Big Red rebirths

Rijo and Cincinnati enjoy unlikely success

Jose Rijo next tempts fate on Saturday. That's when, against the Cardinals in St. Louis, the 37 year old will make his sixth start of the season and the 266th of his career. He'll throw a ton of sliders. A kid on a Razor scooter has a better chance of cracking 90 mph on the radar gun. Chances are Rijo will allow more than a few baserunners. He won't get many punchouts, and every hitter the Reds right-hander gets to pop up or ground out will shake his head as he returns to the bench and wonders why he didn't just crush that pitch. And after every delivery, Rijo and his teammates will hold their collective breath and wonder if he'll be able to make his next one.

"There's no ligament in his elbow," says Cincinnati general manager Jim Bowden. "It's all calcification and arthritis holding his elbow together. So we really we don't know if his next pitch is his last pitch, if the end is a month away or six months away or five years. However long it lasts we just want to appreciate the moment."

The same goes for the Reds as a whole. Expected to wallow at the bottom of the NL Central this season, they woke up on Thursday morning with a 4 1/2-game lead, their largest advantage since they won the division in 1995. On April 26, the Reds moved into first place in the NL Central, the first time they've held that position since June 2000.

Rijo, a Cincinnati hero and the MVP of the Reds' World Series sweep of the A's in 1990, contributed five wins to the 1995 team before having Tommy John surgery that summer. He came back last August after taking a five-year hiatus from the majors to rehab his defective elbow, which has also undergone four other operations. He was effective out of the bullpen and made for a heartwarming story last year, but his return to the rotation this season has, in his words, been a "miracle." Whatever magic dust Rijo sprinkles on his arm seems to have spread throughout the clubhouse.

"He's been around forever, but he brings the enthusiasm of a boisterous rookie," says Reds third baseman Aaron Boone. "I know he's an influence on other players."

This team would appear to have as much business flourishing as Rijo does standing on the mound. Ken Griffey Jr. went down six games into the season with a knee injury. The two corner outfielders, Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns, were born less than a year before Rijo signed his first professional contract in 1980. Kearns and first baseman Sean Casey are the only regulars batting higher than .300, and timely hitting has been scarce. Only the Cubs (.220) and Padres (.223) are worse than the Reds (.224) when it comes to hitting with runners in scoring position.

Cincinnati has been carried by one of the league's best bullpens and a rotation that, like Rijo, has been effective despite being held together with chewing gum and duct tape. Right-hander Joey Hamilton, whose comeback from shoulder surgery was so rough that he was released by the Blue Jays last summer, was 2-1 with a 3.10 ERA before going on the DL with a hamstring injury on May 7. Jimmy Haynes, a Brewers castoff, has allowed a total of eight earned runs in his last four starts. Jose Acevedo has won three of his four outings. The names aren't exactly in the Johnson-Schilling-Martinez category, but they've been competitive enough to keep the Reds in games. The rotation's 3.77 ERA is the league's sixth-best.

Rijo, 3-1 with a 3.93 ERA, is their spiritual leader. He survives on the mound by relying on an updated version of the nasty slider he had in his prime; it isn't as hard, it breaks a little less and it sinks a little more. "We tell our catchers they can tape their fingers together when he pitches," says bullpen coach Tom Hume. "They only need to put down two before every pitch."

Rijo's fastball hovers in the 82-85 mph range, but by spotting it well and mixing it in shrewdly he gets outs with it. But it's the veteran's presence, more than his ability to blow hitters away, that has the greatest effect on the Reds. "Guys in the training room that are feeling bad about themselves can take a look at him," says shortstop Barry Larkin. "He offers the perspective that you can work yourself back. He's an inspiration not just for the pitchers, but to everybody."

Rijo, a native of the Dominican Republic, has also been a strong clubhouse influence on many of the team's young Latin players, such as Acevedo and outfielder Juan Encarnacion. And his showman's attitude is an energizing factor for the club and its fans. "A couple weeks ago I saw him tell Barry Bonds a fastball was coming," says Larkin. "Incredible. He just missed with it. I don't know if Barry believed it was coming, but he threw it."

No one believed Rijo would be here now either, but he is. Ditto for the first-place Reds.

Sports Illustrated staff writer Stephen Cannella covers the baseball beat for the magazine. Touching Base appears every week on CNNSI.com.

 

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