At Least Reds Can’t Blame It on Rijo

If Jose Rijo was a publicity stunt, well, so what? The Cincinnati Reds were doomed from the day Ken Griffey Jr. tore a hamstring in spring training. Griffey didn’t return to the lineup until June, Barry Larkin suffered, first when a team broadcaster said on the air, “Barry is losing it,” and then from season-ending hernia surgery, and the Reds are about to lose 90 games for the first time in 17 years.

The Reds already had signed cornerback/outfielder Deion Sanders, who returned to the majors and then left after batting .173, and they already had signed Pete Rose’s kid to yet another minor league contract. So, when they signed Rijo in July, Cincinnati fans could live in the past for one more day. Not a bad idea, considering the stench of the present.

Rijo, 36, the most valuable player of the Reds’ 1990 World Series sweep of the Oakland Athletics, had not pitched in the majors since 1995, his career cut short by a right elbow that required surgery five times. He begged the Reds for a minor league contract, pitched well enough to return to Cincinnati as a long reliever and--no kidding--he has been terrific. In six games, he has a 2.45 earned-run average, with 11 strikeouts in 11 innings.

He plans to pitch winter ball in his native Dominican Republic, and he wants to start for the Reds next season. If he doesn’t make the team, perhaps the Reds could hire him as a pitching coach.

After he pitched three shutout innings in Wednesday’s 10-3 loss to the Houston Astros, a game in which third baseman Vinny Castilla hit a fat fastball by rookie starter Chris Reitsma for a three-run homer, Rijo did not hesitate to offer a critique.

“Vinny Castilla is the worst slider hitter and the best fastball hitter in the league,” he told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “He kills fastballs. He doesn’t care how hard you throw it. You set him up with your fastball and get him out with your breaking ball.”

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In the NL West, where Barry Bonds is chasing history, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling are reviving memories of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, and Shawn Green and Gary Sheffield are revving the Dodgers in a September to remember, the indispensable player among the pennant contenders just might be San Francisco Giant shortstop Rich Aurilia.

The glamour shortstops--Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra and Derek Jeter--play in the American League. While the Dodgers cross their fingers with Alex Cora (.223) at shortstop, and the Arizona Diamondbacks stumble between Craig Counsell and Tony Womack, Aurilia is batting .330, and he leads the NL with 178 hits. With 32 home runs, he joins Ernie Banks and Larkin as the only shortstops in NL history to have hit 30 or more in a season.

“It’s nice to be included in company like that,” Aurilia told the Contra Costa Times. “One guy is a hall of famer and the other guy has a pretty good chance to be in the Hall of Fame. By no means am I a hall of famer.”

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The San Diego Padres’ top everyday player, Phil Nevin, is a third baseman. Their top prospect, Sean Burroughs, is a third baseman. The first position player they drafted last year, Xavier Nady, is a third baseman.

The infield of the future? At shortstop, rookie D’Angelo Jimenez, stolen from the New York Yankees for highly replaceable middle reliever Jay Witasick. Third base probably belongs to Burroughs, the best defender among the trio of third basemen. Nady, shifted to first base this year, hit .302 at Class-A Lake Elsinore and led the California League in extra-base hits. The Padres plan to try him at second base in the fall instructional league. That could leave Nevin, who led NL third basemen in errors last season and leads again this season, at first base.

The Padres could move first baseman Ryan Klesko to the outfield.