Joel Zumaya drips speed. From his nickname – Zoom-Zoom – to his heater – 103 mph at last check – to his forearm flame tattoo, everything accelerates.
“I like to see how hard I can throw,” Zumaya said. “I want to intimidate batters.”
Detroit opens its first American League Championship Series tonight against Oakland as the “Fast and the Curious” – the Tigers’ 21-year-old setup man barreling full throttle into the public’s living rooms.
He is the bloodshot-eyed, fire-breathing symbol of a Tigers’ pitching staff that singed the Yankees and makes them a favorite to advance to their first World Series since 1984. Detroit held the Yankees to a .196 average and six runs in its three victories.
The Tigers entered the division series as mutts. Now, it’s going to be hard to sell the underdog theme.
“We will still have our doubters. There are a lot of people who think we can’t do it,” Zumaya said. “That’s fine. We’ll see.”
As Zumaya puffed on his victory cigar Saturday and bathed in champagne, Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski thanked him, then pulled him aside.
“Eight more to go,” Dombrowski whispered. “Eight more.”
The idea a baseball parade would run through Hockeytown no longer seems preposterous. Nothing seems beyond Detroit’s reach, not when the Tigers have a pitcher who strains the imagination every time he winds up his 6-foot-3, 210-pound body. Zumaya served as a catalytic figure for a Tigers’ bullpen that posted a 2.25 ERA against the Yankees.
Yet the statistics failed to convey the extent of Zumaya’s mauling. He faced six batters and threw 17 pitches faster than 100 mph. He struck out three. Gary Sheffield compared Zumaya to Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan, shaking his head in admiration. And he didn’t even bring up the kid’s 83-mph changeup.
“Well, he doesn’t fear anybody,” echoed Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez. “A lot of guys can hit fastballs. But he has a great fastball.”
Zumaya has raced quickly from anonymous to fanatical popularity. No setup man enters with more thunder. When the bullpen gate swung open at Comerica Park on Friday night, the right-hander trotted in to the pulsing sounds of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child.”
Remember Charlie Sheen in the movie “Major League?” Zumaya is Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn reincarnate – with better command.
“I actually like it better when he pitches on the road because he doesn’t get so caught up in looking at the radar gun (flashing speed on the scoreboard),” closer Todd Jones said. “He likes to see the readings, and they make such a big deal out of it at home. He has to remember not to get too pumped up.”
Behind the heat smolders an intriguing young man. He grew up in Chula Vista, Calif., near San Diego.
He didn’t become a prospect until his senior year in high school when his fastball began tickling the upper 80s.
Zumaya grew up poor and formed a tight bond with his mother, Yvonne. He calls her five times a day. Every day. In the giddy scene last Thursday at Yankee Stadium, just minutes after his “I have arrived moment” in playoff baseball, Zumaya pressed his cellphone to his ear and told her, “Thanks, and I love you.”
Zumaya then smiled and took a few slugs of a Corona.
“Mexican champagne,” he said, laughing.
Zumaya comes by his enthusiasm naturally. He’s only three years removed from high school. He dresses like a skateboarder and talks like a surfer, dropping “Dudes!” like big breaking balls into any conversation.
It is his lightning-bolt arm everyone wants to talk about now. From the battery of reporters surrounding his locker, it’s clear he’s grown up fast.
“This is where we want to be, to have this chance,” Zumaya said. “And we aren’t done yet.”
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
