Kazmir, who still hasn't taken that turn toward elite status that Jon Lester has, is still throwing far too many pitches. And when the Rays got a run on Akinori Iwamura's solo homer in the third off Daisuke Matsuzaka, what did Kazmir do? He immediately gave up a solo shot to Jason Bay in the fourth to make it a 5-1 game. And then came insult to injury when Jason Varitek struck for a two-run blast.
"It felt like my body wasn't there," said Kazmir, who surrendered nine runs over three innings and four home runs. "I felt flat. I didn't have the strength."
Kazmir deserved to get beaten up over his performance, but let's give him his due. He is a tremendous talent. He entered last night's game with an 11-6 record and a 2.99 ERA. But he has always been one of those high-pitch-count guys who can't seem to get you into the seventh inning often enough. In his past 10 starts, including last night's debacle, he hasn't been able to get past six.
Kazmir remains as much of an enigma as the guy he was pitching against last night, Matsuzaka, who often has the same issues, though last night he could have sat in a rocking chair and won his 17th game.
Considering how important this game was, it was the worst beating the Rays have had this year. When Kazmir pitches, that's not supposed to happen. Was there something wrong with the oft-injured lefty? Or did the situation simply get the better of him?
"You just have to shake this off," Kazmir said. "If anything, it's a wake-up call so we can kick it into gear a little more. I know we will."
His manager, Joe Maddon, was frank about his lefty's outing.
"With him pitching, we expect a lot more," Maddon said.
But Maddon said the game was easily put in the rearview mirror. "This is an easier loss to accept," he claimed. "You just have to forget about it as quickly as possible."
"I'm not going to get down on myself," Kazmir said. "I wasn't myself. I knew throwing in the bullpen that it wasn't how I wanted to feel. I was behind on the count on every hitter. Everything felt as if it wasn't in synch."
