Scott Kazmir
FameRank: 5

"Scott Edward Kazmir" is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. After a stellar high school career in his hometown of Houston, Texas, Kazmir was drafted in the first round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Mets, who later sent him to the Tampa Bay Rays/Tampa Bay Devil Rays in a highly publicized and criticized trade. Kazmir made his major league debut with the Devil Rays on August 23, , when he was only 20 years old. Despite his age, Kazmir quickly became one of the better lefthanded starting pitchers in baseball, primarily by relying on a mid-90s fastball paired with a sharp breaking slider. Over the next several years, Kazmir was one of the few bright spots on Devil Rays teams that lost 90+ games per season. He is still among the all-time leaders in many franchise List of Tampa Bay Rays team records/pitching categories, including strikeouts, earned run average (ERA), Win (baseball)/wins, and games started.

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I felt like I got in a groove right from the beginning, ... I just kept attacking that strike zone. I kept trying to work hitters and keep them off balance.

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I threw it to Vernon [Well]) first pitch where he kind of sat back there and took it, ... He looked in the dugout and then looked at me, and I said, 'Might as well.'

232

Pitching against the Red Sox's lineup in that historic ballpark ... it's going to be fun, ... I think all of us are up to the challenge.

192

[Catcher] Toby [Hall] and I, we were clicking, ... That makes it so much easier when catcher and pitcher are on the same page. You know exactly what to anticipate.

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I felt I got in a good groove from the beginning and I attacked the strike zone.

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The main thing is just, the slider I was throwing, everyone was hanging right down the middle. It's frustrating on the mound.

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I felt like I got into a groove right in the beginning. I just kept attacking hitters.

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I felt like I got in a groove, kept working the strike zone, kept the hitters off balance.

127

Everything I threw was right down the middle hanging. It's frustrating to try and work so ahead, and you try to bury one and it hangs. That's something you can't do.

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