Angels Close Out Season in Style

As he finished dressing in the Angel clubhouse at Edison Field on Sunday, outfielder Tim Salmon turned around to find himself encircled by media personnel, waiting to ask their questions.

“Wow, what an audience,” he said.

If Salmon thinks that is an audience, wait until he gets to Yankee Stadium.

The Angels concluded the most successful regular season in their history Sunday by beating the Seattle Mariners, 7-6, for their 99th win, seven more than their previous high.

When Brendan Donnelly struck out Mike Cameron for the final out, the sellout crowd of 42,878 was on its feet, a sea of red waving its rally sticks in support. When the Angel buses pulled out a little over an hour later for New York, where the Angels begin a best-of-five division playoff series against the Yankees on Tuesday, the fans were lined up, an estimated 5,000 strong, to cheer their departure.

But Angel Manager Mike Scioscia knows those cheers would last only as long as it takes the Angels’ charter flight to get down the runway at Long Beach Airport. Scioscia has been to New York for the postseason as a Dodger catcher, in 1981, when his team beat the Yankees in the World Series, and in 1988, when the Dodgers beat the New York Mets to reach the Series.

“It’s electric when you play in Yankee Stadium,” Scioscia said, “but especially in the postseason. But once you get on the field, you realize the ball is still round, the bases are still 90 feet apart just like they are anyplace else and you get down to playing baseball.”

But, Scioscia conceded, overcoming the mystique of the historic stadium can be difficult.

“There is mystique in Yankee Stadium on a winter day in December when the place is empty,” he said. “It’s an incredible place to play. It’s the center of the baseball world.”

Nobody has ever referred to Edison Field that way. But it was certainly the center of Angel euphoria Sunday. Especially euphoric were the following Angels:

* Aaron Sele. The right-hander hadn’t been on the mound since tearing the rotator cuff in his pitching arm Aug. 20. Scioscia had planned on using Sele for no more than 60 pitches.

Those 60 pitches took Sele into the fourth inning. In 4 1/3 innings, he gave up two runs and three hits, impressing Scioscia enough to at least consider activating Sele for the second round of the playoffs, should the Angels get that far. Sele did not make the roster for the Yankee series.

“We saw a crisp fastball with a lot of late movement on it,” Scioscia said, “and a good curve. I was encouraged.”

* Troy Glaus. The Angel third baseman had the key hit of the game, a first-inning grand slam off Seattle starter and loser Ismael Valdes, the former Dodger and Angel who finished the season 8-12. It was the second grand slam of Glaus’ career and the team’s fifth this season. It was Glaus’ 30th home run, marking the third straight season he has hit at least that many. Salmon is the only other Angel to have accomplished that feat. Glaus also finished with a career-high 111 runs batted in.

* Adam Kennedy and David Eckstein. Although Kennedy was hitless in two at-bats Sunday, the second baseman ended up with a .312 average, breaking the club record for second baseman set by Johnny Ray, who hit .306 in 1988. Eckstein went one for three Sunday, giving him a .293 average to tie Rick Burleson (1981) for the highest average by an Angel shortstop.

* Mark Lukasiewicz and Donnelly. Lukasiewicz was the winning pitcher and Donnelly got his first save.

Angel left-hander Jarrod Washburn had some impressive numbers as well this season, finishing 18-6. But by the time Sunday’s game had ended, he had already turned the page. He will face Roger Clemens on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the division series.

“That,” Washburn said, “will be bigger than any game I have ever played.”