I’ve had a lot of thoughts about events of the past couple of days, and I’m having trouble juggling them amid the time constraints I’m facing this week. With tonight’s game about to start, let me get the quickest and most meaningless of them out of the way.
This is Clayton Kershaw’s team now. It’s his team in the way that the San Francisco Giants became Tim Lincecum’s team, partly through lack of other options and partly because of how precociously good he is (although with Lincecum’s recent struggles, that might no longer apply). Kershaw is the Dodgers’ pinnacle, in the present and the future, in a way that Matt Kemp and Russell Martin in their own ways haven’t been able to sustain, and that Rafael Furcal hasn’t been able to stay healthy for. And only people on the other side of the Mississippi would think this was Joe Torre’s team.
Maybe this might have been Andre Ethier’s team, especially with all the walkoff wonders, but it just hasn’t felt that way. He seems, for all his skills, like a guy lurking in the background. This is no criticism of the skills he has, but he is not the guy that I think opponents fear the most, that represents the best of what the Dodgers have to offer.
Clayton Kershaw, 22 years old, is that guy. It might not matter, but it’s pretty amazing that it’s come to him so quickly. How far will he go in that role?
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