Though other names are being mentioned for the rotation, do not count him out yet.
By TOM JONES
Published March 15, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - Pitcher Damian Moss strolled to the mound Sunday morning at the Naimoli complex for a B game that had far more implications than a B game should.
B games are supposed to be the place to fine-tune a few things, perhaps work on a new pitch, stretch the arm out a little. It isn't supposed to be the place where starting jobs are won and lost.
Yet Moss found himself needing a good - make that a really good - effort to stay in manager Lou Piniella's mix for a spot in the rotation. Whether that ultimately happens remains to be seen, but Moss helped his cause Sunday by pitching three scoreless and hitless innings against a Tigers team made up of a few major-leaguers and a lot of minor-leaguers. Considering where Moss is coming from, it was a very good day.
"I've never really been one of those guys who has an outstanding spring training," Moss said. "I've always been rusty or whatever. I'm not worried. I'm looking to get myself ready for the season. You get a lot more throwing in the spring training, and that's what it's for."
Maybe that's what spring training is for Roger Clemens and Barry Zito, but after Moss had a shaky start last week, Piniella criticized the left-handed Australian and practically named a five-man rotation that did not include Moss.
Neither shaken nor stirred, Moss, 27, responded with a solid effort Sunday.
"That's Lou," Moss said. "I played for (Atlanta manager) Bobby Cox, and he was the same way; he doesn't like seeing guys walk guys either. Hey, that's just the way it is. I just need to go out there and trust my stuff."
That didn't happen at the end of last season. Moss, who went 12-6 for the Braves in 2002, started off the 2003 season helping the Giants bolt into first place in the National League West. He was 9-7, and the Giants were comfortably in first when he was traded to fourth-place Baltimore, where he went 1-5.
"It was one of those things where it was a mental lapse on my part," Moss said. "I went from a situation where I was 12 games up to 20 games out. It wasn't an intentional thing, but mentally, I kind of lost it. That's my fault. That's one of the things I worked on the offseason."
Working with him is sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman. Moss talked to Dorfman regularly in the offseason and usually talks to him between starts. This offseason's focus: to begin trusting himself again and stop second-guessing every pitch.
"When things are going well you don't think at all," Moss said. "Everything kind of falls into place. That didn't happen for me at the end of last year. If I made a good pitch and they hit, I was like, "Well, maybe it wasn't that good of a pitch,' instead of just trusting myself. I'm on track to where I was two years ago. I'm throwing the ball well."
He certainly did Sunday.
"He was better," pitching coach Chuck Hernandez said. "I thought he relaxed a little bit and let the ball go, and I felt like it was a positive day for him. I felt good about it in every way."
But was it good enough? Piniella has slated Victor Zambrano, Jeremi Gonzalez, Mark Hendrickson and Doug Waechter for the rotation. And Piniella has been talking up veteran Paul Abbott as his fifth starter. Moss, though, isn't ready to concede anything yet.
Quite frankly, he expects to be in the rotation.
"That's what I thought I was going to be and, you know what, if it works out that I'm not, I'm sure by the end of the year I will be," Moss said. "I'm not worried about winning a job. I'm just worried about going out there and getting ready for the season."
