Friday, May 6, 2005 | 10:10 a.m.
Cashman Field Radio: all games on 1460-AM
He looks like a gypsy, quickly dealing cards while wearing a bright red vest and grey skull cap in the 51s players lounge before Thursday's start.
"I'm pretty strange on days that I pitch. I'm in a little crazy mood," Pat Mahomes says. "It's all in preparation to get ready and go out there and try to take care of business."
The getup is fitting, if not deliberate, considering the 34-year-old pitcher's career. He's been everywhere from Elizabethtown to Edmonton, Kenosha to Yokohama.
Just before the season began, he was involved in a little-noticed three-team trade between the Dodgers, Padres and Mets and ended up in Las Vegas, the 20th different city in which he's played his rookie season in 1988.
And while the Dodgers may have picked up a potential starter or long reliever for later in the season, they also got the 51s a quiet, steady clubhouse leader whose guidance has been a key part of the success of the 51s' rotation in 2005.
Mahomes hasn't seen a major league game since 2003, when he appeared in nine games with Pittsburgh. After a spot start for Jeff D'Amico, he was sent down to the minor leagues. Overall in the majors, Mahomes is 42-39 with a 5.47 ERA.
He played for three different PCL teams last season.
Things didn't work out in Edmonton, and he struggled in the thin air of Albuquerque. He wound up in Nashville, a team and a city with which he's been comfortable. He ended 2004 with a 6-12 record.
But a Las Vegas 51s uniform seems to have some magic in it for sputtering major league talent. In 2003, Wilson Alvarez came to Las Vegas when his career was in jeopardy. After a 5-1, 1.34 ERA start with the 51s, Alvarez was called up to the big leagues, where he's played since.
Last year, Tanyon Sturtze went 3-0 for the 51s before being traded to the Yankees. He was 6-2 in 28 games for New York.
"Any time you've been a big-league pitcher, you want to go out and try to compete," Mahomes said. "I thought it was a good situation for me here. I don't know if I'm going to go up there as a starter or whatever. But it just adds to the versatility. I'm just trying to go out here and open some eyes."
Las Vegas manager Jerry Royster said Mahomes is actually a caliber above his predecessors.
"Pat Mahomes isn't a borderline major leaguer. He's already been a major leaguer," Royster said. "If he's able to maintain what he's doing right now, there's absolutely no doubt that he's going to pitch at the next level.
"The major leagues are a long ways away for some and extremely close for others. Some guys know how close they are, and that scares them. Some guys are close, like Pat. He can smell it."
But while he's here, Mahomes has taken up something more than just trying to get himself to the major leagues. He's become the clubhouse leader, and not by being outspoken.
Royster was reminded of Mike Sharperson, a seven-year major leaguer who found his way to the then-Las Vegas Stars after being sent down by the San Diego Padres. Sharperson was a key part of the 1996 playoff team early. He died tragically in a car accident at I-15 and I-215 on May 26 of that year, Royster's first as Las Vegas' manager.
"Some of it has to do with what he says, but he doesn't say much," Royster said. "He just goes about his business."
Mahomes said he's always watching others, but waiting for them to come to him.
"Guys are going to ask me for advice because they know I'm going to give them straight answers. I watch the game, I watch what's happening," he said. "On the other hand, you've got to know when to talk."
But it's clear that others are watching Mahomes, none moreso than Edwin Jackson, considered the Dodgers' top pitching prospect at age 21.
The two met shortly after Mahomes arrived from Mets camp. Jackson knew nothing of his new teammate's history.
"Our lockers were next to each other, and it just started from there," Jackson said. "We talk about different situations, how he pitches differently now than what he used to. He takes me back a little bit, how it used to be, the difference to how he is now."
Jackson said Mahomes' biggest input is to help him focus.
"He hasn't tried to be a pitching coach. We just talk about different ways, maybe different pitches that are more effective in different situations," he said. "He definitely doesn't try to step on toes or try to be a coach. He wants to kind of try to talk to have me thinking."
Mahomes has openly said that he sees a lot of himself at age 21 in Jackson, and wants to help his young teammate get further ahead mentally in the game.
"I watch what he does. Every time he throws in the bullpen, every time he warms up for the game," Mahomes said. "Once he's finished, then we sit and talk. What were you thinking here, what were you thinking there. I tell him to watch me, to try to get an idea what I'm thinking.
"He can't pitch the same way I do because he has better stuff than I have."
Mahomes added that he's wary of the fact that a lot of people are giving Jackson a lot of advice.
"Everybody's always going to have advice. You've got to listen to everybody and take what you can use and go out and use it," he said. "When you're out on the field competing, you have to do what you've always done your whole life, which is try to win ballgames.
"That's my biggest message to him. You've got to listen to everybody. But take what you can use. Once you step between those lines, you've got to find a way to win the game. That's all that matters."
archive
