TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

New Kaz is back, but will he last?

Tribune photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

Kaz threw 92 pitches in five innings, 61 for strikes, allowing four hits and two runs.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2009

Updated: 06/28/2009 12:01 am

ST. PETERSBURG - Scott Kazmir and the head he rode in on - hopefully not the one he rode out on - were back on the mound at Tropicana Field on Saturday night.

Rays owner Stu Sternberg, who popped into town to see if anyone had built a new stadium while he was gone, didn't once try to count the house while in the Rays dugout before the game with the Marlins.

Sternberg was chatty, but mum on team president Matt Silverman's recent comments on disappointing attendance. Sternberg did herald the return of Kazmir, among others.

"It's like we're getting the band back together," he said.

But what kind of music will Kaz make?

The kind you celebrate, or the kind you clean the rug after?

So far, so good.

"I thought it was very impressive first time back," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

Saturday, before another postgame concert in Baseball Central (Pat Benatar, Rays drew 35,790), the new Kaz, fresh from the DL stunt to get his mechanics and mind right, threw 92 pitches in five innings, 61 for strikes, allowing four hits and two runs. He struck out five and walked just one. And his last two innings might have been the best.

Why, the new Kaz tossed just 22 pitches in his first inning. Hey, that's quick work from him.

"I was anxious to get out there," Kaz said. "I wanted to go out there and prove something."

So far, so good.

"He looked like the old Kaz," said Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett, who singled in the ninth and came around to score on Willy Aybar's walk-off sac fly. "He was throwing strikes."

Kazmir seems in good spirits. Saturday, for the second day in a row, he brought his dog to the clubhouse. The pup, a French bulldog named Rico, rested on a chair next to Kazmir's locker. Kaz walks him several times a day, and no, not on four straight pitches.

No joke: Kazmir looked better than when he left. He looked like he could throw a strike when he really needed it, even on his change-up.

But there should be no illusions this time around, not for Rays fans, not for Kazmir. He isn't the first or the second or the third, or maybe even this team's fourth-best starter right now. Let's just see what he does. He's a 25-year-old with a 7.28 ERA trying to find his way.

It might be the best way to look at him, at least for his sake.

There's no pressure to be the star.

Want to know something? The Rays went to the World Series last season without Kazmir giving them much down the stretch, not much at all.

Just flush out that brain and pitch.

"Just go out there, get six innings in, go from there."

That was Maddon talking before the game. He was talking in general about his starting pitchers. The starters could be the key to this second half if the Rays are going to make a serious run. They were huge last season, rolling out a bunch of quality starts when it counted.

Start counting now.

Kaz went on the DL 33 games ago with a right quad strain, but everything seemed strained at that point. The Rays' all-time leader in innings, wins, strikeouts and, yes, quality starts, was badly frayed.

Before he was shut down, he was 1-3 with an 11.35 ERA in his five previous starts. He had pitched to a 12.00 ERA in the first inning. Every pitch seemed to be a problem, every run a deeper mental hole. It was the same hole his body and mind sent him into last season.

There seemed no way out.

Is there now?

Andy Sonnanstine is in Durham. He had earned that trip. He had the highest ERA (6.61) of any starter in the majors, you know, until Kaz came back.

"I think we have all the components here to play in October again," Maddon said. "Of course, needing Kaz well and right is very, very important ..."

We have no idea if the new Kaz will last.

He showed up Saturday. So did his dog.

"I'm bringing him tomorrow," Scott Kazmir said. "We're 2-0 with him."

But which Kaz will show next time out?

The Rays could use a bulldog about now.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT