John Axford Academy Awards

SURPRISE, Arizona – To this point, Canadian-born relief pitcher JOHN AXFORD has not thrown a regular-season pitch as the new closer for the Cleveland Indians, however he already has a perfect record in one category: his Academy Awards Oscar picks.

After converting 49 consecutive saves from 2011 to early 2012, John Axford has another different kind of streak going.

The Cleveland Indians closer went 18 for 18 on his 2014 Academy Awards Oscars picks, making the projections after his Indians’ game Sunday on his Facebook page.
Last year, Axford was correct on 14 of his 15 Oscars selections, having chosen Steven Spielberg as best director for Lincoln while Ang Lee won for Life of Pi.

“It was fun,” Axford remarked on Monday. “ I was following it online, not even watching it on TV. I was getting updates from people on Twitter. ‘ You’re three for three, five for five.’ It was pretty neat. By the time it got 14 for 14, I said, ‘ Wow, I picked 14 right last year.’ It definitely got a little more intense after that. When it got 16 for 16, I assumed I had it locked.”

There are 24 Oscar categories, and Axford said on Twitter he will predict them all next time around.

Axford departed the Milwaukee Brewers and agreed in December to a $ 4.5-million, one-year deal with Cleveland, where he will replace Chris Perez as their closer.

The native of Simcoe, Ontario, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in film and television arts from the University of Notre Dame.

SPECIAL TO WWW.CANADIANBASEBALLNEWS.COM – 3 March 2014