Fausto Carmona, Scott Kazmir Share Bank of America Presents the American League Player of the Week Honors

09/17/2007 -- Two 23-year-old starting pitchers, Fausto Carmona of the Cleveland Indians and Scott Kazmir of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, have been named the Bank of America Presents the American League Co-Players of the Week for the period ending September 16th. Bank of America, the Official Bank of Major League Baseball, is the presenting sponsor of the American League and National League Player of the Week Awards, which reflect the company's long-standing tradition of recognizing achievements that inspire us all to seize opportunities to perform at our very best.

In two road starts last week, Scott Kazmir went 2-0 with 13.0 scoreless innings and 21 strikeouts, earning weekly honors for the second time in his career. On September 10th, he pitched seven shutout innings en route to the win against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, allowing five hits and fanning 10 hitters. The 2006 A.L. All-Star tossed six scoreless frames at Seattle on September 15th, surrendering three hits and striking out 11 batters to get the win. On the season, the left-handed Kazmir is 13-8 with a 3.54 ERA, with 220 strikeouts in 195.2 innings pitched.

Fausto Carmona went 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA last week, striking out 12 in 15.0 innings. On September 10th, he tossed seven innings of one-run, three-hit ball in posting the win against the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. The right-hander followed up with eight innings of three-hit ball against the Royals on September 15th, striking out nine, in his win. The Dominican Republic native is 17-8 with a 3.07 ERA and 126 strikeouts in 202.0 innings pitched in 2007. This is Carmona's first career weekly award.

Others nominees were sluggers Vladimir Guerrero (.346, .692 SLG, 3 HR, 10 RBI) of the Angels, Aubrey Huff (.591, .773 SLG, 2 2B, 1 3B, 3 RBI) of the Orioles and David Ortiz (.450, 1.000 SLG, 2 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI) of the Red Sox. Athletics teammates Joe Blanton (2-0, 3.21 ERA, 14.0 IP, 7 SO) and Huston Street (4 G, 4 Sv, 4.1 IP, 4 SO) and Detroit's Todd Jones (5 G, 4 Sv, 5.0 IP, 4 SO) were the pitchers given consideration.

Tourneau, the world's largest watch store, will supply both Scott Kazmir and Fausto Carmona with a luxury Swiss Tourneau timepiece, suitably engraved, in recognition of their achievements as co-players of the week.

Source: MLB

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •