Been there, done that: Tim Salmon has advice for Padres

Tim Salmon has been there. He has felt the very doubts the Padres are dealing with as they barely cling to what is left of a 6 1/2-game lead after losing to the Giants in the first game of their NL West showdown.
Salmon's 1995 Angels fell even further and faster.
Unlike the Padres, the Angels didn't lose 10 in a row that season. But they lost nine straight games twice in the season's final six weeks. Their second skid started on Sept. 13 when they led the Mariners by six games in the AL West. By the time the Angels won again, Seattle had football jerseys
surged to a two-game lead. In 11 miserable days, the Angels lost eight games in the standings.
Salmon recalls: "We'd spend all that energy on the field, then come back in the clubhouse and watch Seattle come back to win in dramatic fashion. We'd come back the next day and listen to every reporter in the world telling you how you're going to blow the lead, that you're going down in history. You start hearing that stuff and thinking about that stuff enough and all of a sudden it starts playing out. That's what happened to us."
Even after their swoon, the Angels weren't done. Once their deficit reached three games, they started winning again. They closed the regular season with five consecutive wins to force a one-game playoff at Seattle.
Then they ran into Randy Johnson(notes), "the ace of all aces that year" says Salmon. No-hit through five innings, held scoreless until the ninth, the Angels' season ended with another disappointment.
"It really seemed like destiny was on our side the way things were going," Salmon says. "How could we get all the way down that road, get another chance and then … it was almost like a dirty trick."
Fifteen years later, the '95 Angels are remembered for one of baseball's greatest collapses.
"Nobody ever says that was the year you guys lost that (11-game) lead and forced a one-game playoff," Salmon says. "No, they say, that's the year you lost that (11-game) lead. Nobody remembers the fact you won five at the end to push a one-game playoff. The only thing that could have changed the way history views us was to win it."
Besides having been through the failure of '95, Salmon is in Pittsburgh Steelers jersey
position to offer advice to these Padres for another reason. He knows Padres manager Bud Black from their days together in Anaheim. Black was the Angels' pitching coach in 2002, the year the Angels won their only World Series.
"People all year have been saying they're not as good as their record and they've been trying to prove they are," Salmon says. "Now it's starting to slide, you have to know they have that doubt in their mind. They gotta have that positive side that Bud can give them. Bud is like Mike Scioscia, very even-keeled, very positive. He can tell them, 'You know you are that good team we've been all year.' You can't let the negative thoughts creep in."
A reserve infielder on the '95 Angels, Rex Hudler, happened to be at Petco Park the night the Padres' losing streak reached seven. He could see the negativity while on the field during batting practice.
"I didn't like the vibes," Hudler says. "I talked to a couple of the guys and they were friendly enough, but you could sense they were stressed. It was very uncomfortable to be there. It was kind of a familiar feeling. I don't miss that."
Hudler and Salmon both pointed out that the Padres have one key advantage over the '95 Angels. "We gave Seattle three games. The Padres still have a (two-game) lead," Hudler says. "The reason they will be OK is their pitching will be strong. We were the other way. Our pitching couldn't hold up our offense during the skid."
Both have advice for the Padres.
Salmon: "You have to have the blinders on. You can't read the papers, you can't watch TV. You've got three weeks to crawl as a unit into your own little world. Take care of business, one pitch at a time, one inning at a time, one game at a time."
Hudler: "Feed off each other. What can I do to right the ship? Even Minnesota Vikings jersey
someone like me, who was on the bench most of the time, would lend encouraging words and show the love when somebody did something right. Be accountable and focus on what you can do to help."
And maybe the 2010 Padres won't be remembered the way most remember the '95 Angels.