With his age, ineffectiveness and that gaudy salary, Rhodes cleared waivers. But he didn't forget how to be lefthanded. So when he cleared, his phone started ringing.
One call came from the Phillies, Rhodes' fifth major league stop back in 2006. They needed a situational lefty. They were a lock to provide additional revenue opportunity via a playoff share.
"It was close with Philly," Rhodes said. "But they wanted to send me down to Clearwater and get some work in. I had enough work in for 4 months. Why should I go down to Clearwater and wait and if I don't get called up, I'd be at home?"
Boston called, too. Another playoff lock. St. Louis called. The Cardinals were the opposite of a lock. They were $113,000 for 2 more months of work. "But," Rhodes said, "they said, 'We want you.' "
The rest, in Arthur's own words, is, "The craziest thing that's happened to me in [20] years." Rhodes signed with St. Louis, helped stabilize a bullpen that had sabotaged the Cardinals for much of the season. With a fresh start, and the narrower role that situational lefties have in the National League, Rhodes regained much of the effectiveness that had made him an All-Star with Cincinnati just the year before, and had lured Texas into signing him for that big deal in the offseason.
In 19 regular-season appearances after the Cardinals signed him on Aug. 12, Rhodes was scored on in just four of them. Then came the postseason, the first leg of the craziness. After Ryan Howard launched a three-run homer off Kyle Lohse in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, Rhodes was assigned the task of shutting down the Phillies' slugger. He did, starting with an eighth-inning strikeout in the Cardinals' 5-4, Game 2 victory.
