Zamora Takes Opportunity and Makes It a Perfect One

Pete Zamora could feel his career slipping away. Once a hot prospect in the Dodger organization as a starter, Zamora had become a situational left-handed reliever with the Reading Phillies.

So when an injury to a top prospect gave him an emergency start in the second game of a doubleheader, the former Capistrano Valley High and UCLA star knew he needed to make a great first impression.

He couldn’t have possibly made a greater one. On June 7 against Harrisburg, Zamora pitched the game of his life. He faced 21 batters, he retired 21 batters.

It was the first perfect game in the 34-year history of the Reading Phillies and only the fifth in Eastern League history. It was Zamora’s first no-hitter since his junior varsity days at Capistrano Valley and his first perfect performance.

“It was crazy,” Zamora said three weeks later. “It was a night I’ll never forget. It’s something you dream about once you start pitching, but you never think it will come true.”

Zamora, 24, wasn’t exactly blowing Harrisburg batters away. He struck out only four, but he made every pitch count.

“I had both sides of the plate working with my fastball, and then I would usually throw a sinker for a groundout,” he said.

The only time Zamora’s heart skipped a beat that evening was in the sixth inning. Fortunately, Zamora’s former UCLA teammate, Eric Valent, was playing a shallow left field.

“My eyes were wide open,” Zamora said. “But Eric caught [a line drive] off his shoe tops.”

Zamora didn’t seem to care that there will be an asterisk next to his perfect game.

“I would have tried for nine, but they said, ‘That’s it,’ after seven,” he said.

Although Zamora knew he needed a big-time performance, he was not expecting greatness.

“I just wanted a chance to give my team a chance to win,” he said. “Before I knew it, it was the sixth inning.”

And before he knew it, Zamora had revived his career.

“That game told me that I have the stuff to pitch in the big leagues as a starter,” he said. “It convinced me that my arm is strong enough to pitch more than a few innings at a time.”

He might have also convinced the Philadelphia organization. Zamora, whose first 18 appearances this season were in relief, has remained in Reading’s starting rotation, compiling a 2-1 record with a 3.33 earned-run average in five starts for the Phillies’ double-A affiliate. Zamora (2-1, 4.27 ERA) had a starting ERA of 1.30 until he allowed seven earned runs in five innings Thursday night in an 11-4 loss at Erie.

But for Zamora, even an off start is better than sitting all night in the bullpen, warming up for 15 minutes and then throwing to a few batters.

“That’s a hard thing to do after being a starter for 15 years,” he said.

But the current Dodger regime believed that’s where Zamora belonged. The old Dodger regime drafted him out of UCLA in the 20th round in 1997. For two years, Zamora started, and started effectively. He was 2-5 with a 2.58 ERA in 1997 with Great Falls of the rookie level Pioneer League. In 1998 with San Bernardino of the Class-A California League, he was 4-1 with a 2.09 ERA.

The next year, Kevin Malone took over as the Dodgers’ general manager and brought in player development people from Montreal.

“I lost all the guys who believed in me,” said Zamora, who was 2-1 with a 6.08 ERA in 35 relief appearances with double-A San Antonio in 1998. “The new guys liked the fact that I had a rubber arm and that I could come back every couple days.

“They liked the prospects who threw 90-plus miles an hour. I’m not like that. I’m more of your crafty lefty. I knew my style of pitching wasn’t wanted.”

But the Phillies had an interest and selected him in the Rule 5 draft. They kept him in the bullpen until a spot opened in the rotation.

“I just knew that if I stuck with my stuff, luck would find its way toward me,” Zamora said.

OC QUARTET IN READING

The Reading Phillies have the best record in the Eastern League at 52-27, thanks in part to Zamora and three other county players--Valent of Canyon High, shortstop Nick Punto of Trabuco Hills and Saddleback College and pitcher Brandon Duckworth of Cal State Fullerton.

Valent is second in the league with 16 home runs and is hitting .273 with 55 runs batted in through Saturday after a slow start. Punto is hitting .267 with two homers, 28 RBIs and 18 stolen bases through Saturday. Duckworth is 7-5 with a 3.47 ERA in 15 starts. He had 102 strikeouts and 29 walks in 93 1/3 innings through Saturday.