Pregame drill got Scott Kazmir locked in for good start

LOS ANGELES ---- Scott Kazmir said after the game that he went back to a pre-game preparation drill he had used before and that helped him pitch so well on Saturday night.

"I talked about it the last start, we were going to make some adjustments in pregame and that's what we did," said Kazmir, "Kind of a simulated inning after the warm up, it seemed to kind of lock me in a bit, and get me more prepared."

After Kazmir warmed up, one of the Dodger relievers switched from the right and left side of the plate, to give him a hitter in the box to focus on.

"Having a hitter in there doing three at-bats before I got out there kind of locked me in," Kazmir said.

"It is more just seeing that guy in the box, on certain pitches you get that release point on where you want to start pitches and stuff like that," Kazmir said, "You just get a better feel, righty, lefty, I felt that made me feel more comfortable."

Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and Kazmir talked about this after his last start.

"I've done it before but I kind of got away from it a little bit, " Kazmir said, "I think I need to stay a little more consistent."

Up next

Brandon McCarthy makes his first start coming off Tommy John surgery against Colorado right-hander Jon Gray in the series finale.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. PT.