Rusch must come to rescue again
September 29, 2004
With a rotation some considered the best in baseball, no one could have imagined the Cubs' playoff fortunes would be riding on the arm of a journeyman left-hander.
Certainly not the journeyman, Glendon Rusch.
"It's definitely a surprise to be here and be part of this team,'' said Rusch, who starts today's key third game of the four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds.
Rusch will make his 16th start of the season, and like so many of the other 15, it carries huge ramifications for the Cubs' wild-card hopes.
His unlikely season has been well-documented. Rusch has been the savior for a pitching staff robbed of two key starters in Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. After a 1-12 season in 2003 with the Milwaukee Brewers, Rusch finds himself not only leading a charge toward the postseason, but he's likely to be a permanent part of that heralded pitching staff next season.
The Cubs might not be sure of who next season's second baseman, shortstop and left fielder might be, but Rusch (6-2, 3.59 ERA) is definitely in their pitching plans.
"Some things happen in unusual ways,'' pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. "I've seen it where teams that have won had lost a guy [during the season] and someone steps in and pitches great for them. It ends up being a real bonus because when you get the [injured] guys back, you're that much better. You have to have the guy to do that, and he's been that guy this year.''
The likeable lefty, who has played for the Kansas City Royals, New York Mets and Brewers, knows how special his season has been.
"Even when I first got called up in April, to have a chance to be pitching in key situations the way I have been, it's been great,'' he said.
Rusch can think back to May 11, when Wood suddenly left his start in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, as the beginning of his unexpected revival.
"A few starts later when we realized it was going to take some time for him to be ready,'' Rusch said, "I think I felt I really had to be on top of my game and try the best I could to fill that spot in the rotation because we knew it would be for an extended period of time.
"I don't think it was necessarily a turning point, but it was the time I felt I had to fill in and belong.''
What Rusch provided went beyond absorbing innings for the team.
"He's been great for this team, pitched a lot of big games for us that at times were very important for us right after something happened,'' Rothschild said. "He came in in relief a couple of times when we had an injury on the field and people were down a little bit, and he picked us up a lot.
"It's not just what he's obviously done starting and everything, but the morale of the team he's helped a lot. The way he pitched against St. Louis a couple of times, against Houston he picked us up. It was an ongoing process, and as he felt more and more comfortable, you could see it, and I think it made everybody feel he was going to do the job for us.''
Now Rusch is subbing for struggling Matt Clement, and if the Cubs reach the postseason, he could easily slide back to a bullpen role, where he also has been effective.
"I think his nature has allowed him to do what he's done this year,'' Rothschild said of Rusch's versatility. "He's going to do what he does and whatever happens happens.''
