He's still in there pitching

TOLEDO, Ohio - Blaine Neal wasn't quite ready to come home, so he took the difficult route back to professional baseball.

A 1996 graduate of Bishop Eustace High School, Neal was out of work after pitching the 2007 season for the Syracuse Chiefs, the Class AAA affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.

The 6-foot-5, 205-pound righthander had his elbow scoped in a minor operation in the off-season and was looking for a place to land this season.

Neal, who turned 30 on April 6, said he was planning to come home to pitch for the independent Camden Riversharks. Then he heard about an open tryout that took place in Lakeland, Fla., during the first week of March.

It was run by the Detroit Tigers, and there were 150 hopefuls at the tryout.

As it turned out, Neal was the only player who was signed out of the tryout. The Tigers assigned Neal to their AAA team, the Toledo Mud Hens.

"I felt like I was 16 again at one of these tryouts," Neal said. "It was mostly younger guys, but there were some 40-year-old guys."

Neal understands why older players continue to showcase their skills. He has been in professional baseball since signing with the Florida Marlins in 1996 following his senior season at Bishop Eustace. Neal was drafted in the fourth round, the 104th overall selection.

Now he is the closer for the Mud Hens and prospering in the role. In his first 13 games, Neal was 0-0 with a 0.75 ERA and 11 saves.

"It's one of the nicest places to play in all of the minor leagues with a great stadium, and the fans treat you really well," Neal said after a Mud Hens game last month.

Neal should be an expert at judging a good team and stadium. He has pitched for four major-league teams - the Marlins, San Diego, Boston and Colorado. Neal has appeared in 113 major- league games, all in relief. He is 5-4 with a 5.08 ERA and 93 strikeouts in 124 innings.

Toledo is his 11th minor- league team. Neal last pitched in the majors with Colorado in 2005, when he went 1-2 in 11 games.

In 2006, he pitched for Pittsburgh's AA team in Altoona, Pa., before competing last season for Syracuse.

Neal always relied on a lively fastball. But as he has gotten older, he has had to pitch with his head as much as with his arm.

"To me, he has enough stuff to get back to the major leagues," said Toledo manager Larry Parrish, a former two-time all-star who enjoyed a 15-year major-league career.

Parrish said Neal's fastball has lost some velocity from when he last saw him pitch with the Marlins in parts of 2001, 2002 and 2003. According to Parrish, the fastball is still effective enough to get hitters out, with one major provision.

"His fastball is good enough, but he can't pitch in the middle of the plate anymore," Parrish said. "At one time, he was up in the 96 [m.p.h.] range, where he could make a mistake every once in a while down the middle, and his velocity would beat guys."

That's not to say that Neal is now a junkball pitcher. He still routinely throws above 90 m.p.h.

"I'm sure his velocity isn't where it was a few years ago. But in one game this season he got it up to 94-95 m.p.h. when he needed to in getting a save against Lehigh Valley," said Toledo catcher Dane Sardinha. "He has learned how to pitch more than to be overpowering all the time."

Neal said the only difficult part of this season is that his wife, Keri, is at their home in Florida, where she is expecting their second child next month.

"The only pressure I feel in this game is with my family not knowing from year to year where I will be," Neal said. "It's tough on my wife, especially this year because I didn't have a job until March."

Still, it's a job he doesn't want to stop until they tear the uniform off. Neal says the good moments far outweigh the bad.

He even has a World Series ring as a member of the 2003 Florida Marlins. Even though Neal was injured during the postseason, he traveled with the team and attended all the games.

"It was bittersweet because earlier in the year I thought I was going to be more a part of the team," Neal said. "But it was pretty cool to be part of that whole experience."

Neal's main goal is to return to the major leagues. But no matter what happens, he realizes how fortunate he is to make a living playing baseball.

"Right now, I can't imagine getting up and working someplace else," he said. "To get a real job, I don't see that happening hopefully anytime soon."