Wind, Boone catch up to Zumaya
03/14/2006
LAKELAND, Fla. -- After watching a 14-10 game with nine home runs sailing into a strong breeze blowing out Tuesday, Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he wouldn't judge any pitcher alive on a day like this. Joel Zumaya wasn't so easy on himself.
The 21-year-old right-hander with the hard fastball wasn't beating himself up over his outing Tuesday, but he clearly had regret over one Major League lesson.
"A 3-0 fastball right over the plate," Zumaya said.
It was one of the few times Zumaya fell behind on a hitter, but it was the one mistake in his three innings of work with three runs allowed.
Having just struck out the red-hot Casey Blake for the second out of the seventh inning with the potential tying run on third base in a 10-9 game, Zumaya fell behind Aaron Boone and tried to get an easy strike. He challenged Boone with a fastball high and over the middle, and Boone belted it onto the left-field berm for a two-run homer.
"I know better than that, too," he said. "It's 3-0 and you know he's free-swinging. He's got the tying run on third base. He's going to free-swing. He's on fire right now."
It turned an otherwise solid pitching line into something more in line with the rest of the pitchers Tuesday, not that Leyland was judging. Zumaya gave up three hits with a walk and two strikeouts, but two home runs. The other one was Ryan Mulhern's second home run of the game. He took a 2-2 curveball out to left after Zumaya had put him in an 0-2 hole.
"There were a lot of home runs hit today," Zumaya said. "A lot of good pieces of hitting today, too. But you can't leave a ball 3-0 up in the zone like that. I don't care how old of a veteran you are or how young of a rookie you are, you're not going to miss a ball like that."
Zumaya was the last of the confirmed candidates for the fifth spot in Detroit's rotation to pitch this week. Justin Verlander allowed only a home run in three innings Monday against the Phillies despite four walks before Jason Grilli threw four scoreless innings, while Wilfredo Ledezma struggled at home versus a Pirates split squad. Roman Colon tossed three scoreless innings Sunday against the Blue Jays.
The results don't reflect the entire story of Zumaya's outing, which featured a lot of hitters in 0-2 holes. He spent his first nine pitches battling Jason Michaels before giving up a walk leading off the fifth inning. He retired the side in order from there, then put all four hitters he faced in the sixth inning into 0-2 counts. All of them worked the count back to 2-2 or 3-2, with Mulhern's homer the only hit.
Zumaya realized his potential miscues there, too.
"I got a little excited," he said. "It's me. I'm young. I like to throw the ball hard. That's something I need to work on. I don't need to throw the ball that hard when I have 0-2. I just need to spot up and hopefully let the ball do the work."
The aggressiveness is something Leyland could judge Tuesday, regardless of the hits into the wind.
"I thought he was fine," Leyland said. "He threw some good curves. The changeup was a little wobbly. But overall, I was pleased with him. I like the look in his eye. You can tell that he was mad at himself.
"But this is all a growing process. It's what happens sometimes. These kids don't understand, and I don't blame them, when I say I'm not judging on Spring Training. They're going out there, the poor devils, thinking, 'Hey, if I give up a couple runs, I'm going to lose out.' That has nothing to do with it. You try to convince them of that, but their competitive spirit, they worry about it. I feel sorry for them. It's a tough time for these guys. But it's part of the process."
Zumaya seems to understand the process well for his age. He didn't sound like someone who feared he was out of the running for a job.
On the contrary, he was looking forward to another matchup against the Indians, whom he's already faced twice. He hopes the third time is in the regular season.
"I'm going to continue wanting a shot at these guys," he said. "If I make the team, we're going to play them a lot, so it gives me a great opportunity to face these games. It just gives me a chance to know who's a good hitter and how to pitch these guys. It's a learning process for me."
Source: http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/
LAKELAND, Fla. -- After watching a 14-10 game with nine home runs sailing into a strong breeze blowing out Tuesday, Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he wouldn't judge any pitcher alive on a day like this. Joel Zumaya wasn't so easy on himself.
The 21-year-old right-hander with the hard fastball wasn't beating himself up over his outing Tuesday, but he clearly had regret over one Major League lesson.
"A 3-0 fastball right over the plate," Zumaya said.
It was one of the few times Zumaya fell behind on a hitter, but it was the one mistake in his three innings of work with three runs allowed.
Having just struck out the red-hot Casey Blake for the second out of the seventh inning with the potential tying run on third base in a 10-9 game, Zumaya fell behind Aaron Boone and tried to get an easy strike. He challenged Boone with a fastball high and over the middle, and Boone belted it onto the left-field berm for a two-run homer.
"I know better than that, too," he said. "It's 3-0 and you know he's free-swinging. He's got the tying run on third base. He's going to free-swing. He's on fire right now."
It turned an otherwise solid pitching line into something more in line with the rest of the pitchers Tuesday, not that Leyland was judging. Zumaya gave up three hits with a walk and two strikeouts, but two home runs. The other one was Ryan Mulhern's second home run of the game. He took a 2-2 curveball out to left after Zumaya had put him in an 0-2 hole.
"There were a lot of home runs hit today," Zumaya said. "A lot of good pieces of hitting today, too. But you can't leave a ball 3-0 up in the zone like that. I don't care how old of a veteran you are or how young of a rookie you are, you're not going to miss a ball like that."
Zumaya was the last of the confirmed candidates for the fifth spot in Detroit's rotation to pitch this week. Justin Verlander allowed only a home run in three innings Monday against the Phillies despite four walks before Jason Grilli threw four scoreless innings, while Wilfredo Ledezma struggled at home versus a Pirates split squad. Roman Colon tossed three scoreless innings Sunday against the Blue Jays.
The results don't reflect the entire story of Zumaya's outing, which featured a lot of hitters in 0-2 holes. He spent his first nine pitches battling Jason Michaels before giving up a walk leading off the fifth inning. He retired the side in order from there, then put all four hitters he faced in the sixth inning into 0-2 counts. All of them worked the count back to 2-2 or 3-2, with Mulhern's homer the only hit.
Zumaya realized his potential miscues there, too.
"I got a little excited," he said. "It's me. I'm young. I like to throw the ball hard. That's something I need to work on. I don't need to throw the ball that hard when I have 0-2. I just need to spot up and hopefully let the ball do the work."
The aggressiveness is something Leyland could judge Tuesday, regardless of the hits into the wind.
"I thought he was fine," Leyland said. "He threw some good curves. The changeup was a little wobbly. But overall, I was pleased with him. I like the look in his eye. You can tell that he was mad at himself.
"But this is all a growing process. It's what happens sometimes. These kids don't understand, and I don't blame them, when I say I'm not judging on Spring Training. They're going out there, the poor devils, thinking, 'Hey, if I give up a couple runs, I'm going to lose out.' That has nothing to do with it. You try to convince them of that, but their competitive spirit, they worry about it. I feel sorry for them. It's a tough time for these guys. But it's part of the process."
Zumaya seems to understand the process well for his age. He didn't sound like someone who feared he was out of the running for a job.
On the contrary, he was looking forward to another matchup against the Indians, whom he's already faced twice. He hopes the third time is in the regular season.
"I'm going to continue wanting a shot at these guys," he said. "If I make the team, we're going to play them a lot, so it gives me a great opportunity to face these games. It just gives me a chance to know who's a good hitter and how to pitch these guys. It's a learning process for me."
Source: http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/
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