Grahe Clicks in New Role as Reliever : Angels: By happy accident, right-hander feels at home in the bullpen.

If the first batter Joe Grahe faced in his first relief appearance had walked or homered, the course of Grahe’s career might have been different.

But because Grahe struck out George Bell in an otherwise forgettable Angel loss June 9, a closer was born.

So fragile was Grahe’s confidence after he was dropped from the starting rotation and sent to triple-A Edmonton, this might have been a lost season if he’d struggled as a reliever after his recall.

“Fear of failure, in the early part of the year, was probably what got to me,” said Grahe, who was 2-3 with a 5.90 earned-run average in seven starts. “Things are not going good but you can’t let it kill you, and that’s what was happening. You make yourself miserable and it’s like, ‘Oh, God, it’s 3 o’clock and I’ve got to go to the park.’ I fell into that rut.”

The lifeline that rescued him arrived purely by accident. Left short in the bullpen when bone spurs put 1991 AL save leader Bryan Harvey on the disabled list, Manager Buck Rodgers and interim Manager John Wathan planned to have Mark Eichhorn and Steve Frey split the closing duties and summoned Grahe to be the 11th pitcher. But struck by how much easier it would be for one pitcher to change jobs than to move Eichhorn and Frey out of setup roles, they instead threw Grahe into late-inning pressure situations. Unexpectedly, for them and for him, the 25-year-old right-hander thrived.

“The whole key for me was the first hitter I faced in Chicago,” Grahe said. “It was George Bell, who had hit a pretty good-sized home run off me earlier in the year, and there was a guy on third (Frank Thomas) and there were two out, and it was the seventh inning and I was able to strike him out.

“And from that point on, it was like, ‘Maybe I could do something like this,’ because I felt real good out there. I felt real relaxed that night. It’s just kind of carried over. Maybe if it had been rough from the get-go in that situation, it would have been tougher to adjust to it. The early success in that matter really helped.”

His early success has spawned continued success. As the Angels open a three-game series against the Orioles tonight at Anaheim Stadium, Grahe has 18 saves in 19 opportunities and a victory in the lone save he didn’t convert, July 22 against the Blue Jays. As a reliever, he has allowed four runs--three on home runs--in 43 innings for an ERA of 0.84.

Relying primarily on a sinking fastball and helped by lively movement on all of his pitches, Grahe has minimized the effects of losing Harvey to elbow surgery.

“Joe took to it like a duck to water,” Rodgers said. “You’ve got all kinds of closers. You’ve got ElRoy Face with his forkball, Ryne Duren with his fastball and in this organization, you had Minnie Rojas with his fastball, Bob Lee with his fastball and Bryan Harvey with his fastball and forkball. Now, we’ve got Joe Grahe with his sinking fastball and his slider. He gets ‘em out with his fastball and keeps them honest with his slider.

“He’s gained a lot of confidence and he’s not afraid to throw the ball over the plate. He comes right at you. It’s a do-or-die role, with no margin for error. As a starter he’d try to hit corners too much, try and out-think himself and then he’d fall behind and have to come right down Broadway. As a reliever, he can just come at people and say, ‘Here it is.’ He knows where the line is and he can get that one inning or two. He doesn’t have the seventh or eighth inning to worry about in the first or second.”

Grahe, who was 2-7 as a starter last season, admits he worried too much during his starts. Now he focuses on the immediate concerns posed by an inherited runner or of protecting a one-run lead.

“The physical adjustment has been tougher, really, believe it or not,” said Grahe, whose only limitation is a tender elbow that keeps him from making frequent back-to-back appearances. “I thought it would be mental, but it was weird when I’d go out there and I’d just feel fine, real relaxed. I can’t explain why. That’s just the way it’s happened. . . .

“I’ve been able to control myself a little better out there in tighter situations. Even (Tuesday) night, I had a guy on second and no outs, yet I didn’t feel a sense of panic. It was, ‘I’ve got to get the next guy, (Mark) Whiten, out and try to not let him advance to third. I was able to do that, and then once I got that, you think, ‘Well, they’ve got to be able to hit .500 now to get him in. They’ve got to get one out of two.’ So now the odds are back in my favor with one out and a guy on second. I’m able to think a lot more out there, more so than I was as a starter. I’ve learned a lot about how to deal with situations like that.”

Said Rodgers: “It takes more than good stuff to be a good closer. It’s in the head and it takes a commodity below the head. It takes a good stomach. You’ve got to have the head and the stomach, and Joe does.”

What he doesn’t have is a gimmick. Rollie Fingers had his handlebar mustache, Bruce Sutter his glare, Goose Gossage his intimidating stature and Dan Quisenberry his submarine delivery. Grahe, at 6-feet and 200 pounds, doesn’t loom large on the mound and he’s too soft-spoken to be menacing. Which is why catcher Ron Tingley calls him “The Assassin,” a nickname that gets an embarrassed smile from Grahe.

“We came up with it because he’s nothing like that. He’s kind of laid-back and quiet,” Tingley said. “It works for him, and that’s all that counts.”

He has been in his new role longer than expected. Grahe was prepared to take on a middle- or long-relief role when Harvey tried to come back in June, but Harvey was forced onto the disabled list again and underwent arthroscopic surgery in August. He won’t throw again until November, meaning Grahe is likely to start the season in Harvey’s old role.

“We’re very fortunate to have Joe Grahe so we can go to spring training and say, ‘Go at your regular pace. We’re not going to push you,’ ” Rodgers said. “If Harv comes back and Harv is Harv, he’s going to be the closer. But no matter what happens, Joe Grahe has shown us a lot.”

The Change in Joe Grahe

AS A STARTER

G IP H R ER BB SO ERA W-L SAVES 7 39 2/3 45 26 26 22 17 5.90 2-3 None

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AS A RELIEVER

G IP H R ER BB SO ERA W-L SAVES 307 43 24 4 4 14 19 0.84 2-1 18 in 19 chances