from the New York Times

March 17, 1999

By BUSTER OLNEY

TAMPA, Fla. -- Ramiro Mendoza hung his head shyly Tuesday, avoided eye contact and smiled slightly when a reporter asked a question in English. He has always preferred using an interpreter in interviews, but Mariano Rivera, a fellow Panamanian and his best friend on the Yankees, was having none of it.

"C'mon, get him to answer in English," Rivera prodded the reporter good-naturedly. "He can do it. He's not quiet; he talks too much."

Mendoza maintained his posture -- head down, no eye contact, an embarrassed smile -- and, with silence, finally compelled Rivera to step in and speak for him. To many of the Yankees and almost all reporters who cover the team, Mendoza is quiet and shy, something of a mystery. Teammates call him El Brujo, the Witch Doctor, a nickname pinned on him by friends in Panama for his pitching prowess, and they kid him about sticking needles into dolls. They respect his ability as a pitcher, his nasty sinking fastball.

"He could be a 20-game winner as a starter," shortstop Derek Jeter said. "And if he was a closer, he would be one of the best in the league."

But Rivera and Jeter, who know him well, say he speaks and understands English well, that he is animated and talkative and has a dry sense of humor. Mendoza, however, won't show that side of himself until he feels comfortable making mistakes with his developing English around others, as he is with Jeter, and Rivera and the other Spanish-speaking players.

"He's definitely more open with them than he is with the rest of us," said Mike Stanton, who spends hours with Mendoza in bullpens around the country. "But then again, if I went to a foreign country, I'd probably hang out with North Americans, too."

Most of Mendoza's English-speaking teammates have long assumed that he understands their words. Mendoza is a prodigious watcher of English-language television, everything from cartoons to movies, and, as pitcher David Cone noted, Mendoza always laughs at the most subtle punch lines. Mendoza has developed some comfort with Cone.

"He's a pretty happy-go-lucky guy," Cone said. "Pretty upbeat."

Jeter got to know Mendoza while playing behind him in the minor leagues, and the other day, Mendoza visited Jeter's home, making fun of his style in playing pool.

"He is shy, but there are guys he opens up to," Jeter said. "He's not fluent in English, but he understands it, and he's shy speaking it around other people. I don't think he minds making a mistake when I'm around.

"He's a great guy, a great sense of humor, great personality, and on the field, he's got a great deal of confidence. He's a lot like Mariano: nothing fazes him."

Mendoza pitched effectively as a starter early last season, going 4-1 with a 4.00 earned run average, doing everything to sustain Manager Joe Torre's belief in him. But Orlando Hernández was promoted to pitch June 2 and immediately established himself as a big-time starter, and Mendoza was shifted to the bullpen. He was not pleased with the move -- his preference in the long run, he said today, is to be a starter -- but Mendoza accepted the change readily and finished the year 10-2. "They sent me to the bullpen and I have nothing to say -- that's my job," Mendoza said, with the coach Jose Cardenal serving as interpreter.

But the Yankees' officials believe that he will someday rank among the league's more effective starters, as he refines a curveball to complement his changeup and sinker. "In the next three years, I want to learn, and then I'm capable of being pretty good, because I'm getting better and better and better," Mendoza said.

Mendoza has relatively long fingers, and the way he holds his sinking two-seam fastball is different from the way most pitchers hold their sinkers. With a baseball in his hand, Cone demonstrated how Mendoza separates his fingers more and grips the ball higher on the seams, so that when he releases the pitch, he generates exceptional spin, resulting in exceptional movement. Last year, opposing batters averaged 2.13 ground balls for every fly ball against Mendoza; the average for American League pitchers was 1.26.

"I've been the biggest fan of his as long as I've been playing," Jeter said.

INSIDE PITCH

DARRYL STRAWBERRY needs to prove he can move well enough to play left field before he is part of the Yankees' major league roster, said DON ZIMMER, the interim manager. "He has to show people can play out there," Zimmer said. "We've got two, two and half weeks left, and I think that will be the test." Strawberry is not running regularly, he has worked out only briefly in left field and he is trying to rehabilitate his surgically repaired right knee, which caused him to limp heavily in the latter half of last season. Strawberry's bat, Zimmer said, won't be a problem.

Outfielder SHANE SPENCER, meanwhile, is having a terrific spring in Zimmer's eyes: diving for balls, playing hard "and doing everything he can to make the team." The Yankees may have to try to find a role for Spencer because RICKY LEDEE and CHAD CURTIS are expected to platoon in left field. Spencer is hitting .276 with a team-high five extra-base hits in 29 at-bats. . . . ROGER CLEMENS pitched well in the Yankees' 2-1 exhibition victory over Toronto in 10 innings Tuesday night. He allowed three hits and one run over five innings against his former team.