Matt Garza will take the mound today attempting to stabilize a Rays team that hasn't yet found its footing, knowing it could be up to him to do most of the heavy lifting given the recent struggles of Tampa Bay's hitters.
The feeling will be familiar; he was in the same situation in his last start Sunday against the White Sox and ended up turning in one of the worst performances of his career. Garza walked five batters, more than he ever had in a big-league game, and the seven earned runs he surrendered matched his highest total.
He tried so hard to pull the Rays out of their slide that he ended up deepening it, on the wrong side of a 12-2 shellacking.
"I think I put more on that start than I have a lot of them, because we were in a slide and I wanted to be that guy to get us out of it," he said. "I just built up that start more than what it was - I didn't even build up Game 7 of last year's ALCS that much. I put too much pressure on myself, and when I didn't perform it all came crashing down and ticked me off."
The high-intensity pitcher has learned during the past year that, in his words, "less is more" when it comes to his thought process during games.
"I've just got to get back to what I do," said Garza, "and that's establish myself and establish my fastball and keep my emotions under control."
There will be at least one more external factor at play there today, though. This will be the Fresno native's first career appearance at the ballpark closest to where he grew up, and he expects a large cheering section led by his wife, children, parents and brother.
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