Indians' Wohlers still haunted by his trip to wild side

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- His control returned. His life got back to normal. Still, Mark Wohlers takes nothing for granted.

Even now, Wohlers looks at a baseball and wonders where it might go when he throws it. He's still haunted by the wildness that almost ended his pitching career.

"I think about it every day," Wohlers said. "Until I pick up a ball, throw it and see everything is OK."

It's been so far, so good with the Indians for Wohlers, who signed a two-year contract with Cleveland in January after spending last season with Cincinnati and the New York Yankees.

He hasn't had the best spring camp, allowing 17 hits and seven walks in 9 2-3 innings before consecutive scoreless outings his last two times out.

After retiring the Reds in order on Sunday, Wohlers waited near the mound for the ball and then stuck it in his back pocket.

"I didn't get a guy out for a month," he said with a laugh. "You never know when you're going to need it."

And then on Tuesday, he had just finished pitching a perfect inning against Houston when the clubhouse attendant in Kissimmee asked Wohlers if he wanted to keep his cleats.

"Yeah," Wohlers said. "I got a couple guys out in them."

Whatever works. Wohlers had to learn that the hard way.

From 1995-97, he was one of the NL's top relievers, averaging 32 saves per season for Atlanta. He even got the final out in the clinching Game 6 of the '95 World Series when the Braves beat the Indians.

He was on top -- and about to sink into a dark abyss that changed his life.

Wohlers' lost control of his pitches. It was just like what happened to Pittsburgh's Steve Blass in the 1970s, and what St. Louis' Rick Ankiel and Tampa Bay's Nick Bierbrodt are going through now.

Wohlers started the '98 season with the Braves but got hurt and was sent to Triple-A Richmond. There, his career spiraled downward, out of control.

In 16 games, he went 0-3 with a 20.43 ERA, walked 36 and threw 17 wild pitches -- in just 12 innings. The next year, he had ERAs of 27.00, 108.00 and 16.20.

He was eventually diagnosed as having an anxiety disorder.