Although Jose Rijo has 200 friends at this weekend's games at Cinergy Field, there is one special person who isn't attending.

        “Jose Caraballo,” Rijo said. “We go way back. My number one fan. He's the guy (from Rijo's hometown of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic) who let me wear his baseball shirt when I signed (with the Yankees). I was 15 years old and very poor. When I went through my surgeries, he was there — every day. When I went through all my spring training in the Dominican, he was my personal catcher and trainer. He's meant the world to me.”

        So why couldn't he be on hand for Rijo's comeback debut?

        Because Rijo has repaid at least some of the personal debt to Caraballo by making him a key man in his cigar shop in the Dominican. Somebody has to mind the store; cigars are popular in the D.R., and Caraballo takes his job seriously.

        “When I had nothing, he gave me everything,” Rijo said. “Clothes, shoes, money. I can never repay him. When you're on top of the world, people give you things. When you have nothing, people usually give you nothing.”

        Caraballo played Single-A ball in St. Louis' organization.

        NUMBERS GAME: The player who desperately wanted Rijo's uniform number — 27 — wasn't around to make a personal plea for it when Rijo officially returned to the Reds clubhouse Friday. That person is Pete Harnisch, who is rehabbing his arm after season-ending surgery. Rijo said Harnisch even has No.27 on his slippers, but no way is he going to pry No.27 away from Rijo.

        “I kept telling him I was coming back,” Rijo said.

        When Rijo first came to the Reds in 1988, he had to pry No.27 away from “Mr. Red,” the mammoth-headed Reds mascot. Rijo wanted the number because it was the number made famous by his then- father-in-law, Juan Marichal, aka “The Dominican Dandy,” who is a Hall of Famer.

        Rijo, who is now divorced from Marichal's daughter, Rosie, is presently out-ranked by Reds pitcher Juan Acevedo on the Marichal family depth chart — Acevedo is a cousin.

        Acevedo is one of nine Reds who've made their major-league debuts this season. One has to go back to 1944 to find a Reds team that has had more than eight Reds make their big-league debuts prior to Sept.1. A famous former-Red made his debut in 1944 — Joe Nuxhall.

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