World Series I: The Devastating and Deranged Postseason Saga of Clayton Kershaw (The Mid-Game 1 Vibes)
As I write this, Kershaw is giving away hits like joints at the McConaughey residence and it's everything I expected when Dave Roberts commanded him to start in Fenway, away from the palm trees and the sage ceremonies to kill his demonic possessions....
This was obviously coming.
Yes, The Dodgers are on the board through a solo shot by Matt Kemp here in the 1st inning (in his first World Series at bat) but if they pull Game 1 off in Boston, it'll have little or nothing to do with Kershaw.
It'll be Dave Roberts using more pitching changes than mid 80s Magic Johnson sex partners and navigating this game pitch by fucking pitch...
The Dodgers have duplicated everything their hated enemies, the beloved San Francisco Giants executed in their pathway to winning 3 World Series championships since 2010: starting pitching (they have been weaker in the postseason and that's why LA hasn't won a World Series yet with this nucleus), the bullpen and position players who can force high pitch counts with fantastic at-bats (the Dodgers, in Game 1 already have forced Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale into throwing 72 pitches through 3 innings, while playing, and Kershaw pitching like shit). But mostly, the renewed focus on pitching and the near obsessive compulsive disorder usage of the bullpen mirrors Bruce Bochy's tireless leadership and Dave Righetti's brutal expertise in the pitching department.
The Dodgers have envied the San Francisco Giants coaching pair's eye for pitching talent as well, filling their own systems with mock greats who tend to flame out after much hipster baseball blogger hype and bluster...because...shit, they're the Dodgers.
The Golden State Warriors of baseball if you listen to all the gushing and admiration of them, of course without actually earning that title. You'd think they already had 4 titles. But this is only Kershaw's 2nd World Series and he's been around as long as former Giants pitching legend and future Hall of Famer Tim Lincecum.
But instead of copying Lincecum's evolutionary postseason dominance as a starter and reliever or Madison Bumgarner's straight up badassery in all situations (including winning a World Series game on the road as a rookie in 2010 and in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series...on the road...as a long reliever getting a 4 inning save) they've failed so far.
Kershaw has 3 Cy Young Awards, 1 more than Lincecum and 3 more than Bumgarner, but has a 7-8 road playoff record (excluding the road playoff relief appearance vs Houston in Game 7 of last season, which would make him 7-9). He's lost his cool in some big moments, such as the 2013 NLCS in St Louis where he must've been seeing hallucinations of Whitney Houston's ghost cannibalizing an infant. He's had big time mixed results if you look at the pitching performances honestly: sometimes he was great and got the loss, sometimes he was horrible or an anonymous lukewarm and the team pulled out a 1-0 win, such as against the Cubs at Wrigley in Game 2 of the 2016 NLCS.
Who knows when Clayton Kershaw's final frontier will be....when his final destination will land at the feet of baseball glory. At the writing of this article, Kershaw has fought into the 5th, improving as he's gone but Boston have now smashed a barrage at him, sending him out of this game and Roberts to the lowly, doomed figure of Ryan Madson. We don't know if it will be this World Series that proves whatever Kershaw fans think it'll prove.
Because even if he did win it all, sadly, he still has much to win to match the city up North.
Comments
Post a Comment