The day is September 5th, 2003. The New York Yankees have called you up to the big leagues for the first time. Being the pitcher that you are, you get loose in the bullpen just in case you get your chance to get into the game. The phone rings...and it's for you. You're going into the game in the eighth inning, and the scoreboard shows that you're down by six runs. It also shows that your opponent for the evening is the hated Boston Red Sox. You throw your warmup pitches and look over in the on-deck circle. Who do you see?

Only Manny Ramirez, one of the most feared hitters in all of baseball. And what do you do?

You hit him, with one of your first big league pitches. This is not how you pictured it going when you dreamt about this as a kid growing up in the Dominican Republic.

But you recover, boy do you recover. You get possibly the most feared hitter in the game, David Ortiz, to line into a double play. You end up pitching the final two innings of the game, not even allowing a hit.

And this, Trenton Thunder fans, is the beginning of the story of pitcher Jorge DePaula.

"It was crazy, playing Boston," DePaula said. "I threw two good innings, I wasn't nervous."

The 27 year-old right-hander parlayed his successful September call-up in 2003 into beginning the 2004 season as the Yankees fifth starter. But just three appearances into that season, with the last one ironically coming against those same Red Sox, DePaula was forced to undergo Tommy John Surgery on his pitching elbow. After getting revenge on Ramirez by way of getting him to ground into a double play in that game, DePaula and his elbow literally fell apart. He walked the bases loaded, with some fearing that after he walked off the Fenway Park mound following his last walk to Doug Mirabelli, that this game could be his last.

"It was tough, going from the number five starter for the New York Yankees to surgery," DePaula said, his facial expression making it clear that he isn't quite over watching his career flash before his eyes.

After a miraculous recovery saw him return to the mound last season with Triple-A Columbus, the Yankees organization felt that DePaula was again in line for another September call-up and gave him another chance. But DePaula disappointed, posting an 8.10 ERA in three appearances with the 2005 club.

"After surgery, one day you're good, and the next day it's I don't know what happened," DePaula said. "But everybody has told me that once I get strong, I'll be a big league pitcher. Right now, I'm throwing 88, 89, 90 (miles per hour), and that's why I stayed here in Trenton."

So, for the first time since his 2002 season with Norwich, DePaula finds himself in Double-A. And the roller coaster ride doesn't end there - DePaula was briefly sent to Triple-A at the start of this season after being taken off the 40-man roster in favor of a fourth catcher, Koyie Hill, who the team designated for assignment just a week later. But for now, he'll be pitching for a manager, Bill Masse, who honestly didn't seem to know that much about one of his newest starters.

"The funny thing is," Masse said before the season, "is that I've only seen him once. He was pitching with Triple-A the whole time, and he came down and threw one game for us. I don't really know what to expect, but I do know that he changes speeds a lot and that his best pitch is his changeup. I'm just looking forward to watching him pitch."

But the righty didn’t give his manager much to look forward to in his first two outings with the club, putting a checkmark in the loss column both times while posting an ERA of 4.25

With this phase of his career likely being a turning point, it's the next few chapters of the Jorge DePaula story that you can bet George Steinbrenner and the rest of the Yankees brass will be reading very, very closely.

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