Salmon Still Not in Peak Form

The calendar turned to May two weeks ago, which is usually Angel right fielder Tim Salmon’s cue to start hitting. The notoriously slow starter has a .261 career April average but is a .289 lifetime hitter who averages 29 homers and 95 runs batted in a season.

But as the weather has warmed this season, Salmon’s average has waned. He was batting .233 entering the month and .214 after Sunday’s manager-imposed day off against the Tigers.

“I’m just going to let him clear some cobwebs, take a day off,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He’s been really grinding this past week. He needs to take a step back, watch a ballgame and get ready for Tuesday.”

What Salmon really needs is some more pitches to hit. Salmon entered Sunday with a team-leading 27 walks in 33 games, nine more than any other Angel.

In 15 games since April 24, when Garret Anderson moved into the cleanup spot behind Salmon, Salmon has walked 18 times. In 18 games with Troy Glaus batting cleanup, Salmon drew only nine walks.

Coincidence? Probably not. It’s obvious opposing pitchers fear Glaus far more than Anderson and have been pitching around Salmon more often since Anderson moved to cleanup.

“If a guy is not getting a lot of pitches to hit, it’s an indication they want to pitch to the next guy, and that’s fine with us,” Scioscia said. “With Garret hitting lefties well, if Tim takes his walks, Garret will be in good RBI situations.”

Anderson has a decent .264 average and 18 RBIs and is batting .265 with runners in scoring position but has knocked in only seven runs since moving to cleanup. He doesn’t mind when opponents pitch around Salmon to face him.

“That makes it fun for me, a challenge,” Anderson said. “I’m going to come through, so I don’t worry about it.”

When Angel pitcher Jarrod Washburn walked Roger Cedeno and Bobby Higginson in the first inning Sunday and made numerous pick-off attempts at Cedeno, Scioscia jogged briskly to the mound to admonish Washburn for concentrating too much on the runners and not enough on the batters.

“I knew he wasn’t coming out to pat me on the back,” Washburn said. “That doesn’t bother me. Obviously in a situation like that he means business, and I like that.”

Whatever Scioscia said worked. Washburn struck out Tony Clark and Dean Palmer to end the inning and went on to gain the victory, giving up two runs and five hits in six innings to improve to 2-4.

Scott Schoeneweis, scratched from Thursday night’s start because of lower back spasms, had his normal between-starts bullpen workout Sunday and is on track to start Wednesday night against Toronto. . . . Designated hitter Glenallen Hill, out since April 21 because of a strained left oblique muscle and slowed recently by a strained right hamstring, likely will start a minor league rehabilitation assignment this week.