Injury compromises UNR star’s promising start

Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005 | 11:09 a.m.

Three players who have hit their first major league home runs on the same day:

SAN DIEGO -- Ryan Church's quest for National League Rookie of the Year honors hit the wall when he smacked into that immovable object in left field in Pittsburgh on June 22.

"Maybe it was padded," he said of PNC Park's left-field wall, "but it felt like it was brick."

The former UNR pitcher and outfielder hung onto the ball, preserving a 5-4 victory for the Washington Nationals. However, the lefty gimped away from that crash with a separated left shoulder and ligament damage to his collar bone.

Church, the National League rookie of the month for May when he hit .377, had been hitting .325 for the season.

He's hit the pits since Pittsburgh, hitting .236 to drop his season batting average to .293.

He doesn't regret the sacrifice.

"I'm still wearing it from that play, but ... " Church said before a recent game against the Padres at Petco Park in San Diego. "Yeah, ya gotta go (all out). That's all I know how. Go hard and go home."

Then he suffered a broken toe, and the Nationals acquired Preston Wilson, a power-hitting right-hander they sorely needed. Hence, Church hasn't been able to shake his slump because of scant playing time.

He didn't get into any of the games in San Diego, and Washington is drifting out of the N.L. wild card picture with a dozen games remaining.

"I know I belong here," Church said in a hallway behind the Petco Park visitors' clubhouse. "It's just a matter of being able to come out on a day-to-day basis. I just gotta quit runnin' into walls."

He said that with a chuckle, but don't expect him to change that habit or ever downshift on a diamond.

At one point during an interview, Nats manager Frank Robinson walked by and Church deferred space to the Hall of Famer in the equipment-strewn hall by inching back up against a wall, on his tip toes.

Robinson said he wanted to meet with Church when he gets done "with this." A no-nonsense old-schooler, Robinson has eliminated boom boxes from Washington's clubhouse. Too much commotion, he said.

"It's nice just to be able to listen," Robinson said.

But he has a keen sense of humor, too. The only music he allows is his own. After sweeping the Mets at Shea Stadium, before the Nationals flew to San Diego, Robinson sang "Cal-i-for-nia here we come!" to his players in a normal voice.

That's it. Just the one line. When asked about Church's future, Robinson bristled.

"I don't see nothin' in Ryan Church's future," Robinson said. You wanted a headline, he said, there you go. Then Robinson laughed.

"He's kind of established himself a little bit, shown that he is capable of playing up here and getting some big hits for you," Robinson said. "He's had some injuries, which have curtailed his at-bats. Will he be capable of playing on an everyday basis?

"The jury's still out on that."

Darrell Rasner, a former UNR pitcher who, in 2000, was a freshman when Church was a senior on a Wolf Pack team that lost to Alabama twice in an NCAA Regional, said Church is too professional to let a slump affect him.

The Nationals, then the Montreal Expos, selected Rasner in the second round of the 2002 draft, and he was reunited with Church when the parent team called him up from Double-A Harrisburg two weeks ago. Rasner is the eighth UNR graduate to play in the majors.

The Expos had obtained Church in a January 2004 trade with the Cleveland Indians.

"I don't think he needed too much help. He has always figured it out himself, that's why he's so good," Rasner said. "Playing on the same team with him has been a dream come true. I still can't believe it. It's surreal."

Church, who turns 27 next month, got some help for this season when the Expos called up him for the final month last year. He was in awe of those veterans with names like "Maddux" and "Smoltz" on the backs of their uniforms, and he hit only .175 in 30 games.

That continued this season, when his batting average plummeted to .174 after going 0-for-4 against the Mets at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., on May 1.

Then he broke out, going 11-for-17 during the first five games of a West Coast trip. He had three four-hit games within a month, and then he hit two home runs in a victory at Texas on June 18.

Church hit .368, with a .737 slugging percentage in June.

"Look at some of the numbers I had," he said. "Then they put you up with the big boys for the month, in home runs or RBIs or doubles, and you're in the same kind of bracket with them? That's pretty nice.

"Like, 'Hey, I'm hitting better than so and so.' Not to mention any names. But, yeah, it was nice. It's fun. It keeps you going. Other days, you just try to do the best that you can."

And hope that there's more cushion in that outfield wall than it appears. Once the Nats got Wilson, a free agent after this season, Church was assured of pine time as the team's fourth outfielder.

In previous press reports, he admitted not handling that well. At Petco Park, Church said that's what being a young player in the big leagues is all about.

"I was willing to take a back seat," he said. "They told me my at-bats would diminish, and I pretty much said I'll take them when I can get them, and I'll do as much as I can for next year. That's why I can't dwell on anything. It's only going to make me better."

Hours later, after the Nationals had beaten the Padres, Church confirmed that he had met with Robinson.

"Everything," Church said, "is fine."