By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

Not so long ago, Jesse Orosco was standing in center field at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco, talking to former Red Eric Davis, who was in his final season.

"Hey, E," said Orosco, pointing to the giant baseball glove above the left-field stands. "You gonna take your glove home with you when you retire?"

Davis smiled and pointed to the giant Coke bottle next to the giant glove at PacBell.

"What about you, Jesse?" Davis said. "What did Coca-Cola taste like when they first invented it?"

Orosco, who turned 46 five days ago, laughs at that memory. In town this weekend with the San Diego Padres, he is the team's situational left-hander and baseball's Ponce de Leon. This is his 22nd big-league season. Nobody within the game - and precious few outside it - begrudges Orosco his Fountain of Youth.

"When he walks up to you, you'd better listen," said Reds left-handed reliever Gabe White. "I'd love to be able to talk to him someday to see how he does it."

Orosco credits his success to good genes, hard work and evolution.

"When I broke in, there was only a handful of left-handed (power) hitters," Orosco said. "Now, there's at least two on each team. When I broke in, there was no such thing as a situational lefty."

Almost every fan above age 40, regardless of allegiance, roots for Orosco the way people rooted for football's George Blanda and tennis' Jimmy Connors.

Orosco more than holds his own against the younger competition.

This season, he has tossed scoreless relief in six of his nine appearances, with one save, including Friday night against the Reds when he pitched a one-walk ninth. Left-handers are hitting .131 (2-for-16) off him, including Sean Casey (pop-out Friday) and Adam Dunn (groundout). Orosco struck out right-hander Austin Kearns on a 78-mph off-speed pitch.

A few years ago, then-Oriole Orosco was warming up at Boston's Fenway Park. A 50-something fan was all over him.

Orosco took it all in, then turned to the man and said: "You should have pride in what I'm doing. This is for us."

The man kept mouthing off.

"But I noticed when I got called into the game, he was cheering," Orosco said.

Orosco was born in 1957 and broke into the major leagues in 1979. He won his first big-league game with the Mets on April 22, the day after his 22nd birthday.

"He's a freak of nature is what he is," said Reds left-handed reliever Kent Mercker, who played with Orosco in 1996. "... There's no way I'll be pitching when I'm 46."