By Gary Brooks
SportsLine Baseball Editor

You could poll every fan that attended a Double-A Jacksonville game in 1989 and not find one who would believe that right-handed pitcher Kent Bottenfield would eventually reside on any sizzlin' list.

Even Kent Bottenfield has to smile about his start this year. (AP)

Bottenfield went 3-17 at Jacksonville in his fourth professional season. He eventually ascended to the Montreal Expos roster in 1992 as a reliever but was back in the minors for much of 1994 and all of 1995, compiling a 68-97 record traveling through the Expos, Rockies, Giants, Tigers and Cubs organizations.

Fast forward 10 years from the dreadful 1989 season to the current St. Louis Cardinals and Bottenfield is a model of persistence leading to confidence. The 31-year-old, fourth-round pick of the 1986 draft, is 3-0 with a National League leading 0.98 earned-run average.

After beating the Milwaukee Brewers Monday to keep the Cardinals in first place in the NL Central, Bottenfield and catcher Eli Marrero admitted that Bottenfield didn't have particularly great stuff. He's just manipulating batters' weaknesses after watching hours of video of opponents prior to each start. Bottenfield has kept the ball low and let batters get themselves out.

It's something he had a hard time doing in his 219 major-league appearances and 47 starts prior to this season. His previous win high was five -- against 10 losses -- with the Expos and Rockies in 1993.

It has taken the breakdown of Matt Morris and Alan Benes' arms for the Cardinals to figure out how much Bottenfield could contribute.

He had appeared in 164 games in the bullpen from 1994 through the middle of last season when injuries forced the Cardinals to use him as a starter. He worked with St. Louis pitching coach Dave Duncan, making some minor adjustments and completely reversed the misfortune of losing 42 minor-league games from 1989-91.

The Giants had Bottenfield once. He made one appearance in the 1994 season. They'd certainly take him right now, because with a pitching rotation that has stunk for the most part and Barry Bonds now out until July, they are fizzlin'.

San Francisco's pitching needs as much run support as it can get but without Bonds, it can't count on getting much.

The Giants were 8-4 when Bonds announced he was having trouble with what turned out to be a bone spur and tendon problem in his left elbow. By the time Bonds returns, San Francisco could be buried behind the moneybags Diamondbacks and Dodgers.

An outfield of Marvin Benard, Stan Javier, Ellis Burks (whose knees won't let him play everyday) and rookie Armando Rios will fill in but may not combine to produce what Bonds himself may have in the next two and a half months.

San Francisco general manger Brian Sabean said the team is not in position to acquire any help. If it were, he might be more inclined to help the pitching staff any way.

Sizzlin' ... the countdown

5. Hit parade in the 9 hole

Tampa Bay shortstop Kevin Stocker understands he's at the bottom of the Devil Rays' lineup because he hit just .208 last season. But he's doing his best to shed the good-field, no-hit label. He won't be losing any playing time to Aaron Ledesma if he continues his .444 (20 for 45) pace.

4. Hurling Halladay

There is about to be a dilemma in Toronto where rookie right-hander Roy Halladay has stretched his scoreless innings streak to 16, dating back to his near no-hitter to end last season. Halladay, 2-0 in four appearances, one start, is pitching like a quality starter in place of Joey Hamilton who is on the disabled list. When Hamilton, who is backed by assistant general manager Dave Stewart, returns from his shoulder impingement, somebody has to move out of the rotation.

3. Power balance

If Chipper Jones' power from the right side continues on the same pace, he may be a threat to pass 40 home runs. He's already hit three in 17 at-bats right-handed and one in 37 left-handed. That's quite different from his career trend. In the 1997 and 1998 seasons combined, Jones averaged a home run every 15.8 at-bats left-handed but only homered every 125.7 at-bats right-handed. He hit 32 left-handed home runs last season so it won't take much more power from the left side for him to jump into the league-leader class.

2. Leadoff production

The Pirates had no worries in trading leadoff hitter Tony Womack to the Arizona Diamondbacks because he wasn't an offensive igniter. Now, Pittsburgh has catcher Jason Kendall leading off in a very productive way. In the 10 games he has hit first, Kendall has scored in the first inning four times. Womack didn't score in the first inning until May 5 last season, Pittsburgh's 31st game.

1. Cardinals savior

For once, something unexpected but good happens to the Cardinals' pitching staff.

Fizzlin' ... the countdown

5. Angels search for a pitcher

Jim Edmonds' shoulder surgery, requiring four months of healing, may have been a blow to many fantasy teams, but it wasn't devastating for the Angels' lineup. Anaheim has plenty of offense and Edmonds' injury lessens the log-jam of big bats. What it really hurts is the Angels' pitching staff. Anaheim was in position to make a trade to improve its starting pitching and now doesn't have the surplus slugger to offer. Instead, they'll have to hope Omar Olivares continues his impressive start while Edmonds stretches his games-missed time past his 33-game average over the past three seasons.

4. Larkin's leadership

Even if Greg Vaughn were hitting home runs, the Cincinnati Reds are still led by Barry Larkin and will go as he does. Tuesday, he popped out with the bases loaded to end a 3-2 loss to the Mets. That dropped him to 8 for 45 (.178). Thus, Cincy is in the NL Central cellar.

3. Sophomore slump

Ben Grieve's overall numbers last season looked promising and earned him the AL Rookie of the Year Award. But after June he hit just .254 and so far this season has been awful. He's also had trouble in the field that has resulted in a move from right to left field and DH.

2. Rodriguez's chase of .300

The drive for a fifth straight .300 or better season has hit a bit of a snag for Ivan Rodriguez. Since his 9-RBI-in-three-innings game at Seattle, he's gone 3 for 23.

Only four catchers have ever hit .300-plus for five straight seasons.

Spud Davis is the leader with a seven-year run from 1929-35 with the Philadelphia Phillies. Mets catcher Mike Piazza could equal Davis with his seventh straight this season. If it weren't for a .279 1935, Yankees Hall of Famer Bill Dickey would have had an 11-year string. Instead he hit better than .300 from 1929-34 and 1936-40. Ernie Lombardi hit better than .300 from 1934-38 for the Reds.

A pseudo fifth member of the club is Hank Severeid. He passed .300 in five in a row but had only 219 at-bats in the fifth season, 1925, which he split between the St. Louis Browns and Washington Senators. Since that's not enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title he gets an asterisk.

1. Giants hopes

Shortstop Rich Aurilia may be swinging a hot bat but it won't be enough to carry the San Francisco Giants while Barry Bonds' elbow recovers from surgery to remove a bone spur and fix the triceps tendon.