Kyle Drabek: Toronto Blue Jays Hurler Earns AL Worst of the Night Award

Kyle Drabek was having a good year. Heading into his start on Sunday against the Texas Rangers, the 24-year-old hurler for the Toronto Blue Jays had a decent 4-4 record and a 3.27 ERA.

I say Drabek "was" having a good year because things do no't look so rosy anymore after what happened to him on Sunday. To put it lightly, he did not have a good day.

To put it, well, not lightly, Drabek got the shelling of a lifetime.

I will give him this much: he got off to a good start. Drabek was able to get around a one-out single by Elvis Andrus to work a scoreless first inning. At that point, he looked like he was on track for a solid afternoon.

Things quickly unraveled in the bottom of the second inning. Michael Young led off with a single, David Murphy walked, and then Mike Napoli walked with one out to load the bases.

Then the floodgates opened. A walk to Mitch Moreland gave Texas a 1-0 lead, and Ian Kinsler made it 3-0 with a two-RBI double to left. Andrus followed that up with a double off the left field wall to make it 5-0.

Drabek was able to retire the great Josh Hamilton on a pop-up to get to two outs, but Adrian Beltre launched a home run to left-center to make it 7-0.

Drabek gave up another double to Young before finally getting out of the inning. 

If you feel like reliving the whole thing, MLB.com has the video highlights.

After the second inning was over, Jays manager John Farrell was probably hoping to get a couple more "take a few for the team" innings out of Drabek. Alas, things did not get much better for him in the third, as a two-run homer by Kinsler with two outs stretched the Ranger's lead to 9-1.

Drabek was done after that. His final line features quite a few crooked numbers: 3 IP, 8 H, 9 R, 9 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO, 2 HR. His ERA jumped from 3.27 to 4.55.

The worst part? Drabek's game score for his start on Sunday was a mere five, a new career-low. His previous career low was a game score of 17 for a start against the Boston Red Sox last June.

So it goes for Drabek. He has excellent stuff and he looks like a very, very good young pitcher at times, but then there are times when he looks totally overmatched. There have not been too many of these times this year, but Sunday's start goes to show that Drabek still has some things to work on.

Yes, that is an understatement.

Perhaps what Drabek needs is a little extra motivation. To that end, I think I can help. For his epic stinker in Arlington on Sunday, I'm presenting Drabek with the American League "Worst of the Night" award.

It is an award you only want to win once, Mr. Drabek. And in all honesty, it is an award that I do not want to give to the same player twice.

Do not let me down. 

...For that matter, do not let yourself down.

...You know what? It is best if you do not let anyone down.

If you ever want to nominate somebody for American League "Worst of the Night" honors, hit me up on Twitter.