Valdes making pitch for playing time in Houston

By MIKE READLING

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 27, 2000

Everything seemed to be set up perfectly for Marc Valdes.

The Jesuit High graduate was pitching for his hometown organization one level below being able to sleep in his own bed every night.

The surgically repaired right arm he earns his living with was feeling better than ever and all the right numbers in his pitching line were starting to get lower and lower.

Then he got the call he had been waiting for. Valdes was finally going back to the big leagues.

One hitch, though -- he was going as a Houston Astro.

The 28-year-old pitcher was traded by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to Houston on May 27 for infielder Russ Johnson. He immediately packed his bags in Durham, N.C., where he was playing for the Rays' Triple-A affiliate, and headed for Houston to restart a major-league career put on hold by Tommy John surgery in 1998.

"(The trade) happened for a reason. The best reason was I got a chance to come back to the big leagues," Valdes said. "From that standpoint I don't care with who or what team I'm with.

"(Tampa Bay) gave me the opportunity to get rehabbed and everything and I'm very thankful for that. But that's the business part of the game, decisions have to be made. I have no bad feelings towards the Devil Ray organization. I had a good time there."

Judging by the early returns from Houston, Valdes is having a better time out West.

Through his first 13 games with the Astros, Valdes is 1-1 with one save and a 1.72 ERA. He has allowed three earned runs in 15.2 innings, struck out 10 and walked seven.

"He's done really well for us. He's shown some good stuff," Houston bullpen coach John Tamargo said. "He's got a sinking fastball, slider, breaking ball's been sharp. He's done a real good job getting a lot of ground balls."

Added Valdes: "I knew once I was healthy I could pitch in the big leagues, but (Tampa Bay) kept calling up players other than me. I guess I wasn't in their plans this year for whatever reason. I knew I could pitch up here."

Valdes wasted little time proving to Houston, Tampa Bay, Tamargo and anyone else that he belonged in a major-league uniform.

His first game in Houston was against the Atlanta Braves at hitter-friendly Enron Field. The Astros were trailing by two runs after eight innings when manager Larry Dierker decided to throw the new kid into the fire.

"It was my first day there and they had just told me they weren't going to throw me in the mix too fast," Valdes said. "They were going to wait until we had a big lead and let me work my way in."

Instead, he got to face Andres Galarraga, who promptly smacked a broken-bat base hit. That was all the Braves would get off Valdes, however, and his teammates rallied behind him, scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth to earn him the win despite throwing just 10 pitches.

If he keeps pitching like he has, Valdes won't be missing much of anything from now on. Houston closer Billy Wagner went on the disabled list last week and Tamargo said Valdes will be one of the pitchers called on to save games.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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