SARASOTA, Fla. - Jose Rijo slid on a gray Louisville Slugger T-shirt, then twisted his right arm and inspected the scarred elbow that has brought him joy, fame and pain.

Black surgical threads poked from healed-over incisions, stubble that signified his latest trouble.

For the sixth time since 1995, the Cincinnati Reds' indefatigable pitcher is making a comeback from surgery, regardless of whether anyone thinks he can.

''Hey, Jose!'' first base coach Jose Cardenal called out playfully as he passed by. ''You're quitting? Why?''

Rijo laughed.

''Because I'm too old like you,'' said Rijo, 37. ''I'm going to be a first base coach.''

No, he's not. Six elbow operations - two of them to rebuild a torn ligament - and five years away from the game couldn't get Rijo to give up the only thing he loves doing.

What's one more comeback?

''I feel awesome,'' he said Monday, before getting the stitches taken out and playing catch for the first time since his March 11 operation to remove a bone chip. ''I can brush my teeth in the morning and open a door without having any pain.''

Pain has been his companion since 1995, when he had the first operation to reconstruct the elbow. He came back too fast, tore it up again and needed a second ''Tommy John'' operation.

He's had six operations in all, slowing his comeback but never quite extinguishing it. Rijo, the Reds' 1990 World Series MVP, simply refuses to give up.

''It's the game,'' he said, saying the words slowly for emphasis. ''I don't know what else to do. I've been pitching my whole life. Why start something else? Having a