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PHOENIX - Scott Spiezio came to recognize the look long before the testimony arrived.

All winter, people wanted - needed, felt required, had - to talk Angels baseball. Even if all World Series come to an end, some home runs go on forever.

"In California, yeah, it's a little different than it was in the past," he said. "In my hometown (Morris, Ill.), it's a lot different.

"It's kind of weird. I'm not used to that."

He'd better get used to it.

The Anaheim Angels hoisted a full collection of new baseball protagonists for the nation's approval last October. Garret Anderson's three-run double that won Game 7 and vanquished San Francisco. MVP Troy Glaus' two-run double that completed the implausible five-run comeback in critical Game 6. Francisco Rodriguez, who had a postseason record five victories, worked nine stellar relief innings in the Series.

But poll the Angels and you get Spiezio, whose three-run homer in the seventh inning of Game 6 started a five-run comeback that turned the Series in Anaheim's favor. He would be an Angels kind of pick too, perhaps not the first name to come up in the newspaper but the choice of a tight clubhouse.

The Angels are like that.

"To be honest, we're not out to try to prove anything to anybody," center fielder Darin Erstad said. "The only thing we're trying to prove is stuff to ourselves. We've been ripped apart in the papers, and we've been praised in the papers. You can't let that affect the way you play. If that's what you need for motivation, I think you're a couple steps behind."

If that is just a little too much to believe in baseball's mercenary era, the Angels have plenty more where that came from. Amid rampant free agency, virtually the entire team is back for another year, due to shrewd roster maintenance by general manager Bill Stoneman. Except for reserves Alex Ochoa and Orlando Palmeiro and relievers Al Levine and Dennis Cook, the Angels remain intact, the lone winter addition free agent outfielder Eric Owens.

It took the franchise's first championship in 42 years to win over their town (or more properly Orange County), but Anaheim wrapped itself around the Angels last season. In a throwback to the days of the reserve clause, it will greet the same team when it takes the field a week from Monday against Texas.

"In today's day and age, sometimes changes happen for reasons other than talent on the field," said manager Mike Scioscia. "Look what the Florida Marlins did when they won (in 1997). San Diego, too, after they got there (in 1998). There are instances where teams who have been successful haven't been able to stay together. That's not the case here. That's good."

ROGER THE AMERICAN: Roger Clemens, focused on winning his 300th game and a third World Series ring in what he says is "probably" his final season, is not one to tolerate distractions or interruptions to his spring training routine.

But sometimes, even Clemens finds reasons for baseball to take a back seat.

Such was the case last week at Legends Field, when the six-time Cy Young Award winner of the New York Yankees took time out to speak to more than 200 Army reservists about to be deployed to the Persian Gulf.

The soldiers, members of the 317th Military Police Battalion and the 810th Military Police Company, soon will be responsible for monitoring Iraqi soldiers who either surrender or are captured. Many said tearful goodbyes to family members shortly after hearing encouragement from Clemens.

"I consider myself to be a team player," Clemens told them. "But you men and women are the ultimate team."

Clemens said he was struck by the youth of the troops, but also inspired by their intensity and commitment to the task before them.

"It was the neatest thing I've ever done, professionally or privately, in my life," Clemens said. "I take my work seriously, but it's nothing compared to what these people are doing."

Stat of the week

Roger Clemens probably will reach the 300-win milestone this season. A look at active pitchers with the most career victories heading into this season:

Age	Pitcher	Wins
40	R. Clemens	293
36	G. Maddux	273
37	T. Glavine	242
39	R. Johnson	224

Source: Elias

SHORT HOPS: Houston outfielder Lance Berkman, a native Texan, was outraged that Natalie Maines, a member of the Texas-based country music trio Dixie Chicks, opened a concert in London by saying, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." Said an angry Berkman: "I don't want to shoot them or anything. I just want them to move to Oklahoma."

• The Rangers are considering three courses of action with Carl Everett: designated hitter, trade (difficult because he's making $9.15 million), or unconditional release. This basically means former Phillie Doug Glanville will be their center fielder and leadoff man.

• The Indians are getting an early return on the Bartolo Colon-to-Montreal deal: Brandon Phillips, the key to the deal, has won the Tribe's starting second-base job at age 21.

• Robert Person has told Boston reporters that he has been assured a spot on the team's 40-man roster. In camp on a minor-league deal, he is coming off shoulder and elbow surgery.

• The Mets must tell David Cone by Saturday whether he has made their team. Right now, things look good for the 40-year-old right-hander, who did not pitch last year. He pitched four innings and allowed just one run Thursday night and could seal a spot with a good outing against the Dodgers on Tuesday.

• And finally, the clubhouse leader for incident of the spring: Wednesday night, the Devil Rays' equipment van was totaled when it hit a cow on Florida State Route 70 as it traveled to Port St. Lucie in advance of a game against the Mets. Three members of the Devil Rays staff riding in the van suffered just minor injuries. No word on the cow.