NEW YORK -- Yeah, he was nervous, he admitted with a shy smile. Ricky Romero was pitching against the Yankees, in front of more than 46,000 people on a perfect summer day in the Bronx. The Blue Jays' 24-year-old rookie left-hander was fired up and throwing way too hard, which is why he darn near Yahtzeed* the scorecard in the first inning."I was excited, I'm not going to lie," Romero said when the Jays' 7-6 victory was over and he'd improved to 5-1 with a 2.22 ERA in his last seven starts. "Packed house, pitching against the Yankees -- I was overthrowing. And that is something that has just not been me. Not this year, at least."
Not for the past month, for sure. In that time, Romero has been one of the best pitchers in baseball.
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"He just keeps getting better all the time," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. "He's growing up every time he goes out there."
He's saving the Blue Jays' feathered tails, too. The Blue Jays have won just three of their last 10 games, and Romero's been the starter in all three of them. He had a streak of 24 straight scoreless innings snapped by an Eric Hinske home run in the fifth inning Wednesday, but he pitched into the seventh and the Toronto bullpen (barely) held on to get him his seventh win of the season. Of those seven, six have come after a Toronto loss.
"That's the kind of stuff Doc (Toronto's all-world ace, Roy Halladay) has done for this organization for a long time," Gaston said. "This kid is starting to do that kind of thing for us too."
But he looked every bit the kid in that first inning, which featured a leadoff walk, a balk, a wild pitch and a hit batsman. Had Derek Jeter not been thrown out trying to steal third base (on a call Jeter disputed strongly and for which Yankees manager Joe Girardi got ejected from the game), Romero's day might have turned ugly in a hurry.
(* - For the unitiated: A scorecard Yahtzee occurs when every box on the scorecard -- innings, hits, runs, earned runs, walks, strikeouts, home runs, wild pitches, balks and hit batsmen -- is filled in. Happens about two or three times a year, but what's really unusual is for a pitcher to Yahtzee and also get a win. Before Monday, that hadn't happened since April 19, 2005, when the aforementioned Halladay did it at Fenway Park. Thanks to Ed Price and the magical baseball-reference.com play index, we learn that Romero is just the sixth pitcher to Yahtzee and win in the same game since 1990.)
Of course, it didn't turn ugly. And for Gaston that's the best part of the Romero story.
This is a pitcher with as much talent as any. He was the sixth overall pick in an astoundingly deep 2005 draft, selected right after Ryan Braun and right before Troy Tulowitzki. But as recently as mid-March, Romero still hadn't looked like a guy about to live up to his potential. The Blue Jays were set to send him to the minors to start the season before pitching coach Brad Arnsberg interceded and asked for a week to work with Romero intensely. Arnsberg's message that week was "trust your stuff," and it took hold.
On March 29, in a spring training game against the Astros in Kissimmee, Romero found himself in a bases-loaded jam with nobody out in the sixth inning, but struck out Miguel Tejada and Geoff Blum and got Ivan Rodriguez to ground out to end the inning without a run scoring. Before Monday's game, Gaston brought up that sequence as a watershed moment in Romero's development.
"When you have success, you get some confidence," Gaston said. "And that's what Brad and I are trying to tell him now. He's on a great streak, but it ain't going to be like this every time you go out there. But when it's not like this, what you have to do is think about the success you've had and remind yourself."
Romero says that's what he's doing, and he's having a blast with it. Told that Girardi compared him to Johan Santana because of his mid-90s fastball velocity and excellent changeup, Romero grinned and said he's heard it before and loves hearing it. Asked whether he's felt extra pressure to help carry the pitching staff amid injuries to Halladay and others, he said yes, but that it was a good thing.
"I've actually enjoyed every minute of it," Romero said. "I've enjoyed the pressure being on me, the spotlight being on me. None of that has bothered me one bit. I'm just having fun and continue to work and continuing to learn. I have a lot to learn."
He's got the kind of arm that will make that learning look real good.
"Great stuff," said the Yankees' Andy Pettitte, the losing pitcher in Monday's game, who watched Romero on the clubhouse TV in between innings. "Anybody throwing 95 from the left side...just a devastating changeup. If he stays healthy, he's got a chance to be good for a long time, that's for sure."
Right now, he's about the best thing the Blue Jays have going as they try, desperately, to stay in a vicious AL East race. But he swears he's not about trying to be thought of as one of the best pitchers in the league.
"It's pretty cool when people start recognizing you, but that's not me," Romero said. "I like flying under the radar."
Sorry, man. Can't pitch like this and fly there.
