Monday, October 29, 2001
Arizona's Anderson leaves 'pen to start
Ready for Game 3
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
PHOENIX — Arizona's Brian Anderson hasn't started a game since Sept.8. He gets to jump back into the fray Tuesday night against Roger Clemens and the New York Yankees.
When Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly told Anderson he was going to get a start in the series, he figured he get Clemens.
“If you're going to get a start — first one — in Yankee Stadium,” Anderson said, “you might as well get Rocket.”
Anderson, a 29-year-old left-hander, will be unfazed by the magnitude of the start.
Anderson is a happy-go-lucky guy. He pleads guilty on all counts to lefty goofiness. He thinks that may help him Tuesday, but he'll take his assignment seriously.
“Obviously, I realize what is at stake,” he said. “Game 3 in big in any series.”
Brenly went to Anderson partly because he's left-handed. But he also think Anderson can handle the pressure.
“Brian Anderson is a very calm, cool and collected pitcher,” Brenly said. “He does not get rattled.”
Maybe that's because Anderson has a lot rattling around in his head. Ask him why he's a Nebraska fan and you get a five-minute explanation that ends with Tom Osborne going for two points in a 1984 bowl game when one would have gotten the Huskers a share of the national title. “I thought that was the guttiest thing I ever heard,” he said.
Anderson has a personal rule: Whenever “The Dirty Dozen” is on TV, he must watch it: “I got caught a couple times on the road this year, flipping around at 3 in the morning. I stayed up till 5 watching it.”
Anderson has had a rough year. He missed a start with 104-degree fever. His sprained his ankle in his next start. He got hit by a thrown ball on his pitching elbow after that. He cut a finger — opening a bottle of cologne, no less — and was ineffective in the start after that. He got hit on the thumb by a batted ball.
That was all in spring training.
During the season, he has been on the disabled list twice, with a lower back strain and a strained left groin.
“Heaped on top of that was plenty of ineffectiveness,” Anderson said.
Anderson went 4-9 with a 5.20 ERA during the regular season. That led to his being shipped to the bullpen.
Anderson has been effective in the postseason out of the bullpen. He has 's pitched three games, going 7 1/3 innings and allowing two runs. The Diamondbacks had stretched Anderson out on the side.
“We extended his pitch count to get him to a point where I'm very comfortable that we can work him as deep into the game as we need to,” Brenly said.
Anderson, who went to Wright State, has been the subject of trade talks with the Reds a number of times. At least once, the deal almost got done.
Anderson would like to remain a Diamondback. But he knows the Reds are searching for pitching.
“I like to finish my career here because we know with our owner we're going to be in contention every year,” Anderson said. “But if it came to that, I'd be OK with it (going to Cincinnati). It's close to home. I have friends there.”
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Arizona's Anderson leaves 'pen to start
