Wow, talk about a tale with two sides. Scott Kazmir was beyond miserable in the first inning and it began with the second pitch of the game, a slider that broke way too much and nailed Orlando Cabrera in the lower leg. Despite what Harold Reynolds spewed there's almost no chance it was intentional. Not only did Kazmir run getting ejected two pitches in, but he also put the leadoff man on.
From there Kazmir would throw 35 more pitches in the inning for 37 overall -- 15 were balls, leaving Kaz with 59% strikes. - with his longevity for the night in question Kazmir escaped a bases loaded situation with only two runs allowed. At one point Joe Maddon had Grant Balfour and David Price warm-up, but elected to stick with his southpaw.
Something funny happened from the second inning on; Kazmir got strikes and outs without much trouble, raising his strike percentage from 59% to 65% overall. Yes, Kazmir still gave up more fly balls than ground balls, didn't strike out as many as you would expect against a hacking team, and threw 72% fastballs, but he threw strikes.
Congrats on your first post-season victory Scott, and thank you for staying with it when quitting would've been easy.
For those wondering, Kazmir's first:
