Clayton Kershaw strengthens case for NL MVP as Dodgers follow his lead
SAN FRANCISCO – The Los Angeles Dodgers have their issues. This we know.
At their worst, they are preening, pouting, half-jog flowers who'd be far better players if they spent as much time in the batting cage as they did wishing they were better taken care of.
The rest of the time, they act as though they are Clayton Kershaw's team.
Give the ball to Kershaw (or, the night before, to Zack Greinke), be mildly focused on defense, extend a few counts, play for something, and what happens happened here for two days in September.
Saturday night: Dodgers 17, San Francisco Giants 0.
Sunday afternoon: Dodgers 4, Giants 2.
What comes of a three-game lead in the NL West with 13 games to play, the next seven against last-place teams in Colorado and Chicago, is, as always, left to the whims of Dodgers attention spans and tendency toward self preservation. (And, perhaps, what happens if/when Hyun-Jin Ryu is unable to pitch again.)
What matters is that Kershaw leads them, if they can allow it, and if they can play to his standards in between his starts. See, he shows up, and he works, and he executes, and he cares, and he delivers.
On Sunday at AT&T Park, he did again. He pitched through the eighth inning against a team scalded by the events of the night before and won his 19th game against three losses. In a season in which there is no runaway MVP position player, in which there certainly is no better candidate for Cy Young, Kershaw (19-3, 1.70 ERA) probably deserves to be both. It is rare but, then, so has his season been, and so is he.
In the Dodgers' best world, which is a long way from their worst, Kershaw isn't just their ace, he's their conscience. At this time of year, in this kind of series, there can be so few easy at-bats, so few plays off, so few inches to give, that it's safe to assume there'll be none. When they were done here and packing for Denver, and leaving with more of a lead than they'd arrived with, they'd recall that it was the Giants who threw the ball around some Sunday, and the Giants who threw a bad pitch to Matt Kemp that landed in the bleachers, and they themselves who had Kershaw to run behind.
"I think everything is personal with him," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "That's really what makes him so good. Doesn't matter the score, he's going to attack.
"We kinda call him the Big Train because he just keeps coming."
So, in the seventh inning, with two out and a three-run lead and nobody on base, Kershaw grounded a ball past first base, toward the corner and right fielder Hunter Pence. By then Kershaw was 89 pitches in, 5½ months in, and still he pounded around first and headed for second, because that's how the game is drawn, and Pence threw him out by a couple inches. Kershaw stood and raised his arms, believing he was safe, because he'd worked his butt off for those couple inches.
By the start of the eighth inning, he'd thrown 104 pitches, the lead then 4-2. Kershaw and Mattingly had a conversation in the dugout. Kershaw said he believed he could get the leadoff hitter, Joe Panik. After that was Buster Posey. Panik grounded to Kershaw on one pitch, Mattingly came to the mound.
"The way he said it, I felt like he was done at Panik," Mattingly said.
Kershaw told him he was fine, that he'd like a shot at Posey. So Mattingly turned around.
"At that point," Mattingly said, "who am I to stop him? Just stay out of his way."
Pitches 106 through 108 were sliders to Posey. Posey took the first for a strike and swung over the next two.
"Amazing sliders," catcher A.J. Ellis called them.
Hunter Pence flied to center field. Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth. Kemp shrieked as he entered the clubhouse. A team prone at times to wandering had found its best self for a good 24 hours. By no coincidence, Kershaw at the same time became the first pitcher in baseball to 19 wins, though he missed all of April, and went at least eight innings for his seventh consecutive start, and ran his record against the Giants to 13-5 and at AT&T Park to 8-2 (with an 0.83 ERA).
In spite of appearances, Kershaw said, "It's never personal."
Really, he spends five days getting to his locker after this game. There are better fastballs out there. Other pitchers have good sliders and curveballs. Maybe Kershaw's are better, maybe they're not. The difference seems to be in the way they're delivered, the way he outfights everyone for his share of the strike zone, for his piece of the season, and for what waits on the other side of the ballgame.
"I enjoy this feeling," he said. "Right now, after the game. It's September whatever-it-is, it's a big game, and I enjoy this feeling."
Sounds personal.
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