Kazmir Defeats Danks

Final Score in Anaheim: White Sox Many, Angels Few

Scott Kazmir forgot his headset when he took the mound tonight and couldn't hear Mark Gubicza cheering him on from the booth. He consequently forgot all about being aggressive, staying within mechanics, attacking the strike zone, and all of that. The White Sox teed off for four runs in the third and another in the fourth, leaving Kaznobyl with a final line of 5 earned runs on 5 hits and 1 walk in 3 innings pitched. The former strikeout king struck out zero.

So the cycle continues. Kazmir has a sequence of mediocre starts. Scioscia praises his improvement. Gubicza raves about his "stuff." Then he combusts on the mound and everyone tries to figure out what he did wrong this time. Except he's really been the same pitcher all year. Sometimes balls in play work in his favor, sometimes they don't. Kazmir's velocity was even better than usual tonight, but without his former ability to miss bats, he's just a left-handed junkballer with control problems. More on this situation as it develops during the offseason.

John Danks, on the other hand, gifted the Angels an early two-run lead and then shifted into cruise control. The Angels bullpen pitched competently, but the offense could do absolutely nothing against Danks in innings 2-8. Chris Sale, who was going to classes at Florida Gulf Coast University last semester, got the final three outs in only nine pitches.

To tell you the truth, I didn't see a large portion of this game because my power went out. Remember when those rolling blackouts were such an inconvenience during the California energy crisis? Well, that's basically what living in the Boston area is like even when absolutely nothing is wrong with the energy market. Do me a favor and send NSTAR an email telling them that they are horrible. They don't seem to listen to anyone else.