Grahe Still Playing a Waiting Game for Spot in the Rotation : Angels: He tries to make the most of his chances to show what he can do, while Valenzuela struggles.

Joe Grahe fought for the fifth starter’s job during the spring. Now he waits on it.

It belongs to Fernando Valenzuela for now. Before, it was the property of Scott Lewis, the winner of a nip-and-tuck spring training contest with Grahe.

Lewis lost it by starting 1-5 with the Angels, and he and Grahe switched places between Anaheim and Edmonton.

Valenzuela, signed by the Angels May 20, has yet to win in two starts, and his earned-run average ballooned to 12.15 after he gave up five runs in 1 2/3 innings of an 8-0 loss to Milwaukee Wednesday at Anaheim Stadium.

Grahe waits in the wings, quite literally.

Valenzuela struggled for the second time in two starts Wednesday, and for the second time in two starts, Grahe was called upon in relief.

Last Friday, when Valenzuela left in the sixth inning after giving up back-to-back homers in the fifth, Grahe came in and allowed one hit over three innings. The two runs that scored after Grahe came in were charged to Valenzuela.

Grahe’s performance Wednesday--two earned runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings--wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the sort to make anyone rush him into the rotation, either.

If the Angels decide the Valenzuela experiment isn’t working--and Senior Vice President Dan O’Brien said there will be no decision in the short-term--the Angels might turn to someone other than Grahe. One option would be Floyd Bannister, a starter-turned-reliever who has 133 major league victories in his 14-year career. Bannister has been on the disabled list with tendinitis in his shoulder, from which he says he has recovered.

Grahe tries to avoid the thought that every relief appearance is a tryout for a job that isn’t yet open.

“You can’t think like that,” he said. “I’ve still got to establish myself as consistently able to get big league hitters out. I’ve got my own problems before I worry about stuff like that.”

He entered the game in the second inning, with two out and Robin Yount on second base after the two-run double that had chased Valenzuela.

Grahe promptly put an end to the inning by getting Dante Bichette to ground to short.

Grahe struck out the first two batters in the third but then walked B.J. Surhoff, who eventually scored on Paul Molitor’s single.

“A stupid two-out walk,” Grahe said. “I deserve trouble when that happens. Certain things you don’t do. When you walk a guy with two outs, usually the roof caves in. This time it kind of cracked.”

In the fourth, Grahe gave up two more runs, only one of them earned.

The inning started with a hit by Yount, who fell behind in the count but still managed a single to right.

“I threw a very bad 1-2 pitch up,” Grahe said. “He burned me. I deserved it. A future Hall of Famer is not going to let you get away with that.”

After finishing sixth in the competition for five starting spots during the spring, Grahe joined the Angels’ triple-A Edmonton team. He got off to a rocky start but soon began to turn it around.

“I was getting things together, feeling good about the way I was throwing,” he said.

It seemed likely that if Lewis didn’t make it, Grahe would get the chance he almost got in April. It didn’t happen that way. The Angels signed Valenzuela, giving the team another left-handed starter to go with Jim Abbott, Chuck Finley and Mark Langston.

Grahe was taken by surprise.

“I was a little disoriented,” he said.

He has made it back to the big leagues, where he went 3-4 in eight starts during the second half of last season, and he waits to make an impression.

“Whenever you get a chance, you’ve got to make it look like a start for you, almost,” Grahe said. “I was able to get in 5 1/3 (innings) today.

“I’ve just got to put my time in. Whenever the innings come along, I’ll take them. It’s their decision whether or not I start a game. I look at it this way: I’ve got a task to do. It’s my job to go out and do it. If I don’t do my job, why should I start?”