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Given A Second Chance, Kazmir Proves His Mettle

Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO

Scott Kazmir delivers a pitch during the first inning against Boston.

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By MARC LANCASTER

mlancaster@tampatrib.com

Published: October 17, 2008

Updated: 10/17/2008 01:12 am

BOSTON - Talk about having something to prove. Scott Kazmir couldn't have asked for a higher level of motivation as he took the mound Thursday.

His team was on the verge of clinching a spot in the World Series. He had been knocked around by the Red Sox in his previous start Saturday at Tropicana Field. His manager was being ridiculed far and wide for giving the heretofore shaky Kazmir the ball instead of James Shields.

Unlike his rotation mates Shields and Matt Garza, Kazmir normally doesn't seem to pitch angry. He had his reasons to Thursday night, and he came up with his best outing in recent memory.

Despite some early bumps - walking two batters in the first inning, bailing out the horribly slumping Jason Varitek in the second by hitting him with a pitch thrown behind him - Kazmir never got rattled in Game 5. He worked his way out of self-created messes and did so with authority, ending three innings by getting a Boston hitter to swing through strike three.

It was exactly the type of performance Kazmir is capable of but hasn't been able to deliver from about mid-June on. He still wasn't as efficient as he needs to be, throwing 111 pitches in six innings, but he didn't let innings get out of hand or hurt himself by serving up the longball. In fact, he gave up just two hits - both singles.

That's what Joe Maddon had hoped his All-Star would produce, and even before the game the manager repeatedly insisted he had a good feeling about the lefty.

Maddon recalled a moment he shared with Kazmir during a start at Fenway Park last season. It was Sept. 10 and the Rays' record was 60-83, leaving them 261/2 games behind the division-leading Red Sox. In other words, the usual.

Kazmir held a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning that night, but Boston had runners on first and second with just one out. Maddon - not pitching coach Jim Hickey - headed to the mound after a walk had put the second runner on and delivered a message to Kazmir, whispering it in his ear.

"This is not a normal game," he told his pitcher. "This is a playoff game."

Kazmir got out of the jam and the game ended with that same 1-0 score. The pitcher admitted afterward that Maddon's mental challenge got his adrenaline flowing.

A smile crossed Maddon's face Thursday as he remembered that moment, sitting in his office a few hours before just such a playoff game occurred far earlier than anyone could have predicted.

Kazmir and the Rays have come a long way.

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