Pennant Race The Least Worry For Rod Carew

The pressure of a pennant race is nothing new to Rod Carew, who went through a few of them when he played for the California Angels.

Now the team’s hitting instructor, Carew is credited this season with triggering the emergence of a half-dozen key California hitters - Gary DiSarcina, Tim Salmon, Jim Edmonds, J.T. Snow and others.

And what should have been a month in which Carew could ride the tide of playoff fever has become something altogether different. Losses no longer seem tragic to Carew, because he has become a reminder to everyone in baseball that real life overwhelms sports.

Carew’s youngest daughter, Michelle, 17, has been in a hospital for more than a week and could remain there for months - diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia that has left her partially blind and in constant pain.

“I’m here with the team because that’s what she wants,” Carew said.

On off-days, Carew flies home to sit in a hospital room with Michelle. He calls her two, three times a day. On Monday, she lost sight in one eye - temporarily, doctors say.