When you think of the 2013 AL Cy Young candidates who comes to mind? Most people would probably bring up Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish or Detroit Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer who are both having phenomenal seasons. Yu Darvish leads the league with 207 strikeouts. He has 5 games of 14+ strikeouts, the rest of the MLB’s starting pitchers combined have 3. Max Scherzer leads the league in wins with 17 he is also 3rd in strikeouts with 175. Both of these pitchers should be highly considered for the Cy Young award but I believe another pitcher should also be included in the talk and that pitcher is Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda is having a fantastic season for the New York Yankees. He has a 2.33 ERA which ranks 4th in the MLB and 2nd in the American League. Having an ERA below 3 is hard to do when you are pitching half of your games in Yankee Stadium which is a hitters ballpark. Hiroki has an 11-7 record which is great considering the Yankees lineup hasn’t given him more than 5 runs to work with since June 19th. That is almost 2 months! Since July 1st the pitcher has a 1.33 ERA and 3 shutouts, one of them being a complete game shutout. Oh yeah, Kuroda also hasn’t given up the long ball in 7 starts, which is a feat of its own when you are pitching in one of the smallest ballparks in the MLB. Hiroki Kuroda has turned into the ace of the Yankees staff and almost guarantees the team a win every time he takes the mound. He has been a horse who can pitch into the 7th and 8th inning consistently. He is doing all this with limited run support and the weight of the pitching staff on his shoulders. So in my opinion, Kuroda should easily be considered for the Cy Young award. In fact I believe he is a top 3 candidate. If he keeps pitching the same way he has over the passed month then he may be able to take the award home.
thatsportskid 