ANGELS REPORT : Carew Keeps Spirit Alive

Batting instructor Rod Carew can’t believe it has been more than three years since the death of his youngest daughter, Michelle, who was 18 when she lost her fight against leukemia in April 1996.

“I think she’s away at school or something,” Carew said. “That’s how I look at it.”

Not that Michelle ever strays far from Carew’s thoughts, but he feels closer to her when the Angels come to Minnesota. Michelle was buried in a cemetery on the outskirts of Minneapolis, and as he does every time he’s in town, Carew spent a few hours at her grave Friday.

“I take a little blanket and sit and chat with her,” said Carew, who played 12 years of his Hall of Fame career with the Twins. “I bring some music with me, some of her favorite songs, and play them.

“It’s not hard to come here because this is like home for me, and it’s her home. I think it helps any parent [to visit the child’s grave]. I know she’s OK. I think she’s better off than the way she was, what she went through.”

The normally shy and reserved Carew opened up to reporters during his daughter’s illness, staging a public effort to increase the number of potential bone marrow donors for kids with leukemia.

His efforts did not stop after Michelle died. Carew is involved with the Minneapolis-based National Bone Marrow Program, which helps raise money and awareness.

“Enrollment [in the donor registry] is going up, and more kids are finding matches,” Carew said. “Out of something like this, some good came.”

More good will come next week. A courtyard behind the home-plate area of Edison Field will be named after Michelle, and a bust of her will be unveiled during a ceremony, tentatively scheduled for Friday.

“She was a happy child and cared about other people,” Carew said of Michelle, who hoped to be a nurse. “She wanted to go public to give others a chance. We could have easily kept quiet, but she wanted to help other kids.”

*

Third base coach Larry Bowa said he won’t apply for the Angel manager’s job, “but if they’re going to have an interview process, I think I deserve an interview,” he said. “My qualifications speak for themselves, and I know these guys as good as anyone.” . . . Closer Troy Percival has decided to drop his appeal of a three-game suspension stemming from his involvement in a bench-clearing brawl with Cleveland on Aug. 31. Percival will begin serving the suspension Sunday. . . . Reliever Mike Holtz, on the disabled list since Aug. 25 because of a hamstring injury, was activated before Friday’s game. . . . Interim Manager Joe Maddon said Steve Sparks will spot start Tuesday in Kansas City, where the Angels are scheduled to play a doubleheader.

ANGELS’

RAMON ORTIZ

(1-1, 4.68 ERA)

vs.

TWINS’

ERIC MILTON

(6-11, 4.88 ERA)

Metrodome, Minneapolis, 9 a.m.

Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090)

* Update--The Angels and Twins will start two hours earlier than a normal day game, to accommodate tonight’s college football game between Minnesota and Louisiana-Monroe in the Metrodome. In order for school officials to have enough time prepare the field for football, no inning will be allowed to start after 12:30 p.m. PDT. If the game is not completed, it will be finished before Sunday’s game. When was the last time the Angels started a game before noon? “In Little League,” Tim Salmon said. “And [today] is when the jet lag really sets in. I assumed we’d just play seven innings or something. That’s what they should do.”