Schmidt Takes a Giant Leap Forward

Schmidt Takes a Giant Leap Forward
By Mike Takeuchi

Los Angeles-I don’t know why I have always liked Jason Schmidt. Maybe it was because not only was he a very good pitcher, he was probably one of the nicest guys in the sport. Win or lose, he was always a standup guy, whether it was at AT &T or Dodger Stadium he spoke long and thoughtfully until the last reporter has left.
One day five years ago, I caught him alone in the AT & T locker room about a year after his mother died from a brain tumor-the same thing that killed my mother in 2001 and we talked about our losses with each other. We spoke of the disease’s brutality and effect it had on not only mom, but the entire family. It was a nice conversation, one that he had not expected from a sportswriter, and one that I had not expected from a baseball player. (Just to prove that there are some thoughtful minds a similar conversation was had after the Phillies heartbreaking comeback win in Game 4 of the NLCS with manager Charlie Manuel last year).
Now he is trying for another comeback attempt with the Dodgers. Two years after signing a three-year $47 million contract, he is trying to avoid what some of my colleagues are saying is one of the worst busts in recent Dodgers history. The odds are stacked against him, but because the Dodgers are hurting for pitching at the bottom of the rotation, it may be a godsend for the right-hander to get a few starts to see if he has something left in his arm.
On Monday, with his velocity considerably lower than in his heyday and his control suspect in the first inning, he gave up three runs on four consecutive hits to make the Chavez faithful cry (an obscenity laced) call for a change. But then something happened. With the early jitters gone, Schmidt battled, got his control back, mixed pitches well, and got out of the inning. This was impressive for no other reason is that when things got worse, the right-hander got tougher.
Any pitcher will tell you that it is exponentially easier to pitch with a lead, because simply, it is. But without that luxury, he somehow bore down and got out of the inning. His hitters got him four back in the bottom of the inning and two more on Manny Ramirez’ Mickey Mantle passing two run bomb to left in the second for a 6-3 lead.
While that was occurring, Schmidt pitched like a wily veteran with a mere 86 mph fastball, an interminably slower curve, and the guts of a winner. He retired the side twice and pitched five innings of five hit ball while walking three and striking out two, not great numbers, but good enough to be in line for the win leading 6-3. The Dodgers eventually won the game 7-5, giving Schmidt just his second win with the team.
After the game, his manager Joe Torre was pleased for the latest addition to the pitching roster.
“Everybody was really happy for him, especially getting through five innings and coming out with a victory,” Torre said. “He controlled the game pretty much. In the first inning he didn’t look very comfortable at all, but he certainly looked comfortable after that.”
Schmidt was relatively pleased with his effort.
“I’d hoped just to get out there and make it look respectable and have the team win, really,” Schmidt said in the clubhouse after the game. “I was nervous driving in today getting the text messages… there was a lot of buildup to today. And the first inning definitely wasn’t what I had planned and finally we got out of it. And coming in scoring four runs after giving up three was probably the biggest thing. I’m happy with the outcome.”
His comeback is far from complete-there are more question marks than exclamation points. But if his surgically repaired shoulder holds up, he could be the fifth starter the Dodgers need. But whatever happens for the rest of his season, for the rest of his career, he’ll always have the knowledge that he made the journey back to a Major League mound. I wonder if he thought that as he walked off the mound after the fifth inning. And as he received congratulations when he entered his team’s dugout, there was no cheering in the press box. But there was one reporter whose eyes were misty.