Confident Turnbow Leads Angels in Right Direction

Derrick Turnbow will never forget the first time the phone rang in the Angel bullpen and the call was for him. It was April 17 in Toronto, with the Angels trailing by six runs in the bottom of the eighth.

“They told me to start warming up,” Turnbow said, recalling his major league debut, “and my whole body went into shock.”

That was the nervous, jittery Turnbow, the 22-year-old right-hander who was unsure of himself and wondering what he was doing in the big leagues after spending 1999 in the Class-A South Atlantic League.

That was not the Turnbow the Angels saw Saturday night. Looking confident in his first major league start, Turnbow threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings in the Angels’ 15-4 victory over the Texas Rangers before 45,543 at the Ballpark in Arlington.

Turnbow did not get the victory--that went to Scott Karl, who threw 4 1/3 innings in relief--but he got the Angels headed in the right direction, blanking the Rangers early while the Angels exploded for six runs in the second.

Troy Glaus ended a string of 13 consecutive games without a run batted in with two home runs, giving him an American League-leading 43 homers on the season, Garret Anderson added a three-run homer, an RBI double and a sacrifice fly and Tim Salmon had three hits and two RBIs to pace an 18-hit attack.

The Angel outburst overshadowed Texas first baseman Rafael Palmeiro’s 400th career home run, a three-run shot in the fifth inning. Palmeiro became the 32nd player in major league history to hit 400 homers and the first player in Ranger history with 100 runs, 100 RBIs and 100 walks.

Turnbow gave up only two hits before succumbing to control problems (four walks), a high pitch count (75) and a steamy 91-degree evening, but he gave the Angels all they could have hoped for.

“He didn’t seem nervous to me,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “For a guy who pitched in the South Atlantic League last year to shut down a major league club into the fourth inning is a great step for him. He feels more comfortable with his surroundings. He’s not as wide-eyed as he was before.”

The Angels plucked Turnbow from Philadelphia in the Rule 5 draft last winter because they loved his arm--he hits 94 mph with his fastball and has a curve that can be nasty at times--and his potential.

Ideally, the Angels would have pitched Turnbow in double-A, but Rule 5 picks must be kept on major league rosters for the entire season, or they risk being sent back to their former teams or being exposed to waivers.

So the Angels kept Turnbow in their bullpen all year, even though he has thrown only 36 2/3 innings, most of them in blowout losses or wins, and went 21 days between appearances in June and 19 days between appearances in May.

Some questioned the wisdom of a contending team playing with what amounted to a 24-man roster, and some grumbled about Turnbow taking the spot of another reliever who could have had a greater impact on the team, but the Angels are happy with the way things have turned out.

They will not have to relinquish Turnbow to the Phillies, they will send him to the Arizona Fall League in November, and Turnbow will return to a starting role in 2001, most likely at double-A Arkansas.

“He’s done everything anyone has asked him to do, and he’s done it with a smile on his face,” Glaus said.

The Turnbow-charged victory pulled the Angels to within 6 1/2 games of Seattle and Oakland in the American League West, and they remained 6 1/2 games behind in the wild-card race with eight games left.

Their tragic number is still two, meaning any combination of Seattle or Oakland victories and Angel losses adding up to two will eliminate the Angels from the division race.

And that number will be reduced to at least one today regardless of how the Angels do against the Rangers, because the Mariners and A’s complete their four-game series in Seattle today, and one will come out a winner.

“That’s one thing not working in our favor,” Scioscia said. “But if we can catch lightning in a bottle and keep winning, you never know.”