Scott Kazmir had what many would call a bizarre rehab stint on Wednesday. (MLB.com)
The left-hander gave up four earned runs and worked into the fifth inning on Wednesday in the Class A Vero Beach Devil Rays’ 4-3 loss to the Palm Beach Cardinals in a game that started in the morning and ended with Kazmir going back and forth from the mound to the bullpen due to a pitch-count misunderstanding.
“It was frustrating,” Kazmir said following his 64-pitch effort, his second start following a left elbow strain in late February. “I wanted to work on a lot of things and stretch myself out. I felt strong. [pitching coach Jim] Hickey and I were both on the same page, but it didn’t happen.”
This doesn’t seem to me to be the most complicated thing in the world to do. You give dude a pitch count. You let dude reach that pitch count. If both Kaz (and Hickey, apparently) thought that he was going to work 75 pitches, then why not just let him throw 75 pitches against real live batting? It makes no sense to me.
We always want to assign blame to someone, but I’m not sure whose fault this is. Vero’s staff for not communicating more effectively with Kaz? I guess. What a weird story.
Oh yeah: and the game started at 10:30 AM.
