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Angels, Ump Put Squeeze On Rays

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By MARC LANCASTER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 12, 2008

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Scott Kazmir started to get upset in the bottom of the sixth inning Wednesday, when home-plate umpire Derryl Cousins called a ball on a pitch the Rays' starter was certain was a strike to give Reggie Willits a walk.

But it was the next call Cousins made that nudged Kazmir from frustration to disbelief. His first offering to the next batter, Maicer Izturis, was low. Like, almost in the dirt low. And it was deemed a strike.

That sequence didn't end up amounting to anything for the Angels, but what the Rays saw as a similar reluctance on the umpire's part to call a third strike reared up again the following inning. This time, another disputed walk of Willits set up a two-run single by Izturis that lifted the Angels to a 4-2 victory.

It also led to the ejection of Rays manager Joe Maddon and prompted a rambling postgame monologue from Kazmir.

The left-hander said some of the Rays' veteran players had warned him before the game that Cousins had a reputation for not calling third strikes. Kazmir filed that nugget but didn't need to worry about it through the early innings. He retired the first 14 batters he faced before Gary Matthews Jr. homered with two out in the fifth and managed to hold the Angels there after that.

Everything changed with two out in the seventh, though. The Rays had manufactured a run in the top half of the inning, with Evan Longoria doubling off John Lackey and moving over on a groundout before scoring on a Dioner Navarro sacrifice fly to put Tampa Bay up 2-1.

Kazmir struck out two of the first three batters in the bottom half to give him 10 for the game, but a couple of singles left men on first and third. Willits worked the count to 2-2 before Kazmir delivered ball three, a call he didn't dispute. He felt his full-count delivery was right there, but Cousins disagreed, allowing Willits to walk to first and load the bases.

After the call was made, Kazmir crouched down on the dirt, staring in toward home plate in disbelief, before walking slowly back behind the mound and gearing up to face Izturis.

"That was amazing," Kazmir said. "I felt like everything was working good, I was moving along nice, but as soon as Willits got up it was like, 'You can swing if you want to, but if not, go ahead and just take your base. It's all good. Thanks for coming.'"

Still fuming, Kazmir fired four consecutive fastballs to Izturis, who fouled the first three off before lining one into right-center to score two runs and give the Angels the lead for good. That pitch was the 117th and last delivered by Kazmir.

As Maddon came to the mound to get him, he turned toward home plate to discuss Cousins' methodology and quickly got the hook. It was the eighth ejection for Maddon as Rays manager, with four of them coming in games against the Angels.

"I didn't like the calls at all. I was disappointed with that and I let my voice be heard," Maddon said. "My biggest concern always is that the same strike zone is maintained throughout the game. That's all. That's all I'm looking for, that things don't change when it gets hot."

Speaking of hot, that aptly described Kazmir's mood afterward. He brushed off an opening question about how well he had pitched most of the game, saying, "Let's talk about the seventh inning" and going on from there. He noted that he had heard Cousins' nickname was "Shoebox," for his occasionally tough-to-find strike zone.

Only one of the 18 strikeouts amassed by pitchers from both teams Wednesday came on a called third strike - taken by Willy Aybar for the second out of the fourth inning. In Cousins' previous game working the plate, a Cubs-Dodgers matchup last Saturday, the teams totaled 14 strikeouts, three of them looking.

"I've never said anything like this about an umpire, but that's a crucial part in the game and you just don't do that," Kazmir said. "Make-up calls or not make-up calls - call it when it's there, you know what I mean? You shouldn't change your zone just because of the count. It doesn't make sense."

It was on that sour note that the Rays headed home after a coast-to-coast road trip Carl Crawford described as "real active." They brawled with Boston, saw two of their own scuffle in Texas and scored three runs in the final two games in Anaheim after posting 13 in the series opener to wrap it up with a 3-6 record.

"Should have been better," Maddon said. "We know that."

Accountability is the Rays' new thing this year, but they boarded a plane wishing they could demand the same of an umpire.

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227 or mlancaster@tampatrib.com.

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