It is a quote from the best there’s ever been – Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully – and it’s one that every Dodger fan is very familiar with: “Good is not good when better is expected.”

But when it comes to Clayton Kershaw, many Dodger fans may have the bar set a bit too high – something more like: “Great is not great when the impossible is expected.”

Seven years into his major league career Kershaw has not only lived up to the lofty expectations that fans and the media have placed on him, but he has exceeded them to the point where he is compared almost daily with perhaps the greatest left-hander of all time – Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax. But while the ever-humble 27-year-old Dallas, Texas native absolutely refuses to put himself in the same category as Koufax, no one, absolutely no one has higher expectations of Clayton Kershaw than Kershaw himself.

There is so much more to Kershaw’s greatness than just his pitching. The defensive play he made on Monday night belongs in that “impossible” category.
(Click on image to view video)

On many occasions, even after pitching an absolute gem, Kershaw has said that he could have or even should have done better. Additionally, he is the first line of defense for his teammates and will go to the mat for them with anyone who criticizes or blames them for any miscues – even when warranted. There is no greater example of this than when Hanley Ramirez blew Kershaw’s bid for a perfect game on June 18, 2014 with an errant throw that should never have happened.

“That was a really tough play,” Kershaw said. “I think under normal circumstances that’s pretty close to a hit. [Corey] Dickerson’s really fast and Hanley did all he could, he made a great play and just throws a little wide, so there’s nothing you can do with that. It was a tough play.”

Even though Kershaw gave Hanley a pass on his perfect game-ending throwing error, it was a play that every major league shortstop should make. (Video capture courtesy of MLB.com)

After winning three Cy Young awards (which should have been four consecutive) and winning the first NL MVP award given to a pitcher since Bob Gibson in 1968, Dodger fans have come to expect nothing but the very best from Kershaw, and in most cases he delivers. But the reality of it is that even Clayton Kershaw can have a bad day – say like Monday night’s game against the last place Brewers. But what many fail to realize is that a Kershaw bad day would often times be considered a good day or even a great day by nearly every other pitcher in the major leagues. But when “Great is not great when the impossible is expected,” fans and the media tend to go into a frenzy that Kershaw has lost his greatness or that there must be something wrong with him physically when neither is true.

Could it be that Kershaw’s teammates – the same teammates that he will got to the mat for – have also bought into this “…when the impossible is expected” thing? Could it be that they actually believe that once they put a run, or two, or three on the board that the game is in the bag for them? In all honesty, probably not – you don’t get to this level with that mentality. But still, the inability of the Dodgers, who are currently second in the National League with a 4.72 runs-per-game average, to score more than three runs wasn’t lost on Dodgers manager Don Mattingly in Monday’s disappointing 4-3 loss to the Brewers.

“After the fourth, we didn’t do a lot offensively,” Mattingly said. “Their bullpen did a nice job and we didn’t add on. This one is a little tough because we had the lead. We had a good chance to win the game.”

What we witnessed on Monday was more reminiscent of the 2014 (and 2013 and 2012 and 2011, etc., etc.) Dodgers, not the 2015 Dodgers, who lead the league in nearly every offensive category. But what lends credence to this “in the bag” mentality thing is that the Dodgers offense has averaged only 3.80 runs-per-game in the six games that Kershaw has started this season – with a number of those runs coming after he left the game.

The bottom line is that while we expect greatness (or even impossible-ness) from Kershaw every time he takes the mound, his true greatness needs to be measured over the course of a season (and career), not as a microcosm of each individual outing.