By Jon Weisman
Lots of cool names were coming through Dodger Stadium over the past few days, along with another big ThinkCure! Weekend, so I wanted to lasso a sample of it all.
Videos follow. For more highlights from Sunday, visit LA Photog Blog.
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By Jon Weisman
I was all set to tell you why you shouldn’t jump off a cliff even if the Dodgers lost a second straight Clayton Kershaw start and a second straight game to the Padres. But Justin Turner did me the favor of explaining better and more dramatically than I ever could.
“I don’t hit a lot of home runs.”
– Turner, on MLB Network’s “Intentional Talk” this afternoon
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By Jon Weisman
Some random facts to take your mind off the Dodgers’ injury woes:
Wanted to share this fun feature by Cary Osborne from the August edition of Dodger Insider magazine that looks at the oddities in the pitching motions for such Dodgers as Clayton Kershaw and J.P. Howell. Click on each image below to enlarge the pages.
— Jon Weisman
Zack Greinke on the mound against the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium on July 30. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
Note: San Francisco won its protest of the decision to call Tuesday’s 4 1/2-inning game at Chicago complete. The Giants’ loss is taken off the standings, putting the Dodgers’ National League West lead at four games heading into tonight.
San Francisco and Chicago will resume their game at 2:05 p.m. Pacific on Thursday, with the regularly scheduled series finale to follow at 5:05 p.m.
By Jon Weisman
Making use of three off days between August 18-28, the Dodgers have tweaked their pitching rotation to buy Zack Greinke some extra rest for his tender elbow.
Clayton Kershaw, pitching on four days’ rest, will take Greinke’s turn Thursday against the Padres, while Greinke will be held back until Saturday against the Mets (with Dan Haren going Friday and Kevin Correia on Sunday).
An off day on Monday would then allow the Dodgers to give Kershaw & Co. the extra day of rest they thought they’d be getting this week.
Don Mattingly said that Greinke had a clean MRI on his elbow two weeks ago. Greinke didn’t want to postpone his start, but was convinced in a conversation with vice president of medical services Stan Conte to be prudent about his condition.
“If he keeps feeling like he’s feeling now, I don’t think he thinks or anyone thinks it’s a DL (situation),” Mattingly said. “With the off days … that will determine how he gets extra rest.”
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By Jon Weisman
Clayton Kershaw walked none and struck out 11 in a five-hit, 97-pitch complete game, but somehow, for the first time in one of his starts since May 28, he and the Dodgers lost.
A two-run home run by Ryan Braun just over the right-field wall in the fourth, followed by a solo shot by first-pitch-swinging Carlos Gomez in the sixth, poked the holes in Kershaw’s seemingly immortal summertime run, lifting Milwaukee to a 3-2 victory Saturday.
For Kershaw, it his sixth complete game of 2014 (most by a Dodger since Ismael Valdez in 1995). But it was the first complete-game loss of his career and the 11th by a Dodger pitcher this century — and just the second by a Dodger at home, joined only by Derek Lowe on June 9, 2007.
The only time Kershaw has thrown fewer pitches in a nine-inning complete game was his memorable Opening Day 2013 shutout of the Giants, which he finished in 94.
The Dodger offense rarely troubled Yovani Gallardo, who scattered six hits and a walk over eight innings. Los Angeles scored its only run off the Milwaukee starter when Justin Turner singled home Carl Crawford, but Turner was tagged out trying to go to second on the play.
After Kershaw walked off the mound in the middle of the ninth to a standing ovation, Matt Kemp thrilled the crowd by slamming a 3-2 pitch far over the short wall in left field for a leadoff homer. But that was all the Dodgers got.
Kershaw’s ERA rose from 1.78 to 1.86, but he now has 174 strikeouts compared to 19 walks in 2014 — a 9.2 K/BB ratio. Los Angeles had averaged 4.9 runs per game in support of Kershaw this season before tonight.
Tonight’s game was the first time that Kershaw had been charged with a loss after a Dodger loss in the previous game since June 21, 2013, the night before the Dodgers’ 42-8 run began.
The game lasted 2:28; the only nine-inning game that the Dodgers have played more quickly this season was a 6-0 victory at Arizona on April 11.
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By Jon Weisman
A.J. Ellis has a guest piece for ESPN.com today in which he details the preparation Clayton Kershaw makes before a start. Here’s an excerpt:
Interleague play usually takes away the most valuable tool of setting any game plan: data on head-to-head matchups. In the recent Freeway Series with the Angels, Kersh and I both fell victim to this trap. Kershaw hadn’t faced the Angels since 2011, and had a limited history with the majority of the Halos. It’s no secret across baseball that Kersh loves to pound right-handed hitters inside. His combination of angle, deception and command make it extremely hard to square up an executed fastball on the inside corner.
The trouble is the Angels have a bunch of great hitters who feast on pitches on the inner half. So in our pregame meeting, we decided to scrap Kersh’s strength and try to work the outer half of the plate toward those hitters’ statistical weaknesses. Three innings and three earned runs later, we both realized we compromised our typical game plan in favor of the numbers our computer spewed out regarding hitters’ results versus left-handed pitchers who probably do not own two Cy Young Awards or pitch with the will and ferocity Kersh does.
Realizing the error of our ways, we went back to what Kersh does well, and he cruised the rest of the way. After giving up seven hits and striking out just one batter in his first three innings because of our dumb game plan, Kersh allowed no hits and struck out six in his final four frames. Lesson learned
There’s more, including a discussion of Zack Greinke’s approach to preparation.
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By Jon Weisman
Today’s game didn’t exactly slow the downhill-rolling boulder that is Clayton Kershaw’s National League Most Valuable Player candidacy.
The former prep football center was the equivalent of an NFL Punt, Pass & Kick winner today, leading the Dodgers to a 5-1 victory at Milwaukee that helped push them to a season-high 4 1/2-game lead in the NL West.
Kershaw walked leadoff batter Carlos Gomez today, the first walk the big lefty had allowed in the first inning all season. But as omens go, it wasn’t much.
Lowering his 2014 ERA to 1.78, Kershaw allowed one run on eight baserunners in eight innings with six strikeouts — and was his own best friend today. Not only did he reach base thrice (hit by a pitch, walk and RBI single), he also picked off Carlos Gomez in the fourth and made, as you can revisit in the video above, one of the great diving plays you’ll ever see a pitcher make, thwarting a Milwaukee squeeze bunt attempt.
Laundry detergent companies, the endorsement ball’s in your court.
Kershaw won his 11th straight decision, the longest winning streak for a Dodger pitcher since Orel Hershiser in 1985. Since the start of June, Kershaw has a 1.16 ERA with 117 strikeouts against only 12 walks and 62 hits in 101 innings, averaging 7.8 innings per start.
The Dodgers whittled away at the Brewers with single runs in the third, fifth and seven innings before busting loose for two in the eighth, thanks in no small part to A.J. Ellis’ first home run of 2014 and Miguel Rojas’ career-high third hit of the game.
Adrian Gonzalez had two doubles, a sacrifice fly and two RBI, and is 9 for 14 with three doubles, two homers and three walks in his past four games. The Dodgers reached base 18 times in all today.
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By Jon Weisman
A.J. Ellis and Andre Ethier were a combined 8 for 66 (with eight walks) since the All-Star Break, but they provided the final key at-bats in the Dodgers’ 5-4 walkoff victory Tuesday over the Angels.
After Ellis’ perfectly executed hit-and-run single moved Juan Uribe to third with one out in the bottom of the ninth and the score tied, Ethier hit a chopper to third that Angels third baseman David Freese barehanded but was unable to throw home accurately enough to nab Uribe at the plate, giving the Dodgers their third walkoff victory of the homestand after only two in their previous 49 home games.
Both at-bats culminated on 3-2 pitches.
Uribe was hardly a bit player in this game. His three-run homer in the second inning brought the Dodgers back from an early 2-0 deficit.
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Clayton Kershaw struggled early, allowing eight hits to the first 12 batters he faced and matching his career high for a game with four doubles allowed before he retired a batter in the third inning. But Kershaw flipped the switch, and retired 14 of the final 16 batters he faced, exiting with a 4-3 lead.
Kershaw has 16 quality starts in 18 appearances in 2014 and has allowed more than three runs only once — the seven-run debacle in Arizona in mid-May. He has not allowed more than 10 baserunners in his past 22 starts, dating back to 2013.
Matt Kemp’s hustle brought home the Dodgers fourth run — he reached first and third on an error with a stolen base in between, and scored on a Scott Van Slyke sacrifice fly. But Albert Pujols’ eighth-inning homer — the first allowed by Brian Wilson in the past 106 at-bats against him — tied the game.
Clayton Kershaw, wearing No. 54, makes the first start of his big-league career on May 25, 2008. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
By Jon Weisman
Clayton Kershaw makes the 200th start of his Major League career tonight.
In Major League history, two pitchers have made 199 starts with an park/era-adjusted ERA (ERA+) of at least 150: Pedro Martinez and Kershaw.
Here are the top six pitchers in strikeouts per nine innings: Randy Johnson, Martinez, Nolan Ryan, Tim Lincecum, Kershaw, Sandy Koufax.
The top five in MLB history in Wins Above Average through age 26: Walter Johnson, Bert Blyleven, Christy Mathewson, Hal Newhouser, Kershaw.
* * *
The taboo against comparing Kershaw to Koufax has begun to fall away, as the full scope of Kershaw’s accomplishments resonates more and more among even the most diehard Koufax fans. At a minimum, fewer raise objections to mentioning them in the same sentence.
Whether Kershaw will end is career in the same stratosphere as Koufax is impossible to know. But speaking in the present, there’s no doubt that Kershaw has accomplished more by his age-26 season than Koufax has.
Among the key distinctions made to elevate Koufax above Kershaw is the fact that Kershaw was part of a five-man rotation, while four-man rotations were common in the Koufax era. It’s a meaningful distinction, though perhaps overplayed in terms of how often Koufax started on three days’ rest:
Especially at the outset of Koufax’s career, some of his starts that were technically on short rest came after brief appearances. For example, in his 1955 rookie season, Koufax is credited with a 14-strikeout August 27 shutout of the Reds on one day of rest, but in fact that was coming off an 11-pitch relief appearance on August 25 in the ninth inning with a five-run deficit, an outing that essentially was a glorified bullpen session.
I’m absolutely not trying to minimize anything Koufax has accomplished here — Koufax threw 135 pitches in that 1955 shutout, at age 19, and you’ll be shocked to find that in his next appearance, he allowed four runs in an inning of relief. Live by the pitch-count freedom, die by the pitch-count freedom.
Koufax was not protected the way Kershaw was; he was used almost haphazardly. He was anything but sacred for the first several years of his career, and the fact that he became as incredible as he did speaks to his miraculous qualities.
But when people have said that you can’t compare Kershaw to Koufax, the Koufax they’re really speaking of didn’t even arrive until age 27, the year of his first Cy Young Award. Kershaw doesn’t turn 27 until next year.
Ultimately, comparing Kershaw to Koufax is apples to oranges (the very best apples and oranges you’ve ever tasted). Kershaw will never have the opportunity to prove that he could match or surpass Koufax on three days’ rest. Kershaw will never crack 300 innings in a season. And for that we can be grateful, because thanks to those restrictions, Kershaw has a much better chance to pitch past the age of 30, perhaps another decade beyond Koufax’s playing life.
So when people like myself do compare Kershaw to Koufax, we’re really just trying to look for ways to shorthand the greatness of Kershaw. And it’s no shot at Koufax that in some ways, he does fall short. It simply speaks to how mindblowingly unreal Kershaw has been.
But for our conclusion, we’ll leave Koufax out of the copy:
Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher of his age in Dodger history and probably one of the five best in Major League history. And as impossible as it seems, it’s possible he hasn’t peaked.
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Last week, we laid out the case for Clayton Kershaw becoming National League Pitcher of the Month for the second time in a row, and so it has come. Kershaw is the only Dodger besides Don Sutton and Burt Hooton (in April-May and August-September 1975) to win back-to-back Pitcher of the Month honors.
— Jon Weisman
For more highlights from Thursday’s game, visit LA Photog Blog.
By Jon Weisman
Clayton Kershaw was as unsurprising a winner as they come of National League’s Pitcher of the Month honors in June. And in July, he hardly declined.
Thanks to a 1.07 ERA last month, Kershaw is the first pitcher to have an ERA under 2.00 through the end of July in back to back seasons since Greg Maddux in 1994-95, notes Lee Sinins at Gammons Daily.
The lefty’s current 2014 ERA is better than Sandy Koufax’s best (1.73) and coming within range of the 98-year-old franchise record, 1.58 by Rube Marquard in 1916.
To be clear, Kershaw already set the Dodger record for adjusted ERA in a season last year, a record he is on pace to smash this year.
Kershaw’s July ERA was somehow only fourth in Major League Baseball but first in the NL. Interestingly, Kershaw also has a close match in the American League with the same initials, as Carson Cistulli of Fangraphs notes.
So, what about July in the NL?
As you can see, it’s a tight race. There’s a statistical case for deGrom, except for the fact that he threw 32 1/3 innings, 23 percent fewer than Kershaw. (Note that this same argument was used in reverse against Kershaw when it came time to pick the NL’s All-Star Game starting pitcher.) Ryu only pitched 28 1/3 innings in July.
The top challenger to Kershaw for July NL Player of the Month honors is Ross. I would pick Kershaw, by a nose, but in my mind, it’s enough of a tossup that it really comes down to whether the powers that be want to spread the wealth around. For those curious about NFL drafts, can a player refuse a draft pick nfl? Visit nfldraftbuzz.com to find out.
No matter what happens this month, Kershaw has bigger fish to fry, individually (Cy Young race, anyone?) as well as his drive to lead the Dodgers to a title.
* * *
Other news and notes …
“Perhaps the main reason behind Kemp’s lofty in-play average since the beginning of June has been his ability to generate ideal trajectories at a higher frequency, increasing his 25.6% line-drive rate from April-May to 29.6% from June to July (third-highest in baseball in that span). …
For Kemp, whose line-drive rate has improved some despite actually hitting pitches ‘hard’ less frequently since the beginning of June, this fact bodes well for his current production moving forward if he continues to produce line drive trajectories, coupled with his ability to decipher between balls and strikes on the inner-half of the plate.”
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So, what’s new with Clayton Kershaw?
– Jon Weisman
Early bunting practice for @flashGJr: Three strikes and watch out! https://t.co/Xsb700QCo1
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) July 30, 2014
By Jon Weisman
So now that the Dodgers have won four games in a row, I’m guessing the next thing you want is five. You fans, you’re so incorrigible.
Well, the last time the Dodgers won five games in a row, they won six. That was from August 28 to September 3, completing the team’s bold 53-13 run from 30-42 (and 9 1/2 games out of first place in the National League West) to 83-55.
This year’s Dodgers — whom, it should be noted, haven’t been below .500 all season — are 28-16 (.636) since falling 9 1/2 games behind San Francisco. Earlier today, the Giants ended their six-game losing streak by rallying to defeat Pittsburgh, 7-5.
Elsewhere …
By Jon Weisman
Asked to explain the key factor in the Dodgers’ sweep of San Francisco this past weekend, Clayton Kershaw replied with a laugh.
“It’s just Donnie finally putting the right lineup out there,” Kershaw said Monday at the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Dodgers All-Access event at Dodger Stadium. “It’s about time he got it right.”
Though there’s no doubt some are inclined to take him seriously, Kershaw was clearly joking. While it’d be nice to think that there is a magic lineup that would make the Dodgers unstoppable, a bigger reason for the sweep was probably a different decision that Mattingly & Co. made, setting up the Dodgers’ top three starting pitchers to face … not the Giants’ top three starting pitchers.
What happens when three old friends in crisis fall into an unexpected love triangle? In The Catch, Maya, Henry and Daniel embark upon an emotional journey that forces them to confront unresolved pain, present-day traumas and powerful desires, leading them to question the very meaning of love and fulfillment. The Catch tells a tale of ordinary people seeking the extraordinary – or, if that’s asking too much, some damn peace of mind.
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