"No pressure Scott Kazmir, but everybody will be watching and taking thorough notes today.

The Angels' struggling left-hander will start against the Texas Rangers and take the mound in a noted hitters' park, no less. He's already had a recent closed-door meeting with his manager and pitching coach and has worked on mechanical flaws.

It's not like the Angels have somebody beating down the door for his rotation spot. They need Kazmir to pitch well, but no longer seem willing to wait long to see him return to the pitcher who was dominating early in a still young career.

"We're definitely seeing his talent and feel his talent will come through," manager Mike Scioscia said. "Our goal is to find a way to get his talent to flow. At times he's pitched some good baseball this year.

"He pitched against tough lineups in Detroit and pitched a good game. At times he's struggled with things."

Outside of his two outings against the Tigers it hasn't looked good.

His latest start against the Tigers, when he gave up one earned run over six innings, was on May 1.

In two starts since, he gave up seven runs in 4 1/3 innings against the Boston Red Sox and then needed 108 pitches to get through five innings in a start against his former team, the Tampa Bay Rays.

He has a 6.82 ERA and a 1.78 WHIP (walks and hits per innings) while posting a 2-3 record.

The Angels have started to show something of a revival after tough road series against the Tigers and Red Sox, but an ineffective Kazmir could end up keeping the team from building momentum.

Kazmir has battled mechanics, worked on strengthening his lower body, gone on a search for more velocity and now is trying to find the proper arm slot. All those issues have been worked on since he came to the Angels last season.

"I think where Scott is right now, this guy's still a young veteran with lot of upside," Scioscia said. "His talent is there. He doesn't have to reinvent himself ... he just has to get back in tune with some things and I think we're going to see that.

"He's just gotten away form a simple release point that was very natural for him.""