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Today, after all of that, they can finally also claim an inning of World Series duty between them.
Just one, though.
For now, anyway.
They are the same, but they are different. And given all the miles that both men have traveled, it made a certain type of cruel, but appropriate sense that their long roads finally crossed to share one frame in their Fall Classic debuts on Wednesday. Both men took full advantage, combining for a 1-2-3 eighth as the St. Louis Cardinals' bullpen carried the team home in*a tight 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers in Game 1 of the World Series. Even though three other Cardinals relievers had also made their first appearances on Wednesday night, it was Rhodes and Dotel who were the ones surrounded by reporters after the game.
[Video: Game 1 highlights | Lookahead to Game 2]
All wanted to know about the parallel paths that had fatefully intersected at Busch Stadium on a cold Missouri night, the third coldest World Series opener on record.
"I've been playing this game a long time," Rhodes said after the game. "Nineteen years and this is my first World Series. As soon as I stepped on that rubber, I was in shock."
Dotel, normally a lot more expressive than his teammate, took a different route and refused to directly acknowledge the magnitude of the moment.
"I dont want to think about (it being my debut)," he said. "Because if I think about it I'm going to put too much pressure on myself."
But no matter how each chose to handle the situation, the result was the same. Dotel, a 37-year-old righthander, began the top of the eighth inning. He got leadoff hitter Ian Kinsler to ground out on a comebacker, then got Elvis Andrus to strike out looking.
Then, with lefty Josh Hamilton coming to the plate, his night was already over.
[Related: Allen Craig is a name to remember after Game 1 heroics]
Afterward, Dotel admitted to lately thinking that a night like Wednesday might never come as his age advanced and he played on middling teams. But then came a midseason trade from Toronto to St. Louis and then Cardinals got hot in September and made an all-time comeback and then they won two playoff series and then ... well, it was almost too much for Dotel to think about after finally breaking through to the promised land.
"After the season, that's when I'll freak out," Dotel promised. "Right now, St. Louis needs me."
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With Dotel in the dugout, the left-handed Rhodes came in to do the only thing that was expected of him: Retire Hamilton, who had been his teammate on the Rangers as recently as three months ago, before Rhodes was released in August.
But before he began the showdown, Rhodes dug the initials "J.R." into the mound, his usual tribute to his late son Jordan, who passed away at age five in 2008 from an undisclosed illness. Though Rhodes will turn 42 on Oct. 24, Jordan and the promise of the World Series were the reasons he has been coming back every spring all these years. He had pitched in 900 regular season games before reaching the World Series, the second highest-total to John Franco's 940 appearances.
[Slideshow: Top moments from World Series Game 1]
"That first pitch of the game, that was all for (Jordan)," Rhodes said. "This World Series is all for him. When I was on the mound, he was there with me.
"I could have retired four or five years ago, but I didn't. I kept coming back for him."
Sitting Hamilton down and ending the inning was no easy task — even if the Rangers slugger is banged up — but Rhodes did the job exactly as he envisioned. He ran the count to 3-2 with five straight fastballs before unleashing a breaking ball that induced Hamilton to pop out to center fielder Jon Jay.
"I didn't have an easy hitter. I had the hard hitter," Rhodes said, not even joking in the slightest. "But you have to go out there and stay calm and cool and make good pitches."
[Y! Sports Shop: Buy Rangers and Cardinals playoffs gear]
That's exactly what Rhodes did. And with his first taste of the World Series now out of the way, he says he's looking forward to his second game, one that will most likely come without nerves.
Indeed, the normally stoic Rhodes seemed a little looser after the game. Asked if he ever cites seniority and demands to hold Dotel's "lucky" squirrel in the bullpen — you can see it in the picture above — Rhodes just shook his head no.
But "after we win this," Rhodes said, "I might steal it from him."
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