Angels cover boy Mike Trout is still amazing

"We just had milk to drink," Hunter says, trying to deadpan it and failing.

The pressure on Trout should be unimaginable. By now, any other rookie would be wetting his pants, batting .220 and talking about next year. Not Trout. He is answering questions about winning the batting title and being MVP — rookie of the year is a lock — and answering them with the political savvy of a 35-year-old.

"Sure, I'd like the MVP. Anybody would," he says. "But the first thing is to help the team win."

What he has done may be surpassed in unbelievability by how he has handled it.

Manager Mike Scioscia says, "He is as unfazed when he goes 0 for 5 as he is with five for five."

Hunter conjectures, tongue in cheek, about the pressures he faced at age 21.

"They were chanting MVP for me, too " he says, "in double A."

Scioscia does the same, projecting himself into the batter's box at Dodgers Stadium at that age.

"They wouldn't be chanting MVP," he says. "They'd be chanting, 'Are you kidding me?'"

Only he didn't say "kidding."

According to Scioscia, Hunter and several other members of the Angels family, the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Trout's dad, Jeff, a teacher and coach, was once a minor league grinder who got everything out of his limited talent for a couple of years as a second baseman. His mom, Deb, is also a teacher, and the lesson he likes to repeat most often that came from them is to "stay humble and keep grinding."

Trout is from Millville, N.J., and Scioscia says this Jersey boy may benefit from the family standards that remain solid in that part of the country, not coincidentally close to the Pennsylvania area where Scioscia himself grew up.

"A lot of strong families there, a lot of responsibility taught," he says.

Trout has already been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, his picture under the headline "THE SUPERNATURAL." Friday, ESPN Magazine will hit the newsstands and his mug will be on that cover, under the headline "MAGIC MIKE." All that's left is maybe a stealth bomber flyover the next time he comes to bat and a visit from the Pope.

Trout's preference would be a World Series victory. For him, anything else would just stink from the head.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com