St. Louis Post-Dispatch
June 26, 2001

Matt Morris is Sailing Along in the Summer

By Stu Durando

By purchasing an offseason home near Jupiter, Fla., two years ago, Matt Morris made clear the depth of his career commitment.

What better spot to recuperate from major elbow surgery than in the town that includes the Cardinals' spring training facilities and where the weather is conducive to winter workouts?

Oh, and there was this little issue of buying a catamaran.

Morris took full advantage of the setting for rehabilitation purposes, working his elbow back into shape. But the beach lover also was determined to set sail and relax, having escaped winters in New York.

"I never knew how to sail and figured it's easy in a way because you don't have to get gas or dock it," he said. "Only flipped it a couple of times."

Morris has suffered some bruised bones and a couple of jammed fingers along the way. And there was the time he was caught in the ocean wind and barely avoided a collision with a sea wall while helpless onlookers watched from the beach.

The adventure into water sports has provided some near misses.

"But compared to the elbow," Morris said, "nothing was bad."

He has survived to get a jump on the best start of his career, putting together a 10-4 record and 2.74 earned-run average with two weeks remaining before the All-Star break.

It can be argued that he is performing at a higher level than before undergoing Tommy John surgery on April 13, 1999.

Morris has placed himself in All-Star consideration by becoming the second National League pitcher to reach 10 victories, Arizona's Curt Schilling (11-2) being the first. Morris' 10th win came Sunday night, a 7-3 decision against the San Francisco Giants. He also ranks among the top five in ERA. Not bad for a guy who questioned his ability to be a major-league starter less than a year ago.

"Back to where he was"

"I think he still felt he had to prove himself as a starter," Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "He still needed to put some games under his belt before he was convinced that everything would be OK.

"Physically he's pretty much back to where he was before the injury. The big thing is just his maturity. It's really obvious that his approach to pitching is not one-dimensional."

Morris finally is getting a chance to realize the potential he displayed in 1997, his last full season. He was plagued by a strained shoulder in 1998. The following spring he suffered a torn ligament in his right elbow, leading to season-ending surgery and questions about his future.

Most of those questions have been answered in the first half of the season. All that remains is proving his durability for an entire season.

"I've always thought of myself doing something like this," Morris said. "It's nice being able to come to the park, put on my uniform and be able to throw without going to the training room for two hours to get my arm loose. It's just refreshing to go out and pick up a ball like Little League again."

Morris spent the past two summers enduring uncomfortable circumstances.

While rehabbing in St. Louis in 1999, he tried to find ways to kill time. He would play Ping-Pong for hours at Busch Stadium, drive around the city looking at houses and spend time at the Lake of the Ozarks. When his teammates returned from trips, he realized they were more focused on baseball than being pals.

Last season, he started in the minors and then was used as a relief pitcher when recalled by the Cardinals. At first, Morris said he was surprised, saying, "I was like, what the heck?"

But he realized it was all he could expect to do while attempting to regain the strength and endurance he had as a starter.

"It was cool that I learned that aspect of the game, but you're just sitting out there waiting for the phone call," he said. "You can't really see what's going on. You have to go through the lineup maybe once. I didn't take my pitching mentality into that.

"This year has been more mental. Last year seemed like a physical battle. I was exhausted after every outing and was only throwing 35 pitches. I wondered, 'Am I ever going to be able to hold up and throw seven or eight innings?' "

Morris focused on building endurance in the offseason and has seen results. He is a close second on the team behind Darryl Kile with 105 innings pitched and hopes to establish himself in Kile's category by throwing 200-plus innings a year.

"I think that's real important to a team," he said. "That's what I want to be known as."

Admires Kevin Brown

He is combining his endurance and power sinker with some newfound pitching subtleties, developed by more closely watching pitchers around the league work the last two seasons. In particular, he said he took note of Kevin Brown's aggressive approach and tried to incorporate that more into his game.

Duncan said that Morris, 26, has improved simply by being two years older than when he suffered his elbow injury.

"He's not as high-strung as he was," Duncan said. "It's because he's had the opportunity to not only mature but to watch and analyze. He really learned if you watch other guys pitch and try to relate that to you, you can better use your own abilities. He's much more analytical about his pitching."

Morris is spending no time analyzing his All-Star chances. He figures his reward for this season is simply being able to pitch.

"All of that stuff is bonus stuff," he said. "I'm not into the glitz and glamour of it all. I'd rather just win with these guys."