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Matt Garza's Turning Point

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By TONY FABRIZIO

afabrizio@tampatrib.com

Published: October 5, 2008

CHICAGO - Before Matt Garza could begin to realize his potential as a dominant pitcher, he had to conquer his demons.

That he has come as far as he has and has an opportunity to pitch his team into the American League Championship Series today at U.S. Cellular Field is one of the Rays' many remarkable stories.

"I've always liked him, but now he's more under control," Rays manager Joe Maddon said Saturday. "He does not get emotionally bound up if something goes wrong. Because of that, he's just a better teammate.

"He has done something unusual and kind of changed his personality in the middle of a baseball season, to his credit, for the better."

The tipping point was a well-chronicled public scolding from catcher Dioner Navarro on the mound and in the dugout at Texas on June 8.

Garza, at 24 one of five Rays starters 26 or younger, had a penchant for imploding when giving up a hit or getting into a bind. Navarro had seen enough of it. He had a heated face-to-face confrontation and, later, a brief shoving match with the much taller Garza.

"It was a huge moment in this season," Navarro said recently. "I had the green light from Joe. 'You are the quarterback; you do what you've got to do.' It got to the point where I needed to do something."

Since that wake-up call, as Navarro calls it, Garza has been, if not better on the mound, certainly more dependable and poised. His 11-9 regular-season record (3.70 ERA) includes two shutouts on the road - at Toronto on July 20 against Roy Halladay and at Texas (a two-hitter) on Aug. 15.

Against the American League East, the former Fresno State pitcher was 7-4 with a 2.54 ERA in 952/3 innings pitched. Only Boston's Jon Lester had a lower ERA (2.48) against the rest of the division.

When Garza is on, he is throwing a 95-mph fastball at a downward angle and mixing it with a "heavy" sinker and change-up.

Don Zimmer, the Rays' 77-year-old senior adviser, says Garza's arsenal could rank among the best.

"Well, he's got stuff," Zimmer said. "Edwin Jackson has good stuff, too. Scott Kazmir has good stuff. Sonnanstine and James Shields, they're more polished pitchers with what they're doing. But when a guy like Garza ever gets command of his pitches, I mean, it will be lights-out."

Backup catcher Shawn Riggans agrees.

"This guy, every time out, he has potential no-hit stuff," he said.

Garza is open and honest at times about his previous difficulty with composure, and he considers the run-in with Navarro "a huge moment to grow."

He says he has worked to control his emotions since then.

"I had to," he said. "You only get so many chances to find yourself. It was probably a defining moment in my life. Blowing up and not being able to control my emotions had been a big M.O. about me, and I had told them before the year I wanted to work on it."

Garza also admits that he pressed himself too hard to live up to expectations after the trade in November that sent Delmon Young to Minnesota and also brought Jason Bartlett to the Rays.

"Of course I wanted to outperform the trade," Garza said. "A lot of people do that. You don't want people to regret. That was my big mistake starting the year. The first two months, I put too much pressure on myself to try to be the guy they thought they were getting."

Maddon says he has been "impressed and proud" of Garza since the incident with Navarro, noting that he recognized he needed help, sought it out and "is an entirely different person."

"You look at him physically, and he's one of the most gifted pitchers in the American League in regard to stuff," Maddon said. "And now you are getting a guy maturing in regard to handling all of these tools he has. So for me it's been a tremendous growth year for him."

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