Friday, July 12, 2002
Resurgent Rijo says he's ready
Reds notebook
By John Erardi, jerardi@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HOUSTON — Jose Rijo threw 60 pitches in the bullpen here Thursday, popping the catcher's glove with a good fastball, an unexpectedly sharp slider and a split-fingered pitch that was a “little flat” but showed signs of coming around, Rijo said.
What's the next step?
“Activation,” he said. “I'm ready.”
Reds manager Bob Boone and pitching coach Don Gullett said they want to see Rijo pitch again at least one more time and maybe two — including a simulated game — before activating him.
“Whatever they want me to do,” Rijo said.
Boone and Gullett each liked Rijo's arm strength and his command. Boone saw only the first 30 pitches of Rijo's workout.
“I knew something was up (the trade for Ryan Dempster) when Bob couldn't stay to watch all of it,” said Rijo, grinning.
Rijo said he did it all on only two days of rest, because he threw over the All-Star break to keep his arm strong.
The slider, the pitch that separated Rijo from the rest of the league in his heady days with the Reds in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was biting pretty good Thursday, Rijo said.
“It was awesome,” he said. “I threw about 15 of 'em, and there were a lot of good ones.”
DUNN RELAXED: Reds slugger Adam Dunn had it both ways over the All-Star break. He was chosen for and played in the game but also got some rest. Those two things don't usually go together. But Dunn's agent, Jeff Moorad, got him out of Milwaukee on a private jet after the All-Star Game, and Dunn was able to sleep it off all day Wednesday.
He also managed to get some Mexican food near his home in New Caney, about a 30-mile drive from Houston. The food was great, but apparently everybody has found out about it, because the joint was jammed. Dunn received several e-mails from a recent front-page story in the Enquirer in which he said he was still looking for a great Mexican restaurant in Greater Cincinnati.
A.B. HOPEFUL: Reds player-rep Aaron Boone said he believes there is a contract to be had between the baseball owners and players, if the owners want there to be one. He said the players are willing to give some ground in the critical area of revenue-sharing from big-revenue clubs to small-revenue clubs, but that, so far, negotiations have been a matter of owners making their proposals, the players giving ground and then the owners not being willing to make a counter-offer.
THIS AND THAT: Tonight is Game 2 of an eight-game road trip, and Game 16 of a stretch in which the Reds play 22 straight games against NL Central rivals. The Reds return home to play the Mets next Friday, the first time the two teams have met since April of last year. That's a loss of a great rivalry. The Reds vs. Mets matchups were some of the liveliest games Riverfront Stadium saw in the mid-to-late 1980s.
A DAY TO PONDER: The arrival of new Red Ryan Dempster to pitch tonight's game here against the Astros gives Jimmy Haynes an extra day to think about the following: In three lifetime starts at the new ballpark here, Haynes is 0-3 with a 10.29 ERA. All three of those starts came when Haynes pitched for the Brewers.
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Resurgent Rijo says he's ready
