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Sox Return The Favor

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By MARC LANCASTER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 5, 2008

BOSTON - As the season unfolds, the Rays undoubtedly will benefit from having Scott Kazmir in their rotation, but getting him back didn't prove to be a quick fix.

Showing some expected signs of rust, the left-hander left plenty of room for improvement in his first start of the season Sunday. Fighting himself and a tough Red Sox lineup simultaneously, Kazmir lasted just four lengthy innings and took the loss in a 7-3 Rays defeat.

With neither of their best starters able to play stopper during the weekend, the Rays were swept in a three-game series for the first time this season. They'll get a day to recover before facing off against the Blue Jays three times to wrap up the road trip, and they can only hope seeing Toronto again will get them back to the form that helped them win eight of nine heading into a lost weekend at Fenway Park.

Kazmir will spend the time he has before taking the mound against the Angels on Saturday trying to avoid a relapse of the mechanical woes that turned his long-awaited season debut into a couple hours of frustration.

"My arm felt great," Kazmir said. "It was just a matter of my mechanics and being able to point my shoulder where I want when I throw the ball and just throw through it. I felt like when I was throwing the ball I was just falling off with everything."

Kazmir said he felt like he was aligned properly on only "six or seven" of the 90 pitches he threw. On the rest, the lower half of his body was flying open. That had the dual effect of diminished control and decreased velocity, as he walked three batters and got deep into counts on several others while topping out at 93 mph - a few below the norm for him - on the scoreboard radar display.

"I think it was just a matter of me being a little anxious out there and maybe trying to do too much," he said.

It was understandable Kazmir felt that kind of burden as he tried to stave off a sweep while facing major-league hitters for the first time since September, but there was no happy ending this time.

The 4-0 hole he left when he handed the ball to Kurt Birkins to start the fifth inning was enough to sink the Rays despite a short-lived late rally.

"In spite of all the pitches Kaz threw in four innings, he still kept us relatively in the game and we did have a shot," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

The Rays didn't get to Boston starter Jon Lester until late in his outing, but they eventually pared the deficit to 4-3 in the seventh. That was the extent of their momentum as Kevin Youkilis homered off Dan Wheeler leading off the seventh to make it 5-3 and added a two-run double off Scott Dohmann in the eighth for the final margin.

Taking the weekend as a whole, the Rays' struggles could be boiled down to a central point: While both teams pitched well last weekend at Tropicana Field and the Rays just did a little better, the Rays' arms didn't come close to matching Boston's at Fenway Park. The Red Sox hit .368 (39-for-106) with 18 extra-base hits during the weekend as they racked up 26 runs - 21 more than they managed in three games at the Trop.

"They just beat us this weekend," Maddon said.

The onus is on the Rays now as they head north to face a Toronto team that also has been pitching extremely well lately. In the past, a downturn like the one the Rays suffered during the weekend might have led to the bottom dropping out.

Maddon doesn't see that happening with this team, and he'll get a chance to see if he's right beginning Tuesday.

"I don't see it as being devastating to this group at all," Maddon said. "I think they understand what just happened - we got beat by a good team. We beat them last weekend. I think both of these teammates realize that we can beat each other, and you have to pitch and play it well, with intensity, or you're gonna lose. ... This group, I don't think is going to have this carryover."

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

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