In Venezuela, fame a danger for Rodriguez

www.signonsandiego.com By Chris Jenkins UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER March 16, 2003

TEMPE, Ariz. – He got the welcome-home of a conquering hero. The kind of fanfare that could get you killed.

Although merely 20 last fall, Francisco Rodriguez was not so young as to think his life wouldn't change after the incomprehensible postseason he had with the Anaheim Angels, who claimed a World Series championship with a rookie relief pitcher who won five postseason games and earned the nickname "K-Rod" for all his strikeouts.

Rodriguez returned a national celebrity to his native Venezuela, a country that loves its baseball with a religious fervor, but also a country being torn apart by political unrest and uncontrolled lawlessness. If some of his countrymen saw Rodriguez as a source of inspiration in desperate times, others saw him as a target, so much so that Rodriguez grew leery of anybody approaching him in his hometown of Caracas.

"Way different," said Rodriguez when asked if people in Venezuela responded to him him differently than Americans. "Over here, people see you on the street, they say can you sign this? Over there, when they come up to you, you don't know if they want to be good to you or if they want to rob you."

Actually, Rodriguez said, it happened twice over the offseason to family members who were held up at gunpoint.

"If they think you have money," Rodriguez said, "they want it."

The environment was so terrifying that after awhile, Rodriguez stopped leaving his house; he stayed indoors to work out and stay in shape. Venezuela's winter leagues were shut down by the violence and, for the first time, Rodriguez didn't throw for months.

"That part was good," he said. "I needed the rest."

That his offseason was so short was largely Rodriguez's fault. Many things went right last year for the Angels, whose previous history was based mostly on their complete inability to reach the World Series.

A September call-up, Rodriguez threw only 51/3 innings in the regular season, but 13 of the 16 outs he recorded were by strikeout, the majority with a slider at least as nasty as Randy Johnson's. Anaheim already had baseball's best bullpen, but it became other-wordly with Rodriguez, who pitched in 11 postseason games and won just under half of them while striking out 28 in 182/3 innings.

"It wasn't a case of lightning in a bottle," said general manager Bill Stoneman. "The lightning was in Frankie's arm."

Frankly, too, the Angels were not surprised at what they saw. Rodriguez has been in their organization since he was 16. He was with the Lake Elsinore Storm – now the Padres' Class A affiliate – when Stoneman first saw him in a simulated game.

"I went 'Holy Smokes!' " said Stoneman. "He had this incredible life on his fastball. He cuts the ball and it goes this way, then it goes that way. His slider can be unhittable."

Perhaps any other major league team would have had him in its uniform on Opening Day, but with the luxury of having a well-stocked bullpen in Anaheim, the organization started Rodriguez in Class AA and had him work on his command.

In retrospect, you'd swear the Angels were sandbagging, saving him for the perfect moment.

"Obviously, he pitched exceedingly well in the postseason," said pitching coach Bud Black. Amused by his own understatement, Black added, "OK, what he did is crazy."

Crazier yet was the cool and calm that Rodriguez showed after each of his amazing relief appearances. As the media crowds multiplied in front of his locker, he seemed no more flustered by the attention than he had been by the Yankees, Twins and Giants hitters.

Most of those batters will get other cracks at Rodriguez, who's technically still a rookie. Because postseason stats don't count on your official résumé, he's got an 0-0 career record in the majors.

"Hitters may figure out some things about Frankie, like which pitches he likes to throw and when he likes to throw them," said left-hander Jarrod Washburn, the ace of Anaheim's starting rotation. "But they'll still have to deal with his filthy stuff."

More of it, too. Rodriguez said his primary goal in camp is to get better overall, but especially to develop his change-up, which would almost be unfair.

"I threw it a lot last year, but it wasn't that good," he said. "The movement was totally straight on it."

Rodriguez has come to one conclusion, a concession of sorts. Again, other teams might immediately try to make a starter of Rodriguez to maximize his talent, but the Angels know better. He was mediocre at best as a starter in the minors, much owing to the fact that he puts such intensity into his pitches, his arm won't stand the strain of seven or six or even five innings.

"It causes tendinitis," he said. "I have three ways to pitch – over-the-top, three-quarter, sidearm – and I throw all three. If I do that as a starter and throw so many pitches, it bothers me a lot. But it doesn't bother me for one or two innings. So, definitely I'll be a reliever. I have no problems with that."

A setup reliever, for the time being, too. Troy Percival, one of the game's top closers and a longtime leader of the Angels, is not going anywhere soon. Anaheim does intend to cut back on Percival's appearances to save his arm, and in most cases, the ninth-inning call then would go to Rodriguez.

This time, nobody will go "Who?"

"People watched TV and see me in the World Series," said Rodriguez. "People know me now."

For better and worse.