Tony and Doug Inside MLB

Salmon crushed the ball to right-center in amazement to his manager Mike Scioscia, who said he hasn’t seen Salmon hit a ball like that to the opposite field in years. Salmon is scheduled to get one start in right field during the series against the A’s, which starts tonight, but Scioscia won’t say what game that will be.

After the game, Salmon talked briefly to about a half dozen reporters, sounding as giddy as if it was his first day in the big leagues.

Q: Was that fun?
A: Yeah, that was a lot of fun which is the understatement of the year. I’m kind of at a loss for words. My head is spinning a lot right now with just a lot going on. It’s like a did-that-really happen kind of thing. It’s one of those times right now when you try to make the most of your opportunities and try to enjoy it along the way … get all those emotions out of the way. It was exciting today.

Q: What have all the ovations this week meant to you?
A: It’s great. This whole year, from spring training on, the fans have really gone way beyond what anybody could imagine to show their appreciation. And I’ve noticed it all year and recognized it and appreciated it, especially this last week. I guess hitting a home run like that, that’s one way to kind of give it back to them. But I do notice it.

Q: They would really like one more.
A: Yeah, there are a lot of us who would like that. It was funny, the guys before the game were kind of giving me a hard time. They were like, `Don’t go up there and walk or go for singles and all those things you would normally do. You go up there and swing for that home run. In the first at-bat I go up there and I do it and I miss. I’m like `You know what, come on. You have a runner out there and less than two (outs). Just a nice easy swing here.’ Boom, home run. To guys who haven’t hit a whole lot of them it’s kind of weird to understand but for me at least home runs tend to surprise me more than anything else. (They come) when I’m not trying to do too much with the ball.