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Head Rusch Mets pitcher goes from obscurity to limelight
Updated: Sunday October 22, 2000 7:59 PM By Jeff Pearlman, Sports Illustrated. NEW YORK -- Glendon Rusch, a University of Something freshman look-alike who somewhere along the way took a wrong turn into the all-too-adult world of the New York Mets' clubhouse, visited the Roosevelt Field Mall last Friday. He was in search of nothing in particular. Some socks, perhaps. Maybe the new Wyclef CD. A good book. To his surprise, people were in search of him. "Hey Glendon, go kick some Yankee butt!" "Yo Rusch -- go get 'em!" "Glendon Rusch, you're going down!" This was new territory to Rusch, a once-obscure 25-year-old left-hander who, slightly more than one year ago, was getting bloodied, beaten and flogged as a going-nowhere nobody for Omaha, the Royals' Class AAA farm team. In a fine Nebraska city, Rusch could stroll into any Burger King, Target or Getty Quick Mart without so much as a millisecond glance. "It was a very low point in my career," Rusch said early. "It was no fun." He was talking early Sunday morning, fresh sweat still clinging to his forehead, a night full of adrenaline still pumping through his veins. Although the Mets had just dropped a 4-3, 12-inning Subway Series thriller to the Yankees, Rusch had once again proven his merit as not just the Mets' most reliable out-of-the-pen lefty, but a mistake Kansas City will probably long live to regret. With no outs and runners on first and second in the bottom of the 10th inning, Mets manager Bobby Valentine summoned Rusch to clean up Dennis Cook's dirty work. After throwing a strike to Tino Martinez, Rusch's second pitch -- a curveball -- bounced in front of catcher Todd Pratt and rolled away. Both runners advanced. The game, for all practical purposes, was done. And yet. Martinez popped Rusch's next pitch to shallow left field -- too shallow for pinch-runner Clay Bellinger to score from third. After intentionally walking Jorge Posada, Rusch threw an 89 mph fastball to Paul O'Neill, who gently grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Inning over. Rusch wasn't enough to save the day. Eventually, the Yankees beat up Turk Wendell, the unpredictable right-hander with the Animal Kingdom necklace. He was, however, something Tony Muser never imagined two years ago when -- before a spring training game -- the Kansas City manager described Rusch as a "talented pitcher, but in need of some real work." Rusch went 6-9 as a rookie with the Royals in 1997, then lost 15 games the following season. He was remarkably hittable (191 hits allowed in 154 innings), owner of a high-80s fastball, a slicing curve and minimal self-esteem. Then-Royals general manager Herk Robinson was never high on Rusch. Neither was Muser. Last September, when the Royals were way out of the race and Rusch was an Omaha-sized scrub, Kansas City traded him to New York, receiving righty reliever Dan Murray in exchange. This season, Rusch went 11-11 as New York's fifth starter. He was reliable (4.01 ERA) and unflappable (2.1 walks per nine). He can start or pitch in long relief. "People make that too complicated," he says. "I just don't think about it. I go in and pitch -- period." Murray, on the other hand, spent most of the 2000 season in Omaha. He's welcome to shop in the Roosevelt Field Mall, of course. It's just unlikely he'll be recognized.
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