A glimpse of what he can become
Jays get ace-worthy performance on Opening Day as hurler flirts with complete game
This is what Marcus Stroman wants to be. And this is what the Blue Jays need him to be. A top of the rotation guy. A difference maker. An ace pulling in only $29.4 million and change less than the previous Blue Jays ace, David Price, is getting paid in Boston.
The Jays need him to be the kind of pitcher everybody looks up to, which isn’t an easy thing when you’re only 5-foot-8 — and even that may be a little bit of a stretch.
Stroman lives for pomp and circumstance and noise and all the pageantry that goes along with Opening Day. He lives for the moment, singular the way pitchers have to be singular, but motivated by his own need to be great and by all the stars he is surrounded by.
“He’s good,” said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said after his team’s 5-3 win. “He’s only going to get better. There’s always something special about the first game, everybody is a little more energized ... He rose to the occasion. That doesn’t surprise me. Doesn’t surprise anybody.”
This was the first Opening Day start in the big leagues for Stroman. It will not be the last. He wants to do this year after year. He wants his name on every list of great pitchers in baseball. He yearns to be what he believed is possible and so many others have doubted.
“He thrives on moments,” Gibbons said. “He’s focused. A lot of guys who are high energy can’t focus like he does. He has a great feeling for pitching and that’s what makes him good. He usually gives you a chance to win.”
Facing his close friend, Chris Archer — he calls him his brother — one of the best starting pitchers in baseball, only made the day and the story that much better. Archer was overwhelming, striking out 12 Blue Jays in the five innings he lasted.
Stroman, minus success with his renowned breaking ball, was remarkable at Tropicana Field. For eight innings, he was basically unhittable. In the ninth, he faced two hitters, giving up a leadoff home run to Corey Dickerson and a single to Desmond Jennings, who later scored. And that was it for his outing. And this is where the morning box score can’t possibly give a complete picture of his afternoon and early evening.
It doesn’t show how well he responded after Ryan Goins made a two-out error on a rather simple play in the third inning with the Jays leading 2-1. It was still 2-1 in the fourth inning when Jose Bautista misplayed a line drive he should have caught, again with two outs, and with speedy Kevin Kiermaier in scoring position.
These were the kind of moments that used to bring a Dave Stieb death stare, or prompt a reaction from pitchers less mature. There was no stare from Stroman. No outward reaction at all.
Not only did he pitch his way through both those situations unscathed, the momentum carried him for five consecutive hitless innings and a meaningless bit of drama with Tampa’s Logan Morrison. Morrison thought Stroman was yelling at him; Stroman was yelling at himself, which he is known to do on occasion.
It made for a good television clip, but that was it.
What mattered most was Stroman maintained his composure. He kept it after the Goins error. He kept it after the Bautista error. Some pitchers, said Gibbons without mentioning names, would fall apart in those circumstances.
“He’s got the mentality,” said Gibbons, explaining the choice as Opening Day pitcher and likely home opener starter in Toronto.
Stroman kept the ball in the park until the ninth inning, and gave up enough ground balls for 15 outs.
“Stro loves the attention, he loves being at the centre of everything. He loves competing. All those things really fit those No. 1 guys. Look at them, not many that size who do that, but there’s something different about this kid. He’s not doing it with smoke and mirrors,” Gibbons said. “He’s got a real good arm.” And a remarkable sense of himself for a young athlete. He’s clear about who and what he is and wants to be. He has set the bar high and not unrealistically, on what he may become in the future.
You don’t become an ace in one start or one season. It takes years: This is still the beginning of those years.
What does he want to represent each start?
“That a bulldog lion is going out on the mound and giving everything he had. And someone who doesn’t want to give the ball up. And someone, who they (his teammates) know goes deep into games.
“That’s my goal, each and every time. To go nine innings. I want to finish games. That’s the mentality. That’s the motto.”
Marcus Stroman has only one complete game in his career. On Opening Day Sunday, he was very close to his second.
That will come soon enough.