The Kuroda Factor

You can look up and down the Yankees lineup and you'd recognize many of the names - Jeter, Granderson Rodriguez, Teixeira, Cano, Sabathia, Pettitte - but there is one name you rarely hear anything about.

Hiroki Kuroda.

Dude just gets it done.  Sure, his record is a mediocre 6-6.  No, he doesn't have the eye-popping strikeout numbers of Sabathia.  He's not dialing it up there at 93-94 like Nova, Hughes, or Sabathia.

But he take the ball every fifth day and gets after it.

Shit, in four of his six losses, they "vaunted" Yankees offense has scored one or no runs.  In his six wins, they've scored 5, 2, 6, 2, 9, and 3.  Not exactly the best run support.  Actually, they score just 4.54 runs a game for this him, worst among their starters, by far. Pettitte gets almost 6 runs a game, Hughes gets almost seven per game, Nova almost 7.5, and CC just over 7.

Do the Yankees like this guy like I do?

And his name is just fun to say - Hiroki Kuroda.

He's only had one season (out of four complete MLB seasons) where he's finished over .500 - 2009 with the Dodgers, when he was 8-7.  His worst season ERA?  3.76.  He's five games under .500 for his career with a 3.45 career ERA.  Tough luck, I guess.

You never hear anything bad about this guy.  His contract - a whopping $10 million a year - is a little outrageous.  He's 37 years old, so he's not exactly a young buck.  He's in his 16th season as a professional.

I thought it was a great sign when they got him and I am sticking by that.  The guy is no-nonsense, gives you a chance to win (the vast majority of the time), and is tough.

Hiroki Kuroda deserves another season over .500. 

If he continues to pitch like he is in June, he makes the Yankees even tougher.  In June, by far his best month, he's 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in 20 innings (3 starts).

Of course tonight he's struggling a little bit as the game with the Braves is currently 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth.