

Tim Salmon may be the Angels’ most marketable player, an attractive blend of personality and performance, but most people east of the San Bernardino Mountains wouldn’t recognize Salmon if they walked right past the Angel right fielder.

How else can you explain the fact that Salmon, one of baseball’s best players for five years, has never been to an All-Star game? Salmon, 29, hopes to change that, though, and he’s even willing to venture out of his comfort zone to do so.

Salmon has always chosen privacy over publicity, turning down invitations to MTV Malibu Beach House parties and Rock ‘N Jock softball games, and he has never had his agent push him for endorsements.

But he agreed to do a national ESPN commercial even though he felt he “was the wrong guy for it,” and he took part in the Angels’ current Southern California marketing campaign even though he “gets embarrassed” when he sees his face on a billboard.

“I’m at the point in my career where maybe I should be changing my ideas, because every year at the All-Star break I don’t even see my name in the voting,” Salmon said.

“I guess the more I play, the more I realize it’s not just what you do on the field that gets you national attention. The guys who make the All-Star game are consistently out there, and that’s where I realize I may be hurting myself.”

Salmon won’t be hawking products like Michael Jordan, but when he agreed to do the commercial with ESPN’s “Net Boy,” where Salmon acts like a spoiled player who thinks he’s underpaid, he showed a willingness to branch out.

“They ran the script by me and I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding--this isn’t me,’ ” Salmon said. “Afterward I thought, why can’t I just get a good milk commercial or a truck commercial? But I’m starting to get old, and I want to go to the All-Star game more now than ever before.”

*

Give Dave Hollins a new nickname: The Fall Guy. Jim Edmonds, who sat out Saturday’s 12-4 exhibition victory over the Chicago Cubs because of a twisted knee, complained about a strike call, and umpire Gary Darling came over to the dugout in the middle of the fourth inning to investigate.

“The ump said, ‘Who said that? Who said that?’ ” Hollins said. “I said, ‘Uh, I did.’ He said, ‘OK, you’re gone.’ I said, ‘Thank you.’ ” Hollins was ejected and got to take the rest of the afternoon off, which, considering the 81-degree temperatures, wasn’t so bad.

“I’m a team player,” Hollins said. “I didn’t want to lose Jimmy.”

*

Edmonds’ injury is not serious, and he is expected to play today. . . . Jason Dickson gave up three runs and four hits in four innings Saturday, but only one of the runs was earned. The Angels scored six in the first inning, which included Dickson’s two-run single, and Garret Anderson had three hits and two RBIs. . . . The Angels have a 15-9 record. “We better drop a couple of games,” Manager Terry Collins said. “We don’t want to come out of here too overconfident.” . . . The Angels’ season-opening game against the New York Yankees at Edison International Field on April 1 is sold out, but there are still tickets available for Friday’s Freeway Series game against the Dodgers.