"The pitching line was disturbing enough for Scott Kazmir, who gave up six earned runs and two hits, walked four, hit a batter and struck out three in 1 2/3 innings for triple-A Salt Lake on Tuesday.

Kazmir's postgame comments were just as disheartening for a club trying to squeeze some kind of return on the $14.5 million they're investing in the seemingly lost left-hander this season.

"It was kind of a flip of a coin if I was going to be able to get it over the plate," Kazmir said of his first rehabilitation start, which came after a monthlong stint in extended spring training. "It really had no direction and no drive straight to the plate."

The performance mirrored Kazmir's only start for the Angels this season, when he gave up five runs and five hits, walked two and hit two batters in 1 2/3 innings at Kansas City on April 3. Of the 50 pitches Kazmir threw Tuesday, 24 were strikes.

"There is such a small margin for error on how I'm throwing the baseball to get it over the plate," Kazmir said. "A couple of good fastballs in the first inning hit my spot. As the game went on, it was getting more and more out of sync."

In Anaheim, Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher could feel Kazmir's frustration.

"When guys struggle, they want to fix everything," Butcher said. "He's got 30 days to figure out where he is and where he's headed. We're going to give him all the support he needs. The biggest thing he needs to do is regain his confidence."

Butcher thinks that will come with command of a four-seam fastball Kazmir can throw to the inside corner against right-handed batters and the outside corner to lefties.

"Once he does that," Butcher said, "he can let everything else work off that."

The Angels must pay Kazmir whether he throws another pitch in the big leagues or not, so they're expected to give him a full month to right himself. If Kazmir shows no progress, he will be released."