Sports Watch
EVEN Sid Fernandez couldn't believe it. Has it been that long ago since his first spring training? Has it really been
15 years for ‘El Sid?’"Time flies," said Fernandez, 34, who leaves tonight for baseball's annual rite of spring. "It has been a long time. But it only seems like yesterday."
This time he'll be wearing his fifth different major league uniform - that of the Houston Astros. And spring training will be in Kissimmee, Fla., not Vero Beach, Fla., where he first showed up in Dodgertown in 1982. He had no spring training when the Los Angeles Dodgers signed him out of Kaiser High School the year before. He went straight to the Pioneer rookie league that summer.
It was former Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda who was instrumental in Fernandez wearing No. 50 through his major league career. Ever the showman, Lasorda thought what better number for the Hawaii native than 5-0, you know, "Hawaii 5-0." Yes, he'll wear No. 50 for Houston.
After seven solid years with the New York Mets, Fernandez signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles in 1994. But his only American League experience proved disastrous.
He received a $3-million buyout from the Orioles and returned to the National League, joining the Philadelphia Phillies in mid-1995. Last year, he was the Phillies' opening-day pitcher but was sidelined with an elbow injury that required arthroscopic surgery.
HE signed a one-year contract this season with the Astros for a base salary of $375,000 but with $825,000 in bonus incentives. The healthier he stays, the wealthier he'll be.
And the first thing the Astros assumed was that Fernandez wanted No. 50 again. He didn't care. "I was trying to get rid of it," Fernandez said, maybe kiddingly. "Maybe it's time to try something new."
Despite four injury-shortened seasons in a row, Fernandez is confident he can regain his old form that made him one of the toughest left-handers to get a base hit off in NL history.
"Last year was the hardest I've ever thrown a baseball before I got hurt," Fernandez said.
The elbow's now fine, according to "El Sid."
"I never had an elbow problem in my life until last year," he said. Fernandez had it scoped but the ligament was fine. "I've been throwing at the University of Hawaii and the elbow's fine," said Fernandez. "My arm's got a lot of years left."
And he's looking forward to a fresh start with the Astros. Fernandez says he has pitched well over the years in the Astrodome. "It's a big park, a good pitching park," he said. Although, like most ballparks these homer-happy days, the fences were moved in.
He knows he's needed right away. "The first 13 games of the season will be important," Fernandez said. "We open at home against Atlanta and St. Louis and then go to Atlanta and St. Louis." That's 13 games against the two National League Championship Series finalists.
FERNANDEZ was sorry that things didn't work out so that the Astros could play at Aloha Stadium in April against the San Diego Padres. "If it was at the start of our West Coast trip, it would have been OK. But it was at the end and for only two games. We would have had to go from Hawaii to Houston on our travel day."
Obviously, Fernandez, counted on to be one of the starting pitchers by new manager Larry Dierker, is well aware of the Astros' schedule and possible pitching rotation.
He has an extra incentive to do well this year and it has nothing to do with the bonus clauses of his contract.
"I want to dedicate this season to my father-in-law," Fernandez said, referring to his wife Noelani's father, Don Mike Gillis, who was shot to death last October.