Sports: To those in know, rise no surprise

ST. PETERSBURG -- Seventy-four days ago, Joe Kennedy sat in the visitor's dugout at Tropicana Field and watched the Rays play an intrasquad game. It was raining, and rather than cancel another spring workout, everybody moved inside.

The only thing that seemed certain was that Kennedy was a long way from playing on the field in front of him. The question of the day was whether he was headed to Class A or Double A to begin his fourth season in the Rays' farm system.

So Kennedy sat in the third-base dugout and waited, his chance to pitch coming only after the major-leaguers had finished and left the stadium.

Four uneventful innings for players headed to Charleston, Bakersfield and Orlando later, nobody realized they had just seen a preview of one of the most impressive rises through the system.

Sixty-three days later, after stops in Orlando and Durham, Kennedy pulled on a Rays jersey. Four days after that, he started, and won, his first major-league game. Tonight against Philadelphia is his first start at the Trop.

Kennedy, 22, with his laid-back Southern California attitude, seems a little surprised.

"I'm not shocked I got called up," Kennedy said. "I'm a little surprised it was in June, though."

He is one of the few.

Minor-leaguers from Ottawa to Mobile have seen the 90-plus mph fastball, the pinpoint control and the intensity he brings to the mound. They know how Kennedy compiled a 6-0 record and 0.99 ERA in 11 minor-league starts before being promoted June 1.

Then there's Ed Olsen, Kennedy's coach at Grossmont Community College in El Cajon, Calif.

Olsen first heard about "this Kennedy kid" during Kennedy's senior year at El Cajon High. The day Olsen went to scout him, Kennedy threw him a curve and caught instead.

"I was thinking, "Man, this is a left-handed catcher,' " Olsen said. "Nobody ever told me he was a catcher."

Olsen returned the next week and found Kennedy on the mound. But Kennedy received little support and was relieved in the fifth inning. This time Kennedy threw Olsen a changeup.

"So he's done pitching, and he goes and plays shortstop," Olsen said. "The first two times I saw him, he caught, pitched and played shortstop. It was amazing."

The 6-foot-4, 225-pounder led San Diego County in hitting and signed to play for Olsen's Griffins. One year later he was an All-Pacific Coast Conference pitcher who led his team in starts (14), complete games (3), innings pitched (891/3) and strikeouts (87) while posting an 8-3 record with one save and a 2.82 ERA.

The Rays grabbed him in the eighth round, 252nd overall, of the 1998 draft. Olsen knew it was a matter of time before Kennedy hit the big time.

"I've seen the arm strength, but the big thing was his control," said Olsen, who managed Dwight Gooden, Randy Myers and Floyd Youmans in Rookie League. "His work ethic is outstanding. His fundamentals were absolutely picture perfect. Now he's bigger, stronger and faster, and he has the mind game going right now, too."

Tuesday in Toronto, Kennedy won his first start, rejuvenating a pitching staff badly in need of a spark and injecting some much-needed enthusiasm.

The Rays won two of their next three and earned their second series win of the season, beating the Mets twice over the weekend. The fans have noticed.

During an autograph session Saturday, the pitcher nobody had heard of sat and signed his name for 30 minutes while a line stretched from the field, up an aisle and part way down a walkway. Even Mets All-Star catcher Mike Piazza signing autographs a few feet away couldn't tempt fans to abandon their spot in the Kennedy line.

Tonight at Tropicana Field, the youngest winning pitcher in Rays history will attempt to add another chapter to his fairy tale of a season.

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