ANGEL NOTEBOOK : Carew’s Daughter Battling an Unknown Blood Disorder

Pennant races and magic numbers were put in instant perspective for the Angels and hitting instructor Rod Carew this week. Carew’s youngest daughter, Michelle, 17, is in Placentia-Linda Hospital suffering from an undetermined blood disorder.

“We haven’t gotten all the tests back, so we’re still waiting for the results,” said Carew, who returned to the team Wednesday after missing games Monday and Tuesday.

Michelle, who graduated from Canyon High this summer and was beginning classes at Cypress College, was working on a paper for school late Sunday when she began to experience blurred vision and numbness in her neck and arms.

“She was sitting at the computer and she just started crying,” Carew said. “Her vision was blurred and she said she couldn’t raise her head up or get up. I went in and just lifted her up and put her to bed and we took her to the hospital in the morning.

“They’ve given her something to make her comfortable. She’s doing OK, she just wants to know what’s wrong with her. So right now, we’re just waiting for those tests to find out exactly what she’s got and how serious it is.”

For now, Carew is planning to travel with the Angels on their next trip, which begins Monday in Oakland and continues in Texas and Seattle. He met with the team on Monday to inform them of his daughter’s illness and tell them that he might be “in and out.”

“I’m going to try and be here and help as much as I can,” he said. “As much as I want to be there, I don’t know how much I can do sitting at the hospital. And my daughter wants me to go back to work, so that’s why I’m here.

“The next couple of days will decide if I go on the trip. Whatever the treatment, whether it’s chemotherapy or something else, it could be a long haul for her.”

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Candidacy renounced: Tim Salmon began Wednesday’s game fourth in the league in batting average (.331), tied for fifth in homers (33), ninth in runs batted in (93), fourth in runs (102), fifth in hits (157), second in total bases (291), eighth in doubles (29), sixth in walks (83), third in extra-base hits (65), fourth in on-base percentage (.435) and third in slugging percentage (.614).

But he doesn’t consider himself a candidate for the league’s most valuable player honors.

“When people bring that up, I just laugh,” he said. “I mean I don’t want to downplay the award, but it’s just not something I think about. There’s so many other guys, like Frank Thomas, Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez.

“Just look at the way guys pitch Thomas. I have holes in my swing. I think pitchers think, ‘If I make the right pitches, I can get him out.’ But with Thomas, they’re scared to death every time he comes up. It’s like no matter what kind of pitch you make, he could crunch it.”

Thomas proved Salmon right Wednesday by hitting two home runs, his 35th and 36th of the season.

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No rest for stressed: Tony Phillips sat in the dugout during batting practice Wednesday afternoon and marveled at the nonchalance of some of his younger teammates. They were laughing and joking, apparently oblivious to the pressures of a pennant race.

“They just don’t know,” Phillips said, shaking his head. “I can’t sleep, I can’t [relax]. But they just don’t know.”

Just then, Jim Edmonds walked by, whistling as he grabbed his batting helmet out of the rack.

“Look at that, it’s like, ‘Hello, we’re in a pennant race. Anybody home in there?’ ” he said, knocking on an imaginary door. “See, he just don’t know.”

He may be aware of the pressure, but Phillips can handle it. He broke open a scoreless tie with a homer to right in the fifth Wednesday night, his 25th of the year.