With a win Sunday, winless Kenshin Kawakami can finally validate his place on a team that has learned how to win
Scott Pharr, Atlanta, GA
It isn’t all his fault, although he would be the last one to tell you that. Quiet and reserved Kenshin Kawakami, thus far bringing a big bagel to the winning column in 2010, is the classic case of hard luck and bad breaks, but unlike many spoiled athletes, he refuses to offer any explanation beyond he who stands on the mound responsible for getting every play started by throwing the ball to the plate. That is why it is so very easy to get behind the slim and wiry hurler with better than average ability, and hope his next outing is finally his first victory of the season. The 34-year old from Tokushima, Japan, is in his 2nd full season with Atlanta, coming to the Braves after 10 years of service in the Japanese professional league.
He strides back out there today as the Braves take on the Pirates this afternoon at Turner Field. The Georgia Lottery has a motto: “Today could be the day.” This is very likely the first sentence that has to pop into Kawakami’s head the minute he gets out of bed. It just might be TODAY.
It really isn’t all his fault, however. In his 9 starts this season, the Braves are scoring a paltry 2.88 runs per game. 6 of the 9 starts the team scored under 3 runs with 2 being shutouts. Anytime a pitcher starts out 0-7 but stays in the rotation, it is necessary to look beyond the record and examine the sheer pitching statitistics. For Kawakami, not suprisingly, the numbers are modest, but not worthy of 0-7: ERA 4.93, 30 strikeouts, 13 walks. There are many pitchers across the league with worse numbers but more wins.
He has more than held up his end of the bargain, and unfortuanately , his misfortune this year was due to either going up against a high calibre opposing starter, or having to take the mound amidst a work-in-progress lineup early in the season that had yet to begin producing many runs on a daily basis. The latter has changed drastically in recent weeks, thanks to deft batting-order shuffling by manager Bobby Cox. A little over two weeks ago, rising superstar Jason Heyward was slotted into the 2-hole, which infused juice into the top end of the lineup and allowed the team to begin issuing pressure offensively to opposing pitchers before they could settle in and get comfortable. The leadoff spot, a serious area of concern over the first month, has fallen to the leagues total hits leader, relatively anonymous Martin Prado. This has allowed them to surge in May, posting 14 wins in their last 18 games, now breathing directly down the necks of the first-place Phillies.
Today, against the lesser-talented Pirates, Kawakami has it in front of him to step up and deliver a quality win, and prove his abilities really don’t equal that zero in the win column. Kawakami has one other interesting distinction of note. Earlier this year 21-year old Wade McGilberry won $1 Million as part of a video game promtion. He used Kawakami’s avatar in pitching a perfect game for the 2K10 Major Leage Baseball game. Kawakami would like nothing more than to see life imitate art, but perfection aside, he would gladly settle for nothing more than just a 1 to replace that zero under the big W.
