Cueto has nothing left to prove in 2011

CINCINNATI Johnny Cueto has proven without a shadow of a hanging slider that he is No. 1 with the Cincinnati Reds for 2012 the ace, the stopper, numero uno. So there is no reason for Cueto to trudge back up the pitching hill for another 2011 start, nothing to prove, nothing to gain. That doesn't mean he won't do it. It jus means he doesn't need to do it. Oh, maybe it would be nice to win his 10th game after missing the first six weeks of the season with a bicepstriceps strain. And it would be special to have the lowest earned run average for a starter in the National League. He trails LA's Clayton Kershaw by 2.30 to 2.31 and Philly's Roy Halladay is right behind Cueto at 2.34. Yeah, it would be something to brag about to the grandkids, but there is no hardware or even a certificate that comes with having the lowest ERA. And Cueto signed a multi-year deal before this season and is not on a salary push. Making it worse, a pitcher must appear in 162 innings to qualify to be listed in the ERA column and Cueto is six innings short. On Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs Cueto left the game in the third inning when he felt pain in the back of his shoulder. It was diagnosed as a sprained lat. Cueto was still in pain Thursday afternoon when he chatted with the media, mostly through a translator. Asked by a writer if he would make another start this year, Cueto said in clear English, "No, I don't think so." Before he could say another word, several teammates and a club official said, "Johnny, wait for a translator. Get a translator." So somebody fetched his regular translator, Tomas Vera, and the story changed a tad. "I don't know if I'll pitch again at this point," said Cueto through Vera. "I want to throw but it hurts and I feel sore and it is painful right now. The doctor today told me I will lose the next outing and we'll see how it progresses to see if I can pitch one more time." Cueto's next turn would be Monday against Houston and that's a definite no-go. And is there any benefit to Cueto making one more start when it might be better to shut it down and heal completely? "I don't know of any benefit and I don't want to push and get any medication (cortisone) in my shoulder just to pitch one more time," he said. "I just want to see if I feel OK to pitch one more time and if not I just have to get healthy and be ready for next year." And the ERA deal enters into it just a bit for both Cueto and Manager Dusty Baker, with solid reservations mixed in. "I would like to have kept going the way I was pitching and I was battling for the title, but if God decides something different there is nothing you can do," he said. Baker is astride a fence, too, awaiting medical magic and Mother Nature. "I don't at this point know what is best, but he is going to skip a start," said Baker. "That gives him nine or ten days in between, so we'll see. It depends on how he feels. If he feels OK, then possibly. The key word is possibly. If he doesn't feel good, then definitely not." Asked if there is any reason to send him out again, Baker said, "The ERA title is some consideration, but if he doesn't have a chance to win it by then we'll talk to him and talk to the doctor and do what's best for him." Baker has a couple of extra starters in Travis Wood and Matt Maloney for Monday's start and said, "Maloney is probably a little more stretched out than Wood right now. Or we could go with a bullpen day, too somebody three innings, somebody else three innings, then one, one and one, depending upon the condition of our bullpen when the time comes." As for Cueto, his 9-5 record doesn't look shiny, even on glossy paper, but there is positive stuff behind the record. The bullpen blew five saves for him or the 25-year-old righthander could be 14-5. He has given up three or fewer runs in 21 of his 24 starts and two or less in 12 starts.