Kershaw CCXII: Kershawrk Tank
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Carl Crawford, LF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Yasmani Grandal, C
Andre Ethier, RF
Juan Uribe, 3B
Joc Pederson, CF
Clayton Kershaw, P
By Jon Weisman
As Clayton Kershaw takes the mound for the start that will either launch or evaporate the “What’s wrong with Clayton Kershaw?” questions, it’s worth taking a moment to note how much the offense has keyed the Dodgers’ 6-3 start.
A dozen days into the National League season, Los Angeles leads the NL in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, home runs and weighted on-base average (wOBA).
According to Fangraphs’ Offense stat, the Dodgers are truly dominant, coming in at 13.8, with the No. 2 team (San Diego) nearly 50 percent lower and 12 out of 15 teams in negative territory.
It’s not only Adrian Gonzalez, though he has definitively led the way. Joc Pederson, Howie Kendrick, Yasiel Puig and Jimmy Rollins are off to above-average starts, along with Alex Guerrero, Andre Ethier and Scott Van Slyke off the bench. (Puig is missing his third straight start, by the way, with a tender hamstring.)
The Dodgers have scored at least five runs in six of nine games in 2014 (winning all six) and at least three runs in all but one. They’re averaging 4.6 runs per game.
oldbrooklynfan
So far everything is moving along smoothly except Kershaw is not exactly himself. Let’s hope Kershaw has a night that resembles what we need from him.