This past Sunday, two southpaws at vastly different stages in their careers took the mound looking for their seventh win of the season. Scott Kazmir was looking to win his fifth straight decision for the Devil Rays against the hapless Marlins. After that, Tom Glavine was going to try give the New York Mets the rubber game in their Subway Series against the Yankees. Any baseball purist would have to be excited for these two starts, and neither pitcher disappointed.
Both Kazmir and Glavine, in their respective customary styles, chalked up victories. The way the two games unfolded were like microcosms of each player's seasons. Kazmir exploded against the Marlins, and Glavine did just enough to beat the Bronx Bombers.
Tom Glavine has crafted an entire career out of seemingly doing "just enough." If you watch Glavine for one game, sometimes you are not sure how he was able to get the win. If you watch Glavine over the course of as season (or his career), it is easy to see why he is destined for Cooperstown. He never had the electric stuff of Pedro Martinez or the intimidating demeanor of Roger Clemens. What Glavine did have was an artist's mastery of the strike zone, complete control of all four of his pitches, and the confidence to throw any of his pitches at any point in the count. Sunday night's game was a perfect example of what has made, and still makes, Glavine great.
After the Mets used two swings of the bat in the fourth to give Glavine a 4-2 lead, he went about using everything in his arsenal to make that lead stand up. He punished Yankee righties with his tumbling breaking stuff that starts on the outside corner, and, even after moving, somehow stays on the outside corner. This aspect of Glavine's game is always more effective when the home plate umpire gives him the "[Leo] Mazzone strike" (2-6 inches off the black), as was the case Sunday night.
Furthermore, Glavine was able to bust right-handed hitters in with his cutter when he needed groundball outs, something that was absent from his early career as a Met, but has been commonplace this season. When it was all said and done, Glavine gave the Mets bullpen the game after seven innings with the 4-2 lead still intact. Just another night's work for a future Hall of Famer.
While it is entirely to early to call Scott Kazmir a future star, much less a future Hall of Famer, it is very difficult not to get excited about the potential that this 22-year old left-hander possesses. Even at this stage in his development, it is impossible to find a pitcher with better pure stuff than Kazmir. His average of over 9.5 K/9 IP and multiple double-digit strikeout games attest to that. Furthermore, he is showing the ability to win close games, something very rare in such a young pitcher.
Pitching for Tampa Bay should give Kazmir many opportunities to win close games, as their offense does not exactly conjure up images of the '27 Yankees. As is usually the case, Kazmir was locked in a pitchers duel, this time with Marlin ace Dontrelle Willis. Willis blinked first, giving up three runs to the Devil Rays in the fifth. Kazmir would not blink. After striking out 11 Marlins over eight innings, Kazmir let the pen finish off the 3-0 whitewash of Florida.
Looking at his stat-line, as impressive as it is, does not do justice to how dominant Kazmir pitched. To understand that, you had to have witnessed the defeated looks on Marlin hitters when the count reached two strikes, seemingly knowing what was coming and knowing that they were powerless to do anything about it. Much like knockout artists will always be more beloved by boxing fans than slick defensive fighters, so to are power pitchers more revered than other types of hurlers. And Kazmir's performance, on Sunday and on most days he pitches, inspires the kind of awe that young power pitchers always do.
You could not pick two pitchers more different that Tom Glavine and Scott Kazmir. One at the tail end of a great career, the other with unlimited potential ahead of him. One who seems always to be described as "crafty," and one who throws too hard to ever invoke that adjective. But on Sunday, as they have consistently been through the first quarter of the season, both were able to get the same thing done in leading their teams to victory.
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