Scott Kazmir can’t fake it as Angels lose to Texas, 4-3
Reporting from Arlington, Texas -- Scott Kazmir isn’t fooling anyone, including himself.
The Angels starter realizes his velocity is down, his arm slot is out of whack and his slider doesn’t feature the sharp break that once made it so effective.
“They can see what pitch is coming and they can see it coming to the plate straight from my hand,” Kazmir said of the hitters. “If I had a little more deception, it would have been a different story.”
It was pretty much the same old story for Kazmir, who persevered through a season-high seven innings Monday night at the Ballpark in Arlington but ultimately came out on the wrong end of the Angels’ 4-3 loss to the Texas Rangers.
A closed-door meeting and extended bullpen session failed to rectify the litany of problems that have plagued the left-hander, who has lost three consecutive starts. Kazmir gave up all four runs — one more than the Angels did during an entire weekend sweep of Oakland — in the third inning, dropping his teammates into a 4-0 hole from which they couldn’t recover.
An Angels lineup that lost a little might before the game when right fielder Bobby Abreu was scratched because of a stiff back delivered a pair of counterpunches, with Mike Napoli hitting a two-run homer in the fifth inning against starter Derek Holland (2-0) and Torii Hunter adding a solo shot an inning later.
Napoli nearly tied the score in the ninth with a drive against closer Neftali Feliz that center fielder Julio Borbon caught with his back against the wall, giving the Rangers a victory in their first meeting this season against the three-time defending American League West champions.
“I thought I hit it decent enough to go,” Napoli said, “but it didn’t and we lost.”
The Angels contributed to their ninth defeat in their last 11 road games with two errors, including one by second baseman Howie Kendrick that helped spark the Rangers’ third-inning rally. With nobody out, Kendrick fielded Borbon’s grounder and bounced his throw past first baseman Kendry Morales.
After Texas scored one run on Michael Young’s sacrifice fly and another on Ian Kinsler’s double to right field, former Angel Vladimir Guerrero lofted a pop-up down the right-field line. Outfielder Reggie Willits charged in but momentarily stopped following the flight of the ball to make sure he wouldn’t collide with Kendrick or first baseman Kendry Morales after calling them off.
The ball landed on the grass for a double.
“It definitely wasn’t an easy play,” Willits said, “but I feel like if I hadn’t taken my eye off it to see where they were, I think I would have had it.”
Nelson Cruz followed with a two-run double to right-center on a pitch that was supposed to be inside but caught too much of the plate, and Kazmir (2-4) was on his way to another loss.
Kazmir said he was encouraged with the improved action on his slider, though it wasn’t breaking quite as he wanted. His biggest lament was his inability to incorporate his elbow in his pitching motion.
“It’s more like it’s catapulting, just all shoulder,” he said. “It’s just bad habits, tough to break.… I’ll continue to work on it.”
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