Doug Padilla, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

Teen angst: Dodgers have decision to make on Julio Urias

NEW YORK -- Known to be able to swallow a person whole, not even the Los Angeles Dodgers' brightest young pitcher could escape the wrath of New York.

Julio Urias, at the tender young age of 19, threw 81 pitches in a seemingly forgettable 2 2/3 innings Friday against the New York Mets at Citi Field. A far as major league debuts go ... it was one.

Just don't expect Urias to feel sorry for himself. He knows he still has work to do to get better, but he held his head up high after the game and stressed the positives.

"I will never forget the first strikeout, especially being a batter like [Curtis] Granderson," Urias said through an interpreter. "I will never forget anything that happened in this game because this is the happiest day of my life."

Granderson indeed proved his mettle long after Urias had departed with a game-ending home run in the ninth inning, a half-inning after Chase Utley tied the score with a three-run double. The Mets won the opener of a three-game weekend series by a 6-5 count.

The Dodgers were prepared for any and all scenarios when it came to Urias, but they still seemed confident knowing of their pitcher's poise and maturity, as well as his 27 consecutive scoreless innings at Triple-A Oklahoma City.

But the Mets don't play in the Pacific Coast League, and Urias has never pitched in a jammed-packed ballpark that looks like a giant five-layer cake from the inside. And at this level, in his first career outing, he was going to have to fill the strike zone to get the calls on the edges of the plate.

"There was a lot of excitement, and I thought he kept his composure and I thought he had good stuff," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "There were some pitches on the edges that he might be used to getting the call. But he wasn't wild -- I think he was just missing and getting behind. I thought his fastball was good and fastball command might be a tick off."

That was one big tick. Of his 81 pitches, Urias threw only 42 of them for strikes. It was not a ratio that was ideal for going deep into a game. Urias was asked about not getting calls on close pitches.

"Yes, I thought some of them were in the zone. I have to look at the video to double-check and see if, in fact, they were strikes, and if it's not, then it was a good call by the umpire," he said.

He insisted that he was not flustered by the turn of events.

At the very least, the Dodgers got the first start out of the way for the young left-hander, generally regarded as a future star. Nothing the Mets could do to him, two years before he is even old enough to order a round of drinks for his teammates, will change that.

"Yes, I think there is a reason why the team called me up," Urias said. "Baseball isn't easy, but I am going to continue to work so that next time we can get those results."

The Dodgers will now meet to discuss what is in Urias' best interest, and the team's best interest. If he starts again, it figures to be next week in the team's four-game series at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs.

Fastball-heavy against the Mets, Urias could end up offering the first-place Cubs a whole different approach.

"I have to talk to my pitching coach and my catcher," Urias said. "It was my first time out, and I know they wanted the best for me, so I followed their advice. If it is a change that I expect to make in the future, they want me to make in the future, that's something we will work toward."

Many of those early fastballs that Urias missed were high in the strike zone, something Roberts blamed on nerves and adrenaline.

"I'm not going to lie, when I went out there, I started thinking about everything I had to go through to get here," Urias said. "But when I was on the mound, I was able to settle down and feel a little more comfortable. Unfortunately we weren't able to get the results we wanted."

If the city that doesn't sleep was enough to give Urias problems, there is no telling if Chicago will be his kind of town next week. Wrigley Field's tight quarters and fan intensity, especially as the Cubs are rolling this season, will be another animal altogether.

But Urias showed no signs of backing down, even after the Mets tried to ruin the teenager's Friday night in the big city.

"I'm very happy," Urias insisted. "This is the best day of my life, as it is for any big league player that makes their debut. Although we didn't get the results we wanted, I will continue to work hard, and I thank God for the opportunity he gave me."

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