The door opened in left-center field, and Joel Zumaya sprinted toward the most storied pile of dirt in American sports.
His first career appearance at Yankee Stadium–and postseason debut–came with the Tigers nursing a one-run lead in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday afternoon, in Game 2 of the American League Division Series. Zumaya had his usual toolkit in tow: a triple-digit fastball (up to 103 m.p.h. on this day, according to the ESPN radar gun), a keep-you-honest curveball, and, of course, a bloody right eye.
Well, that last thing was new.
“I have no idea, man,” Zumaya said after the Tigers’ pulsating 4-3 win, when asked to explain his ailment, perhaps the result of a blood vessel that had burst. “This is the second time it’s happened. Allergies. Hopefully I can control my allergies.”
Whatever the cause, it only added to his aura, which draws on fist-pumping, fastball-whipping intimidation. His teammates noticed, too. They were, as usual, eager spectators during the show–a scoreless, hitless, 1 2/3 innings.
“Crazy looking,” observed Zach Miner, a fellow rookie right-hander. “Like he needs another thing to make him scary.”
His fastball is usually enough. The first hitter Zumaya faced was Derek Jeter, the most accomplished October baseball player of his generation.
Zumaya threw six pitches. Their velocities, according to the stadium radar gun, were 100, 99, 100, 101, 97, and 98 m.p.h. Jeter barely moved his bat on the final pitch, but the blistering ball clipped his bat and found the glove of Ivan Rodriguez for a foul-tip strikeout.
Not bad, as inaugural postseason outs go.
“Zumaya is not afraid of anybody,” Rodriguez said. “He just throws the fastball. That’s what he did. Jeter’s a great hitter. But Zumaya has a great fastball.”
And he kept throwing it, even if he let it take a brief vacation during a five-pitch encounter with Bobby Abreu. He threw two off-speed pitches during the at-bat, including a sneaky, 86-m.p.h. offer that forced Abreu to roll a routine, inning-ending grounder to second.
Then came his masterful eighth, during which Zumaya sat down the Yankees’ mighty 4-5-6 hitters in order. The leadoff man, Gary Sheffield, lined out to Curtis Granderson, on the only hard-hit ball Zumaya yielded in fair territory.
Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez followed. Both struck out, swinging, on 101-m.p.h. cheese.
“Especially when A-Rod got up, I was going to go straight after him,” Zumaya said. “No breaking balls. No changeups. Straight fastballs.”
The second pitch to Rodriguez registered 102 m.p.h. on the stadium gun, but was 103, according to ESPN. Zumaya, who usually checks those readings, said he looked only once Thursday, on a 101-m.p.h. pitch.
He didn’t see 103. But he felt it.
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“I believe I hit 103,” he said.
Be honest, though. Once he’s north of 100, does it even make a difference?
“It doesn’t matter how fast,” Rodriguez said. “It’s where he locates. He throws 98, 100, 102 on the outside of the plate. And down. When you have a pitcher who throws 102, on the corner, that’s tough to hit.”
Some in the Tigers’ front office–including president and general manager Dave Dombrowski, assistant GM Al Avila, and club legal counsel John Westhoff–watched the display from box seats beside the visiting dugout. From that vantage, Avila saw what he believed to be a unique performance, even by the standards of Zumaya’s remarkable rookie season.
“Probably as good as I’ve ever seen him pitch,” Avila said. “His mechanics were almost flawless. He was fluid, which helped him locate. With his power stuff, and the location he had, it was practically unhittable. He didn’t overthrow. He stayed within himself. He just let his talent take over.
“He rose to the occasion in a big game,” he added, “like the great ones do.”