Rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg's scheduled start here against the Tribe on Sunday has triggered a mini-boom at the Indians ticket office.
View full sizeWashington Nationals rookie phenom will make the second start of his big league career - and his first away from home -- at 1:05 p.m. Sunday againt the Tribe in Progressive Field.Cleveland, Ohio -- The Indians play every day from now till Sunday, but make no mistake, the one game everyone is talking about is Sunday.
Washington Nationals rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg is scheduled to make his second big league start and his first away from home in the 1:05 p.m. Sunday against the Tribe.
Some fun facts, courtesy of the Indians' Bart Swain, director of media relations for the Tribe:
•4,000 tickets sold for Sunday's game in the last week.
•1,400 sold since yesterday morning.
•1,000 since midnight.
• As of 3 p.m. today, 20,000 tickets remain unsold. But given the rate at which tickets are going, this could be the most-attended game of the season since the sold-out home opener.
How good is this kid? Strasburg is the only pitcher to strike out 14 and walk none in his first start in the Major Leagues. And he's smart: The home run hit by Delwyn Young for the only two Pirates runs in the Nats' 5-2 win came on a 91 mph changeup. Next at-bat, Strasburg rang up Young on fastballs if 98, 98 and 99 mph.
Swain said that according to ELIAS, in the division-era (since 1969) only three otherrookies did not walk a batter in a game in which he struck out at least14: Roger Clemens in 1984 (15 SO, 0 BB), Dwight Gooden twice in 1984 (16SO both times) and Kerry Wood WOOD in 1998 (20 SO). Wood's 20strikeouts, no-walk game came in his fifth career start.
Is it a bad thing to note that as of today, Wood has a total of eight strikeouts 57 games into the season? Possibly, but in the interest of fairness, he's a closer now, not a starter, so the strikeout opps aren't as plentiful.
Feat of ClayClay Buchholz, who starts against the Indians at Progressive Field tonight, had a lot of strikeouts in the minors. Now, the Red Sox pitcher just has a lot of wins, eight to be exact. And the drop in the former is the reason for the latter, Buchholz says in a Boston Globe story by beat writer Amalie Benjamin.
"I think in the minor leagues, hitters, they go out of the strike zone a lot more," Buchholz said. "I had a lot of strikeouts, but probably over half the strikeouts I've had were pitches out of the zone.
"Guys up here don't swing, even with two strikes. They tend to make you throw a pitch in the dirt. You throw pitches in the zone, they're going to get hit. I don't think I've done anything different.
"I've always been told to take a three-pitch at-bat or a two-pitch at-bat, a one-pitch at-bat over a five- or six-pitch strikeout.
"Strikeouts are awesome. They're fun to have under your name and everything. At the same time, you go deeper into games with less pitches you throw. It seems to work out a little bit more in your favor because you get in a rhythm more, you're not throwing 25 pitches every inning. No disrespect to the strikeout."
In case you were curious, the Nats' Strasburg pitched seven innings and threw 98 pitchers. That's 14 per inning.
No disrespect to the math.
Silver linings
The Red Sox are arguably the hottest team in baseball. Of course, that could be because their last two opponents have been the hapless Indians and the even more hapless (geez, what's beyond hapless? Hopeless?) Orioles. After a horrible start, they've risen to within four games of AL East-leading Tampa Bay.
But just as a Browns season isn't a total waste if it includes a win over Pittsburgh, so is a BoSox season a good one if the Sox can finish ahead of the Yankees.
Which might be why a story on sbnation.com put things in perspective:
Importantly, it doesn't look like the AL West or Central will produce a viable wild card candidate. Even if the Red Sox don't come all the way back and catch the Rays, thanks to their hot stretch the Sox are now less than two games back of the Yankees with 102 games to play.
It's all about perspective.
From The Plain Dealer
Beat writer Paul Hoynes watched Trevor Crowe make a couple of plays . . . and one big boot that cost David Huff a win against Boston Tuesday night. In interviews later, Crowe was upset with himself, and Huff refused to blame his teammate. Yeah, the 3-2 score winds up in the L column, but the class shown by both players in supporting each other taking personal responsibility is encouraging.
Hoynesie also talked to the Tribe's first-round pick in this year's draft, LHP Drew Pomeranz out of Ole Miss, and opines on outfielder LeVon Washington, the second-round pick, in his Indians Insider column.
The online version of the column also includes a videotaped interview with manager Manny Acta, who discusses the surprise release of infielder Mark Grudzielanek.
| Manny Acta comments on roster move and the 2010 amateur draft. |