PITTSBURGH -- Kris Benson has waited 18 months and two spring trainings, through a 100-loss season and a seemingly endless recovery from reconstructive elbow surgery, to pitch again for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

	Benson

The wait finally ends Monday when Benson, who hasn't pitched for the Pirates since September 2000, replaces Ron Villone in Pittsburgh's rotation to start against Arizona at PNC Park.

Benson was cleared to return Friday after sailing through five successful minor league rehabilitation starts, striking out 32 and allowing only four earned runs in 24 2-3 innings. His only setback was a 17-day layoff last month for tendinitis that wasn't related to his elbow surgery last May.

"My arm feels good and seems to be getting better and better with every start once we got the tendinitis out," Benson said Friday. "I'm definitely ready to go. But I'm going to be a little nervous early -- it's almost like a brand new (minor league) callup for me."

The Pirates have awaited the right-hander's return almost as much as Benson himself has. After starting the season 12-5, they lost 11 of 15 going into a weekend series against Houston amid spotty starting pitching and the NL's weakest offense.

Villone, the Pirates' Opening Day starter April 1 in New York, goes to the bullpen after averaging just over five innings in seven starts, with a 2-4 record and a 6.81 ERA.

"I talked to Ron and he wants to be in the rotation, but he's a team player," manager Lloyd McClendon said.

Benson was 11-14 in 1999 and 10-12 with a 3.85 ERA in 2000, his first two major league seasons, and went into spring training a year ago as the Pirates' projected No. 1 starter.

But Benson complained of arm pain after warming up before a spring training start, and tests subsequently revealed the elbow injury. He later had the oft-performed Tommy John surgery, in which a ligament is transplanted into the elbow to replace the damaged one.

The normal recovery time for such surgery is a year to 15 months and, while the 27-year-old Benson is exactly on schedule, the Pirates tried not to rush him. They limited him to a handful of starts in their minor league camp during spring training -- he didn't face major league hitters -- and carefully kept him on a pitch count throughout four rehabilitation starts at Triple-A Nashville and another Tuesday for Double-A Altoona.

Once Benson is back in the rotation, McClendon will try to find extra days off for him even as the Pirates go through a stretch that finds them playing 27 games in 27 days through June 5.

"Kris Benson has a chance to be a special pitcher," McClendon said of the No. 1 overall pick in the June 1996 draft. "Safe to say, we're going to be very cautious with him."

Or, just as they have been with third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who was expected to return to the lineup Friday night, but was again on the bench. He hasn't started since badly spraining his right ankle during a scuffle April 17 in Milwaukee, where he charged the mound after being hit with a pitch from Ben Sheets.

Since then, Ramirez's only game action has been to go 1-for-3 as a pinch-hitter.

"He's still a little gimpy, but he can't move laterally well enough to play third base," McClendon said. "It's taking longer than we anticipated. It's a little puzzling and a little bit of a concern, but there's no sense in rushing him and losing him for even longer."

The Pirates are last in the NL in nearly offensive category and, as a result, are eager to get Ramirez's bat back into the lineup after his 34-homer, 112-RBI season of a year ago.

For now, Ramirez -- who has been limited to 49 at-bats and has yet to homer -- is listed as day-to-day.