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Charles Nagy didn't help his chances yesterday by giving up 4 runs on 8 hits.
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One-time ace Nagy fights for spot in rotation

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One-time ace Nagy fights for spot in rotation

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - March days in the hot Florida sun usually showcase unknown 22-year-olds who are pitching their brains out in spring training as they try to make the major league club and perhaps crack the starting rotation.

But this spring, Charles Nagy is in that role, and in that same desperate struggle as he works toward a 12th season with the Cleveland Indians.

The Tribe's pitching rotation has a finite number of parts. That number is five, and with a dozen days left in spring training, auditions have closed for all of those positions but one. Nagy, once the ace of the Tribe staff, is fighting for his pitching life, trying to grab that No. 5 slot.

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Injuries over the past two seasons have severely limited Nagy's success, so the Sunshine State is his proving ground as he labors to show the Tribe brass he still has the right stuff.

“It's spring training and I'm competing for a job out here,” Nagy said. “I have to get guys out. It's that simple.”

Cleveland manager Charlie Manuel has made it clear over the past couple of weeks that he intends to have hard-throwing Bartolo Colon as his No. 1 starter, brilliant second-year lefty C.C. Sabathia in the second position, and veteran lefty Chuck Finley and 24-year-old Cuban Danys Baez filling out the top four spots.

Colon is 65-41 in his four-plus seasons with Cleveland with an ERA of 4.09 and almost 800 strikeouts. Sabathia went 17-5 last year as a 21-year-old rookie. Finley has 189 wins and 2,436 strikeouts in his 15 seasons in the big leagues, while Baez spent a good portion of last season in Cleveland as the set-up man out of the bullpen, and had a 5-3 record with a 2.50 ERA in 43 appearances.

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Jaret Wright was also in the picture, but he had pain in his shoulder during a brief minor-league stint here yesterday and headed to California to have his troublesome right shoulder examined by a specialist.

So Nagy, who will be 35 next month, took the mound at Chain of Lakes Park yesterday with a firm sense of purpose. He wants that No. 5 spot and knows his chances of earning it are dwindling.

In five innings, Nagy gave up four runs, all of them earned, on eight hits. He left with the game tied 4-4. The Tribe came back and won 10-9 in the bottom of the ninth, but Nagy was long gone and convinced he had not done much to enhance his cause.

“I just made some bad pitches. I didn't finish like I wanted to,” Nagy said. “I threw the ball out over the plate too much and they hit it.”

Nagy has a 128-99 career record for the Tribe, with an ERA of 4.40, making 290 starts. Prior to the elbow problems that hit in 2000, he had been on the disabled list just once in the 10 previous seasons - a 1993 stint for shoulder surgery.

He had made 192 straight starts without missing a turn from October of 1993 to May of 2000. Nagy's best season with Cleveland was 1996 when he helped the Indians win the second of their five straight American League Central Division titles. He went 17-5 with a 3.41 ERA in 32 starts and 222 innings. Nagy recorded the most wins by a Tribe right-hander since Bert Blyleven won 19 in 1994.

Manuel wants to give the three-time all-star every possible opportunity, but was less than enthusiastic after Nagy, 1-1 this spring, was hit hard by the Royals.

“He got off to a real good start out there today, but then I think he started to get tired,” Manuel said. “They're going to hit the ball off Charlie, but he's just got to keep it low in the zone. When Charlie gets in trouble, it is because he gets the ball up. He doesn't have enough to blow it by them.”

Manuel is rooting for Nagy.

“Nobody in the world gives more than Charlie does,” Manuel said. “He's one of the hardest workers in the world.”

Nagy was 5-6 last season, his second straight year where injuries limited his appearances and dictated his effectiveness.

With 11 games left on the Grapefruit League schedule, Manuel said Nagy still has opportunities to make his case.

“There's still time to look at them,” Manuel said. “When we brought these guys down here, we told them they were going to get a chance, and they will.”

Despite his credentials, Nagy is now just one of the guys.

First Published March 20, 2002, 8:21 a.m.

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