This is one thing that really bothers me about sports, especially in Major League Baseball. For starting pitchers, some people just look at the record and use that as a base when they’re determining whether or not they’ve performed well. A pitcher’s record can be incredibly deceiving. In 2006 with the New York Yankees, Hall of Fame left hander Randy Johnson pitched to a record of 17-11, but had an earned run average of 5. His record looks phenomenal because he won 17 games, but he gave up 5 runs per 9 innings. He’s one of the most dominant pitchers ever and probably the most dominant pitcher I’ve ever seen, but that’s a bad season.
Another example would be who I believe is the greatest pitcher of the last decade, and that’s “King” Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners. This right hander has been as consistent as a pitcher can be, but because of the Mariners struggles to score runs, his record for the most part hasn’t reflected his performance. A great pitcher can only do so much. He won a Cy Young award in 2010 and he’s a 5 time All Star, but you can make a strong argument that he hasn’t quite gotten the accolades that he’s deserved because of where he plays and who he plays for. Consistency is something you really don’t see out of star pitchers anymore because it seems like they all have their drop off season or seasons, so that is why I consider Hernandez the best.
Now there’s Oakland Athletics’ left handed starter Scott Kazmir, who got his first win in nearly two months yesterday. Now I’m by no stretch of the imagination comparing Kazmir to Randy Johnson or Felix Hernandez, but it’s a similar concept. It had been nine starts since his last victory, even though in 71 innings, he’s only given up 57 hits, has an earned run average of 2.79 and has 67 strikeouts this season. He’s been more than impressive, but because he pitches for the last place Oakland Athletics, he holds a record of just 3-4. It’s funny because he needed to nearly be perfect in order to get that win yesterday because in 8 innings, he gave up just one hit, walked two and struck out six against a pretty impressive Texas Rangers lineup. The Athletics were only ahead 1-0 when Kazmir came out of the game because on the other side, Chi Chi Gonzalez was brilliant, but Oakland continued to struggle to score runs.
In the last couple years, the 31 year old left hander has come back from multiple career threatening injuries to turn back into the All Star caliber pitcher that he once was with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. That’s how you know somebody is a good pitcher: Not just when you can blow a fastball by hitters or fool them with your breaking pitches, but also when you don’t throw quite as hard as you used to and you learn to maneuver your way through opposing lineups, by using your accuracy of the entire plate, and mixing speeds. Kazmir’s comeback has impressed me big time, and I hope for his sake that he can go somewhere that he can have a good chance of pitching in the postseason. If Oakland continues to struggle, they will be sellers, and the name Scott Kazmir may be a very attractive one at the trade deadline.
I also believe he should be given All Star consideration. But that’s none of my business…
