CLEVELAND – For one of the few times this season, Progressive Field will be the place to be Sunday.
The Washington Nationals have confirmed that phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg, whose spectacular major league debut Tuesday held the attention of the sports world, will start against the Indians in the finale of a three-game series. He will bring with him the hype that has surrounded the 21-year-old right-hander since the start of spring training.
According to Cleveland’s media relations department, the team has sold over 4,300 tickets in the last week – 3,000 alone on Wednesday – in anticipation of Strasburg’s arrival.
“How can you get away from it?” said Indians manager Manny Acta of the Strasburg hype. “Obviously the kid is special. He is gifted and we will see him on Sunday. We will have our hands full and we have to deal with it.”
Strasburg’s debut against the Pirates – 7 innings, two runs, 14 strikeouts and no walks — was a historic one. He became the first pitcher in major league history to strike out 14 without a walk in his debut.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Strasburg is one of just four rookies since 1969 – Roger Clemens (15 strikeouts in 1984), Dwight Gooden (16 strikeouts twice in 1984) and Kerry Wood (20 strikeouts in 1998) – to strike out at least 14 batters in a game without a walk. Wood’s stellar outing came in his fifth career start.
“My first start was no where near what he did,” Wood said. “My fifth start, yeah, that was like what he did. I watched the highlights of what he did and it brought back memories. The thing is there’s a lot of attention, and I say, ‘Let him go pitch.’
“He’s got a little more than normal stuff and throws free and easy. I was hoping he’d do well, because it is so good for the game, for that team, for that city.”
Some Indians players are looking forward to taking their hacks at Strasburg.
“Whether you have any success or not, you always look forward to facing guys like that. It will be a fun challenge,” said outfielder Austin Kearns, who saw highlights of Strausburg’s debut. “It was impressive. He’s as advertised it seems like.”
“Baseball is the same game,” said outfielder Shin-Soo Choo. “I’m not thinking it’s anything special. I’ve seen a lot of good pitchers, (Justin) Verlander, (Roy) Halladay.”
But Choo had to admit that he might get to see another one Sunday.
“He’s impressive,” Choo said of Strasburg. “Fourteen strikeouts in seven innings, two strikeouts in every inning, that’s a pretty good major league debut, really good.”
Cleveland shortstop Jason Donald is familiar with Strasburg, playing with him on the U.S. National Team last summer.
“We knew he was going to be special back then,” Donald said. “You could just see it in practice.”
Not everyone is impressed by Strasburg’s feats thus far.
“Wake me up when he wins 100 games,” said Indians Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller. “The media makes too much of this. It is about making money and then making suckers out of the fans.”
Mr. Martin
The Nationals’ visit to Cleveland will also bring back a familiar face in right-hander JD Martin, who will start the second game of the series for Washington on Saturday.
Martin was one of Cleveland’s four first-round draft choices in 2001, when the Indians took five right-handed pitchers out of high school with their first seven picks. Martin is the only one that’s made it to the majors.
He was released by the Indians at the end of the 2008 season and made his big league debut with the Nats last year, going 5-4 with a 4.44 ERA in 15 starts. Martin is 0-1 with a 2.31 ERA in two starts this year.
Livin’ the dream
The Indians’ eighth-round selection from the recent First-Year Player Draft, catcher Alex Lavisky (Lakewood St. Edward), was in attendance Wednesday, meeting with the media prior to the game.
Lavisky, who helped the Eagles to a Division I state title, grew up on the west side of Cleveland.
“It was exciting,” said Lavisky of being picked by the Indians. “I grew up watching the Tribe. It is a great opportunity and we are so thankful, and getting to play for the hometown team eventually, would be a dream come true.”
Lavisky has a decision to make after already giving his oral commitment to Georgia Tech.
“We are going to see what happens over the summer,” Lavisky said. “We will negotiate and see what happens at the end.”
Minor details
Right-hander Alex White, Cleveland’s first-round draft choice (15th overall) last year, didn’t allow an earned run Tuesday and just one hit over six innings of Double-A Akron’s 4-3 win over New Hampshire. On the year, White, 21, has posted a 2.33 ERA in 12 starts with advanced Class A Kinston and Akron – 2-1 with a 1.40 ERA in four starts for the Aeros. … Single-A Lake County will send five players to the Midwest League All-Star Game on June 22 in Fort Wayne, Ind. – RHP Trey Haley (4-1, 3.73 ERA), RHP Nick Sariandies (5-1, 3.77), C Roberto Perez (thrown out 55 percent of base stealers), C Chun-Hsiu (.338, 4 HR, 30 RBIs) and OF Bo Greenwell (.314, 4 HR, 35 RBIs).
Roundin’ third
The Indians had lost seven straight games to the Red Sox through Tuesday. … Travis Hafner entered Wednesday with three hits in his last 34 at-bats (10 games). … Tonight, 7:05, Channel 3/WTAM 1100-AM/WEOL 930-AM. Mitch Talbot (7-4, 3.54) vs. Jon Lester (7-2, 2.73).
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.
