Marcus Stroman says he's truly living a dream

When Marcus Stroman finally had a chance to check his phone late Monday night, having finished a variety of postgame responsibilities, it went about as you'd expect.

"I got back to my phone and I had like 100 texts messages from family and friends, people who have followed me all through my career," Stroman said Tuesday.

A night before the Toronto righthander, a graduate of Patchogue-Medford High School and first-round pick of the Blue Jays out of Duke in 2012, had the best start of his young career, limiting the Yankees to one run and three hits over eight innings of an 8-3 victory. The stellar outing came only six days after the 23-year-old struggled in a start at the Stadium -- in front of an estimated 20 family members and countless other friends -- when he struggled with his pitch count, throwing 98 over 32/3 innings of a 3-1 loss.

"It disappointed me because I wanted to be better because I had that many people there watching me," Stroman said of the first outing against the Yankees. "But when I went back and watched the tape, I wasn't that disappointed with it. Just a couple small misses just off the plate. It's not like I was super wild or anything like that."

Monday he was just super, in the words of Mark Teixeira "a completely different pitcher than we faced last week," the first baseman later raving about Stroman's slider.

Confidence has never been an issue for Stroman, who improved to 4-2 with a 4.25 earned run average, but that doesn't mean the affable pitcher takes for granted his speedy trajectory into the big leagues.

"I wake up every morning and I say 'wow' to myself, that I'm truly living a dream," he said. "I put things in perspective and try to enjoy every day because I understand the idea that a lot of people would die to be in the position I'm in. Every day I wake up, I literally have a smile on my face all the time . . . I realize I'm in a pretty good position at my age and that I'm truly living the life."