Octavio Dotel was sitting in his Columbus, Ohio, hotel room Tuesday night watching “Mission:
Impossible III” when his cell phone rang. Turns out, the voice on the other side of the line gave him the good news about his own at-times seemingly impossible mission: Dotel was headed back to the majors.
For the first time since Tommy John surgery, the righthanded reliever returned to the majors and made his Yankees debut, pitching in last night’s game against Baltimore, just in time for tomorrow night’s clash at arch rival Boston.
“This is the biggest series in baseball. It’s real exciting,” Dotel said. “It was funny; when I heard from Mark Littlefield, I told him what I was watching.
He said, ‘Well, that mission is impossible, but this one is possible.’ “It was really exciting moment for me. I didn’t want to watch the movie after that. I felt like it was the first time I got to the big leagues. It’s something you had to work hard at to come back after Tommy John surgery.” Dotel came on to pitch the eighth inning, thrown right into the fire, facing the heart of the Orioles’ order down a run. He crossed himself on the mound and came out dealing to Melvin Mora, starting the at-bat with a 92 mph strike, hitting 97 mph on the gun before fanning him with 93 mph heat at the letters.
After allowing Miguel Tejada’s single and walking Jay Gibbons on four pitches, Dotel was relieved by Scott Proctor.
Still, any pain-free return was a success.
Surgery cut short Dotel’s season last year after 15 appearances.
The Bombers signed him in December, and he’d been rehabbing ever since – patiently at first, feverishly at the end.
“He’s been anxious to get here the last week, [asking] ‘When am I coming up?’ That’s so different than at any other time you talked with him,” Joe Torre said. “He’s tired of doing what he was doing and he aspired to do it with us. I’m happy for that.
“A big part of what pushed [his return] was his attitude.
When he’s that proud of his stuff, it makes you feel good.
There’s no hesitation on his part.” No, that came during his rehab, when he missed the first 116 games of the season and began to internally question whether he’d ever pitch again.
“Yes, I thought about it. But at the same time, I feel why not? I feel positive to come back,” Dotel said. “It’s crazy because sometimes you feel great, sometimes you feel you don’t have [anything] and the next day you feel good.”