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Scott Kazmir Can Be the Difference Maker For a World Series Win
- Updated: July 28, 2014
An unlikely source may be the driving force to a championship for a (somewhat) unlikely team. When the Oakland A’s signed Scott Kazmir in the offseason, they figured on the lefthander being a middle-of-the-rotation guy who was still on the comeback trail. Sure, he had a nice rebound campaign with the Cleveland Indians in 2013, but reclaiming his glory days was not the strategy behind him coming to Northern California. But no one told Kazmir that and he is in the process of challenging for the American League Cy Young Award with an 11-3 mark and a 2.32 ERA and leading the A’s to a current two game lead in the AL West.
He made his third All-Star team this summer and seems to be all the way back since a two-year hiatus out of the major leagues. Stops in the winter leagues (Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico) and independent ball (Sugar Land Skeeters) were good enough for the former Tampa Bay ace to work out his problems, which included his mechanics being thrown off from a groin injury. Kazmir never gave up and worked harder than he ever had to in order to get back to the majors.
With the dog days of August still ahead, there is plenty of baseball to be played and the standings may look a lot different by the time the regular season commences. The A’s have been shoring up their roster and made the playoffs in 2013, so it would be a collapse of sorts if they would fall back and not even make it as a wild card. They are two games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels in the division, who – with 62 wins – are holding a comfortable lead as the first wild card.
But what is an important aspect of all of this is how Kazmir, 30, has fared at the Oakland Coliseum, and home field advantage can be even greater when you factor in his 5-0, 1.00 ERA in his last five starts there. Dominating numbers, indeed, and the type that can spurn a team on to become a force in the postseason.
Wouldn’t it be a great story if Kazmir was the guy to lead the small market A’s to another title? That just may happen.
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DATE OPP W L ERA SV IP H ER BB SO 05/28/2014 DET 1 0 2.36 0 9.0 6 1 0 8 06/03/2014 @NYY 0 0 2.40 0 6.1 6 2 2 10 06/08/2014 @BAL 1 0 2.20 0 7.0 4 0 2 7 06/14/2014 NYY 1 0 2.05 0 6.0 3 0 3 2 06/19/2014 BOS 1 0 2.08 0 7.0 4 2 0 8 06/24/2014 @NYM 0 1 2.66 0 3.0 8 7 1 4 06/30/2014 @DET 0 0 2.61 0 5.1 4 1 3 7 07/05/2014 TOR 1 0 2.53 0 7.0 3 1 2 8 07/10/2014 @SF 1 0 2.38 0 7.0 3 0 1 9 07/22/2014 HOU 0 0 2.32 0 7.0 7 1 1 6 TOTALS 6 1 2.09 0 64.2 48 15 15 69