After his first outing of the season in which he allowed one run on four hits while striking out three and walking none, Dodgers right-hander Ross Stripling was both pleased and a little upset with his two innings of work in the eventual 4-0 loss to the San Diego Padres. He was pleased because he threw a new pitch that he had been working on and it was very effective. He was a little upset because there was an element missing from his mindset – one that he sees in Clayton Kershaw every time the Dodgers ace takes the mound – conviction.

“It’s a conviction thing more than anything,” Stripling explained. “Like, I threw onto [Padres left fielder Travis] Jankowski to finish my first inning, that was a 3-2 pitch and I was like convicted to it, it was a good pitch. And then I threw a 2-1 slider to [Padres center fielder Manuel] Margot – I just wanted to throw a first strike, I wanted him to hit it – and I left it right over the heart of the plate and he hit a 105-mile-an-hour line drive to the outfield. So it’s more of having that conviction all the time. Like, why was it more convicted to Jankowski on a 3-2 pitch than it was to Margot on a 2-1 pitch? That should be the same.

“So it’s more of a … like if you watch Kershaw pitch, I don’t care if it’s 3-0 or 0-2, he has the same conviction behind every pitch when, for me, I seem to find myself saying ‘It’s okay if you hit this one’ when I shouldn’t be saying that,” Stripling added. “I should be saying ‘You’re not going to hit this one’ every time, I should have that conviction behind every pitch.”

Stripling is very well aware that having Kershaw-like conviction on every pitch doesn’t come to you overnight, but he knows how it comes to you.

“I think that kind of comes as you have success,” said the 27-year-old Blue Bell, Pennsylvania native. “As you kind of build on each outing, I mean that was my first one, so hopefully now I know that I can get that behind me and now my next one I can just build on that and I have that conviction behind every pitch.”

Since his first outing of the season on April 4, Stripling has shown Kershaw-like conviction on every pitch. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Fast-forward to Wednesday night in the Windy (and cold) City.

Stripling entered the game after an absolutely brilliant performance by hard-throwing right-hander Brandon McCarthy, who held the defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs scoreless for six innings on only four hits while striking out four and walking three and nursing a precarious 1-0 lead. All Stripling did was retire the Cubs in order that included striking out Cubs second baseman and 2016 World Series MVP Ben Zobrist and right fielder Jason Heyward.

He then came back out to pitch the eighth inning and struck out Cubs catcher Willson Contreras, but Cubs pinch-hitter Albert Almora Jr. reached on an extremely rare fielding error by Dodgers four-time Gold Glove first baseman Adrian Gonzalez (although the error probably should have gone to shortstop Corey Seager for his wide throw). This brought up always-dangerous Cubs center fielder Jon Jay representing the go-ahead run at the plate.

In what was arguably the most incredible pitcher versus batter dual of the young season, Jay fouled off six pitches in the 11-pitch at-bat. However, on the last pitch – a gutsy 88.9-MPH slider that also cut downward (Stripling’s new pitch) – Jay swung and missed for the second out of the inning. Dodgers lefty Luis Avilan then came in to relieve Stripling and struck out Cubs phenom left fielder Kyle Schwarber on four pitches to end the inning and the threat in the eventual 2-0 Dodger victory.

If that’s not conviction, nothing is.