Stephenson in contention less than year after surgery

JUPITER, Fla. -- The secret to Garrett Stephenson's rapid comeback from reconstructive elbow surgery might be golf. Lots of golf.

Less than 11 months after being on the operating table, the St. Louis Cardinals' right-hander is contending for a spot in the rotation. Where others before him required a rehab stint and perhaps a year in the bullpen, Stephenson says he feels so good it's as if he never had surgery.

"No pain, no tendinitis, nothing," Stephenson said Wednesday. "My mechanics are off just a little bit, but that's normal. Hey, I've got five spring starts to go."

Stephenson, a 16-game winner in 2000, got to this point with an all-out, all-the-time attitude. The Cardinals aren't that surprised considering his progress reports have been so impressive the last few months.

"I don't know how he did it, but he's looking good," manager Tony La Russa said. "We had been hearing he's been making a lot of progress and we were thinking he'd be ready some time during the year. But the reports kept getting better and better."

How Stephenson did it is a bit unusual. When he reported to the Cardinals' spring home in Jupiter in December, he was in quite a bit of pain. He kept it to himself.

"I couldn't wash my hair sometimes," Stephenson said. "I'd be out there and it'd be, 'How are you feeling?' and every time I was like 'Great!"

Stephenson said the elbow would throb for perhaps a week at a time, until one day in late January when he dealt with the frustration by playing 54 holes of golf. It also was a frustrating day on the links, considering he could barely bend the elbow during his marathon day.

But the next day, he could easily straighten the elbow and felt fine. He theorizes the repeated golf swings broke up all the scar tissue, once and for all.

"I also played basketball, I was playing everything," Stephenson said. "The doctors and trainers are overboard on not letting you do stuff. I'm overboard on doing too much stuff."

Stephenson's first spring outing was low-key, a "B" game on a back field on Monday. Pitching coach Dave Duncan saw enough to put him in the spring rotation and he'll pitch again Saturday against the Houston Astros in Kissimmee, Fla.

"He felt great and felt strong and threw that way," Duncan said. "For me right now, you just pencil him in as if he's 100 percent until he shows something different, and he's shown no indication of that."

Stephenson's stoic attitude during the pre-golf portion of his comeback was the opposite of his demeanor last spring when he tried to throw through his woes and also let people know how much it hurt, at least at first. After hearing whispers about his supposed lack of pain tolerance, Stephenson shut up and kept taking the ball.

"I knew I had to have surgery, but I didn't want anybody to say 'He didn't give us a good effort,"' Stephenson said. "I wanted them to know I gave everything I had to pitch for them and earn my money."

Fellow Cardinals right-hander Matt Morris also underwent elbow reconstruction surgery, in 1999, and was used sparingly out of the bullpen for the 2000 season before returning better than ever last year as a 22-game winner. Stephenson said he returned quicker and won't need to be babied in the bullpen because he doesn't throw nearly as hard as Morris, who has a 94-95 mph fastball.

"He throws way harder than I do," Stephenson said. "I have more control and I don't need that kind of velocity to pitch. People say I don't throw that hard, but you try and go out and hit a gnat in the (backside)."

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to Stephenson's comeback is the Cardinals' abundant supply of starting pitchers. Seven pitchers are contending for five spots, although Darryl Kile's offseason shoulder surgery could push his timetable past opening day.

"If I'm not hurting, I'll be somewhere in the big leagues pitching," Stephenson said. "My goal is 30 starts and 200-plus innings, just like it was before."