If you looked close enough, you could see hype return.
Last night's dominance of the Yankees has grabbed headlines for a certain young Rays pitcher. David Price put himself back in the national spotlight pitch by pitch.
Rays fans saw a flashback to the pitcher they've been waiting for.
Only one month into getting his first taste of the major leagues, David Price was called upon to get the most important outs in franchise history. Price held the world by a string when he closed out Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS.
But then a funny thing happened.
He experienced the growing pains of a rookie pitcher.
In 2009, Price was still learning, still growing, still adding pitches to his arsenal. He was expected to dominate. He was expected to contend for the Cy Young. He was expected to do so from the first moment he breathed major league air.
Ah, the expectations of being a phenom.
A 6'6" lefty doesn't come around that often. This former No. 1 overall pick had a nasty fastball slider combo that left many scouts drooling.
But the Rays' front office saw a phenom in the works. Just not yet.
They kept him in the minors. They were almost distant with him. They told him he needed a third pitch.
So last season, Price focused on proving them wrong. He worked so hard on developing a change up he lost the grip of his slider.
He also lost a grip on hype.
People's expectations were dramatically lowered this year. Some people were even doubting he was ace material. Price even commented that reporters no longer were coming up to him every day; they were only coming up to him on days he pitched.
And then last night happened.
Price dominated the Yankees for nearly a full eight innings. For the first three innings, he was un-hittable. You saw it on Derek Jeter's face. You saw it on the faces of other Yankee hitters.
The Rays front office saw the reward for hard work.
It's only one start. But if you look close enough, hype has returned—and so has the slider.
Expect many more looks like last night with the return of the Phenom.
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