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When a Tampa Bay Rays game starts with B.J. Upton homering off the first pitch from former teammate and good buddy Scott Kazmir, you know it’s going to be worth staying up late for every bit of it. The former TB ace showed all the old problems he had when wearing the blue and gray, including putting men in scoring position before securing the first out of the game. Kaz showed that despite retaining the ability to dig a monumental hole for himself, he still has the tools to climb his way out, but not before allowing a two-out, two-RBI base hit by Ben Zobrist to score two more runs in the top of the first. Big Ben’s clutch single scored Jason Bartlett and Carl Crawford, who’d been hit by a pitch and walked, respectively. Kazmir threw more than 30 pitches in the frame. Some things never change, but it’s good to see his struggles come in our favor for once (no real reason for the music video, I just love the song and it got stuck in my head after that last sentence).
This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2010.