In 15 seasons the Rockies have sent many, many down-and-out vagabonds, wayfarers and tatterdemalions to the mound who should have pitched under assumed names.
The Rockies’ starter on Sunday afternoon does not pitch under his real full name.
But, after his crafty six-inning, three-hit, one-(home)-run winning effort, you should remember his name:
Elmer Dessens Jusaino.
Elmer was no Fudd as the Rockies swept up and out the Washington Nationals, who roll over so often they should enter the Witness Protection Program.
Forgive the 25,000 at the park if they didn’t have complete confidence when the latest drifter drifted out Sunday.
Dessens was picked up off the streets like a stray in mid-August to serve as a stopgapper for a rotation with three starters on the disabled list.
The 36-year-old right-hander could be a keeper. He gave the understaffed Rox “a blue-collar effort,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He got the ball down, pitched perimeters, changed speeds. It was a good ballgame for Elmer. We got all we could out of him, and it was good to go.”
Elmer earned his first victory as a starter since April 2004. He earned his first victory as a starter in the major leagues in 2000 at Coors Field as a member of the Cincinnati Reds.
But Cincinnati wasn’t the only other stop for this man of journey. He has pitched for teams in 10 states and has pitched in Canada, Japan, all over the Caribbean and in his home country of Mexico. He has been traded three times, loaned in four different seasons to the Mexico City Red Devils and signed as a free agent five times. He has played for the Dodgers twice and six other major-league clubs once. Also, his contract was sold to Yomiuri in 1999.
Elmer won 10 with the Reds in 2000, but has been called Mop-up Man and much worse in 11 seasons.
But he has never been addressed in the U.S. by his entire name. In Mexico, the tradition is to use two last names – both the father’s (Dessens) and the mother’s Jusaino.
But Elmer chose to simplify the name when he was shipped to Carolina in 1995.
“I like Colorado,” Elmer said.
Who wouldn’t – especially after an exceptional performance from an unexpected source on a Colorado day of marvel?
In two previous starts for the Rockies, he was removed in the fifth inning in trouble, and had no decision.
“I changed my approach from the first two games. Keep the ball low, inside and out and throw strikes.”
Did he throw high balls in the games against San Diego and Pittsburgh? Whatever, he was effective after being blazed for two hits (one a homer) in the first. The following five innings he walked only one and permitted one more hit.
After the Rockies swatted the Washington Gnats, who looked like the old Washington Senators (or the Globetrotters’ Washington Generals), for nine runs in the first three innings, “I was more relaxed with the big lead. I feel pretty good.”
Elmer – one of the very few Elmers in the history of baseball (think Elmer Valo) – is not as famous as Elmer Gantry or Elmer the Bull (for whom the glue is named) or Bugs Bunny’s adversary. But he has been an admirable Band-Aid Elmer for the Rockies after they declined to make a trade for an established veteran.
He’ll start again during the Rockies’ six-game trip to San Francisco and Arizona. His next, against the Diamondbacks, may be his biggest trip to the mound since he threw for the Dodgers in a postseason game.
Dessens began his career as a closer with the Pirates, but has been everything else and has been everywhere else.
The Rockies were interested before the 2006 season, and Elmer remembered when the Brewers dumped him. “Colorado liked me before, and I wanted to be with the team because it is playing well, and I can focus on helping.”
At age 10 in Hermosillo, Mexico, Elmer delivered newspapers. Soon he (wisely) got out of the newspaper business and got into the sport of pitching. He idolized Fernando Valenzuela and later became “very good friends” with Armando Reynoso, the best Mexican pitcher in Rockies history (30 victories from 1993-97). One of the pitchers on the DL is Rodrigo Lopez, also a native of Mexico. The Rockies like NAFTA.
On Sunday afternoon, Elmer Dessens Jusaino was, ABBA would agree, the name of the game.
Staff writer Woody Paige can be reached at 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com.
