Langston Doing His Best to Stay Fit

ANAHEIM — He has been called gutless--ages ago. And he has been called special--on Tuesday.

Neither, it seems, quite fits Mark Langston’s assessment of himself. He’s just a hard-working guy trying to get ahead, and stay healthy.

For the second time in as many seasons, he has returned sooner than expected from an injury, this time missing only two starts after being sent home from a trip because of a tender elbow.

It was achievement enough for Manager Terry Collins to say Langston was a “special guy and special people do special things.” An opposite view was held by a former manager, Dick Williams, who once called Langston “gutless.”

Langston’s elbow was stiff Wednesday, a day after his six-inning stint against the Chicago White Sox, his first start since April 29. He will be trotted out again in three days.

“We took him out after six innings so we wouldn’t have any worries,” Collins said.

Fragile is not the view a manager wants to stamp on a top-line starter. The concern, if there is any, is how much more of this can Langston’s 36-year-old body take.

“I’m pretty in tune with what my body can and can not do,” said Langston, who has been on the disabled list four times in the last three seasons, including three times in 1996. “This is what I do for a living and I love it. It’s no fun sitting around on the disabled list.”

That’s where he seemed to be headed until a week ago, when the elbow started to feel better.

“The doctors don’t know what caused it or what caused it to get better,” said Langston, 2-2 with a 4.39 earned-run average. “The good Lord decided to take care of me.”

But can he keep relying on divine intervention? “He’s our horse,” catcher Jorge Fabregas said. “We need to have all our horses running.”

Langston had arthroscopic surgery on his knee last May. He later spent 15 days on the DL because of a nerve irritation in the same leg. His season ended when he was placed on the DL with a strained right knee Aug. 10.

Last year, he missed three weeks instead of the predicted six after knee surgery. This time, he returned to the rotation in 14 days.

“You can never be sure if a guy is coming back too soon,” pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said. “You can only go by what the player tells you.”

And Langston said he was fine and ready to pitch. “[Pitching] simulated games and minor league stints are not what I want to do,” Langston said. “This is my job.”

It may not make him special.

But it doesn’t qualify as gutless.