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Rays The Winners After Garza Lost It In June

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 25, 2008

PHILADELPHIA - You can't begin to catalogue all the big moments in this Rays season, but there was time to start while waiting out the rain Saturday night for Game 3 of the World Series.

One of them, undeniably, was a loss.

Yes, 105 wins and we're talking about a loss.

It came on June 8 in Arlington, Texas.

It came with a pitcher and catcher nearly coming to blows.

It might have saved the pitcher -- and a season.

It might have saved Matt Garza's career.

"It was probably a defining moment in my life," he has said.

The Rays Game 3 starter was a runaway train until that day, his own worst enemy -- trying on every pitch to prove the trade that brought him to Tampa Bay was worth it, remembering every bad moment, or a rotten call an umpire made, pointing a finger at everyone but himself. Always fighting the tiger inside him, and nearly always losing.

And so Garza and Rays catcher Dioner Navarro squared off.

Garza was yanked from the game after just four innings.

Rays manager Joe Maddon met with Garza the next day.

"I needed the right answers," Maddon said.

He got them.

Finding His Focus

Garza was probably within seconds of being sent to the minors.

Maddon will never say that.

But that had to be one option.

Now there are no need for options.

That Matt Garza hasn't been back.

This Matt Garza you hand a ball to with a season on the line.

He's The Guy.

Intense? Yes.

Insane? No.

Instead, here is the Garza with all the future in the world, with command of four pitches, able to throw low, able to be mean, able to focus.

The Red Sox got both barrels of that in the ALCS. Garza battled and won against them in Boston, then pitched the game of his young life in Game 7 at Tropicana Field. That night, he blew back Boston hitters. After Dustin Pedroia homered off Garza, he was hit with a 95-mph fastball pitch, It was probably just a coincidence.

Matt Garza burns oh, so bright.

His emotions aren't beating him.

He has found a way.

"Keep them out from the start," Garza said Friday. "Just tell myself I've got to go one pitch at a time, not to look ahead of any hitter, not even look back at any pitch I've thrown. Once a pitch is gone, it's over. I can't control what happens after that."

A New Man Emerges

His season is divided between Before Texas and After Texas.

"He's two different people," Maddon said. "It was scary at first, because I didn't know of he was putting me on. Really, I didn't."

But it was for real.

Garza's stuff always has been.

Rays backup catcher Shawn Riggans remembers a game at Texas a few months after Garza blew up. He pitched a two-hit shutout (he also threw a one-hitter against the Marlins). At one point, Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton dug in.

As he did, he turned to Riggans.

"I hate facing this guy," Hamilton said.

It can be like that with Garza. There are days, cocky days, when he'll come in and tell his catcher, "Call whatever you want, I'm not getting hit today." He still refuses to talk to media the day before he pitches. It'll make people roll their eyes. His teammates were doing a little bit of that early this season. Who was this guy? Was he with them all the way?

Now look.

He was a comeback player and he never even left.

"I didn't want to be one of those 'Is this guy going to implode now, or when is it going to happen?' I didn't want to be that guy," Garza said.

The tiger stays deep inside.

It comes out only when Matt Garza wants.

And another thing …

"I love pitching in big games," Garza said.

Really?

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