Scott Kazmir News

Throughout the offseson we'll be bringing you interviews with some of today's best and brightest baseball writers.

Awards season is upon us, with the game's premier performers for 2009 set to be rewarded starting with the Nov.

This is part 5 of the 6 part series on the best 30 starts for the Rays in our most recent season.

The Rays saw from the batters box just how dominating Cole Hamels was through last postseason as he baffled them twice on his way to the World Series MVP award.

By any reasonable evaluation, the Angels had an exceptional season. Yes, it ended too soon for their fans, but that's true of the faithful of 28 other Major League clubs.

On the day before the World Series was to start in the Bronx, the Los Angeles Angels gathered in their clubhouse for the final time in 2009 and cleaned out their lockers.

Athletics 11. Blue Jays 12. Reds 13. White Sox 14. Brewers 15. Rangers 16. Cubs 17.

The Angels pulled the trigger on a deal to acquire Scott Kazmir on Aug. 29 because they were looking for some depth in their rotation.

Scott Kazmir on eight days' rest vs. CC Sabathia on three. Joe Girardi had better be right about his hunch on Sabathia tonight, or the Yankees could be in deep trouble.

Torii Hunter isn't convinced that the Angels aren't going to come back to life against the Yankees in the ALCS.

Tampa Bay Rays The Rays had another banner year on the farm, even if the major league team suffered a bit of a letdown after their AL pennant year of 2008.

Trading LHP Scott Kazmir to the Angels was about the money, in that it allows the Rays to keep the core of their team together for 2010 and helps going forward with Carlos Pe na , Carl Crawford and Grant Balfour headed toward 2011 free agency.

Carl Crawford finished 2-for-4 with two triples and two runs batted in, as the Tampa Bay Rays edged Kansas City, 5-3, in the third contest of a four-game series with the Royals.

They spent more than a billion dollars to build a new playground in the Bronx for the New York Yankees' well-heeled fans.

Sunday afternoon didn't start as planned for ex-Ray LHP Scott Kazmir , who wasn't particularly sharp and put his new Angels team behind early.

For the second straight year left-hander Scott Kazmir gets the chance to close out the Boston Red Sox in a playoff series at Fenway Park.

The Boston Red Sox had history on their side going into their AL division series with the Los Angeles Angels .

They weren't hungry enough. To repeat, they weren't hungry enough. That sound you heard, if you heard it at all, was the Tampa Bay Rays' season ending.

Stopping short of just inviting every free agent reliever who possesses a fastball and a slider to spring training, I decided to look into a few individual cases that I think might fit the Rays ' plans in 2010.

The Rays had many players with strong seasons this year, which even adds more to why the Rays clearly had a good enough year, but CC put up a career year.