Layana’s Play a Big Relief to Reds : Baseball: Former Loyola Marymount star has been a steady force in Cincinnati’s bullpen.

Back in the summer of 1988, Tim Layana was digging deep into his wallet, hoping to find a little spare change.

Instead, he found inspiration--which turned out to be worth a lot more in the long run.

This summer, Layana is a rookie middle-relief specialist for the Cincinnati Reds. He’s earning the major league minimum of $100,000, so he doesn’t need to dig for laundry money any more.

But most importantly, the former Loyola Marymount ace has regained his confidence.

It was in short supply two summers ago when Layana was a struggling starting pitcher in the New York Yankees farm system.

He was in debt, his signing bonus was all but gone, and his minor league salary was barely cutting it.

To make it worse, Layana’s control had vanished, taking his confidence with it. His earned-run average had ballooned over 6.00. And the Yankees had rewarded him with a demotion from triple-A Columbus to double-A Albany-Colonie.

But when Layana burrowed through his wallet for some change that day in Albany, N.Y., he found a card he had buried inside it long ago.

Written on the card is a poem called “Don’t Quit.” Layana used to read the words to pump himself up for games in college and high school.

That card is now taped above his locker in the Reds’ clubhouse at Riverfront Stadium.

Layana recited the opening words to the poem two weeks ago in the visiting locker room at Dodger Stadium.

“Life is queer with its twists and turns. . .” he said. “I remember those words any time I get down . . . the times when I’m struggling, when I’m sick of losing, when I can’t throw strikes. That poem reminds me to just get out there and keep battling, even when the debts are high and funds are low.”

After Layana found those long-forgotten words of wisdom, his career took a turn upward.

In 1989 at Albany, Layana switched to the bullpen, where he could make the best use of his strikeout pitch, the knuckle-curve.

He saved 17 games that season--best in the Eastern League, and found himself in Yankee Stadium at the end of the year making a couple of cameo appearances.

Layana got another boost in December, when the Yankees gambled and left him off their winter roster. The Reds, managed by former Yankee skipper Lou Pinella, were impressed enough with Layana’s numbers that they snapped up the right-hander in that month’s major league draft.

For Layana, who had been shuffled around the Yankee farm system for four years, it was like going to heaven. He was placed on the Reds’ spring training roster, and was still on the team on Opening Day.

Today, Layana finds himself in the middle of a pennant race, going into this week with a 4-0 record, a 2.47 ERA and a save.

“The Yankees knew it was a risk, but the risk failed for the Yankees,” Layana said. “From a personal standpoint, it’s great. Look at where the Yankees are compared now to where we are.”

Layana doesn’t have the notoriety of fellow relievers Rob Dibble, Randy Myers and Norm Charlton--the Reds’ self-styled fraternity who call themselves the “Nasty Boys.”

But as a solid middle reliever, Layana is one of the unsung heroes in the Reds’ success story this season. Layana has four wins and a save and has yet to lose a game.

He has been keeping the Reds in games when they are behind, giving the hitters time to make up the deficit. And he has pitched well when Cincinnati is leading by too many runs to warrant using one of the team’s short relievers.

Layana has proven he has the stuff to get out major league hitters. He has 34 appearances, 51 innings pitched and National Leaguers are batting only .246 against him.

Layana throws a fastball, a slider, a change-up, and of course, the knuckle-curve. Myers gave Layana the ultimate compliment early in the season when he said Layana’s knuckle-curve was a “nasty” pitch.

“Every once in a while, the Nasty Boys make me an honorary member,” Layana said.

But he concedes that he doesn’t have the requisite personality to be a real Nasty Boy, which is probably for the better, since the Nasty Boys have become notorious more for their antics off the field than their performances on it.

Layana is not eccentric like Myers, who has an eight-inch hunting knife sticking out of the wooden frame of his locker and who once drove a motorcycle into the Reds’ clubhouse.

Nor does he have the temper of Dibble, who is known to throw bats and bean balls on the field and buckets of water over the heads of Cincinnati reporters off it.

And Layana doesn’t have the mean streak of Charlton, who leveled Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia--baseball’s premier plate blocker--with a “nasty” forearm-and-shoulder block in a collision at home plate earlier this year.

Instead, Layana is a quiet and serious 26-year-old--a Loyola Marymount and Loyola High graduate who is going about his business in the big leagues.

“I’m just doing what I have to do to stay in the big leagues,” Layana said. “If it’s middle relief, long relief, whatever. Maybe someday I’ll become a closer again, but I’ve got to establish myself on this level first.”

When he entered professional baseball in 1986, Layana was earmarked as a starter.

The Culver City native was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 1982 after a standout prep career at Loyola High in Los Angeles.

After his first three years at Loyola Marymount, Layana was drafted again--this time by the New York Mets. But he decided to pass up a contract for his senior year.

It was a good move. Layana did the pitching and Chris Donnels and Billy Bean did the hitting to lead Loyola to the 1986 College World Series.

In four years at Loyola Marymount, Layana set most of the school’s career pitching records--including marks for career victories, starts, innings pitched, complete games and strikeouts.

He signed with the Yankees after his senior season, having been selected in the third round of the June, 1986, draft.

Layana was immediately successful at the class-A level that year. He had a 2.37 ERA at Oneonta, N.Y. and a 2.24 ERA at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., that season.

But in 1987, Layana’s control began to unravel at Prince William, Va., Albany and Columbus. The struggles continued the next year.

Two years later, those troubles are far behind.

On April 10 this season, Layana picked up his first major league victory as the Red defeated the Houston Astros, 3-2.

A week later, Layana worked two innings to beat the San Diego Padres. He picked up another victory against Pittsburgh on May 15.

But Layana’s biggest thrill of the season was yet to come. On June 23, Layana inherited an 11-5 lead against the visiting Dodgers and threw four near-flawless innings to record his first big league save.

“I went to Dodger Stadium so many times growing up and I’d be totally in awe just watching the players,” Layana said. “I was a little nervous actually pitching against the Dodgers at first.”

Layana finally got a chance to pitch in Dodger Stadium on July 30, working a scoreless eighth inning in a 4-1 Reds’ loss. He closed out that inning by striking out Rick Dempsey.

When the Reds travel to Los Angeles, Layana stays at home with his mother. His father has been overseas, working as a superintendent for a firm doing construction work in Thailand.

Along the way, Layana has emerged as a thorn in the Dodgers’ sides. In three appearances against his old hometown favorites, Layana has allowed only one run over six innings and has struck out five.

He’s had only one really rough outing this season, that coming on July 12 against the visiting New York Mets. The Reds trailed, 7-3, when Layana entered, but Layana gave up a two-run homer to the Mets’ Kevin Elster in an eventual 10-3 loss.

Layana bounced back in his next appearance, going four innings four days later to beat the Montreal Expos, 8-3, to earn his fourth victory.

Right now, the Reds will take whatever Layana can offer. After weathering a lengthy losing streak at the end of July, Cincinnati has seen its lead dwindle.

“All teams are going to stumble at one time or another,” Layana said. “At least we staggered in July instead of September.”