NO QUITTING IN WORRELL GIANTS PITCHER GIVES IT ONE MORE CHANCE, MAKES SERIES.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - His bags landed with a thud on the floor of his Arizona home. And just like that, a weight was lifted off Tim Worrell's mind.

It was May 2000, Worrell had just been released by the Baltimore Orioles, and he made what seemed to be the easiest decision of his life.

``I went home, threw my bags down and said, I'm done,'' Worrell said. ``I was fed up. My attitude was, `I'm going to sit by this pool, and you're going to pay me for it.'

``I had come home to quit. I did - for four or five days.''

Worrell, from Maranatha High and Biola University, was coming off a five-game, 7.36 ERA stint with Baltimore, his fifth big-league team in eight seasons. Quitting was an easy, and easily understood option.

So how, then, did Worrell get from there to tonight, when he will take the field as the top set-up man for the San Francisco Giants in Game 1 of the World Series against the Angels at Edison Field?

Just call it Worrell's Awakening.

Less than two weeks after his release, the Chicago Cubs called. They said to spend two weeks with their Triple-A club and then he'd join the team in San Francisco.

Worrell, in his mind, was through. But he decided to give it another shot, this time on his terms.

``I just decided on the flight there, you know what, it can't get any worse,'' Worrell said. ``It seemed like when I stopped caring about results, I got it done. That keeps you aggressive on the mound.

``The other thing that clicked with me in Chicago was, what could this team do to me that hasn't been done? I felt like they couldn't do anything that can hurt me. You can't perform your job if you're afraid to fail. Instead of being afraid to fail, I was like, (failure) is going to come. What are you going to do when it comes?''

The results were startling. Worrell had a 2.47 ERA in 62 innings with the Cubs, earning him a one-year contract with a club option. That offseason, he was traded to the Giants, which was a plus on three counts. The Giants, like the Cubs, trained in Arizona, keeping him close to his wife and four children. They were even closer to home. And most importantly, they were in the National League.

``My experience in the American League was, I got the ball and I pitched until something went bad,'' said Worrell, who had a 6-11 record and a 4.91 ERA with Detroit, Cleveland, Oakland and Baltimore from 1998 to 2000. ``I just wished sometimes I could pitch one inning and get out. In the National League, that happens.''

Worrell produced a 2-5 season with a 3.45 ERA in 2001. This year, with set-up man Felix Rodriguez struggling, Worrell was even better. He went 8-2 with a 2.25 ERA, supplanting Rodriguez as the bridge to closer Robb Nen.

When Rodriguez returned to form, it gave the Giants a formidable bullpen, one that finished second to Atlanta in the NL in ERA. Little wonder the Giants went 25-8 down the stretch to claim the NL wild-card berth, their ticket to the World Series.

``Without Tim, we wouldn't be standing here,'' pitching coach Dave Righetti said. ``Since the day he's got here, he's grown in terms of confidence and throwing strikes. He's been a rock for us and given us whatever we needed from him. It was huge how he picked us up when Felix struggled. Until Felix got going, we didn't get going.''

They kept it up in the playoffs. Worrell pitched two impact innings in the decisive Game 5 of the Division Series against the Braves, getting the ball to Nen as the Giants closed out Atlanta, 3-1. In the league championship series, he was the winning pitcher in the final two games, pitching 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to set up Kenny Lofton's game-winning hit in Game 5.

Now, after 10 years in the big leagues, he's in the World Series, just like older brother Todd, the former Dodger. Of course, Todd made it after just 21 innings pitched in the majors; as a rookie, he was the closer for the 1985 NL champion St. Louis Cardinals.

In the '85 series, Todd Worrell earned a save and suffered one of the most notorious losses in Series history, the victim of umpire Don Denkinger's blown call in Game 6. The Kansas City Royals prevailed in Game 7.

Tim, 35, took a little longer to produce his World Series appearance. Maybe that will make it even better.

``What it shows is, if you want to finish something out, do it. Don't give up,'' he said. ``I had to decide I really wanted to play. I really wanted to compete.

``Now, I have just as many experiences where I walk off and say, that guy beat me, but it was fun. The last three years, I've enjoyed playing.''

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Giants pitcher Tim Worrell, who nearly quit baseball, finds himself in his first World Series.

Morry Gash/Associated Press