If you are not prepared for a 100 percent brutally honest answer from Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, do not ask him a question.

On Wednesday afternoon following his 22-pitch / simulated inning, Kershaw was asked by reporters what missing his first Opening Day start in nine consecutive seasons means to him. He answered in no uncertain terms.

“I haven’t had a Spring Training yet, so I got to go through it all,” Kershaw began. “It’s tedious and boring, but hopefully it pays off with a healthy season.

“Health wise, felt good,” Kershaw added, about when he arrived for spring training back on February 12. “You just have to start the build-up process. That’s the bummer to being a starter. Can’t skip innings, got to go an inning at a time. One inning down and go to two innings and work your way up to 100 pitches. I don’t know the exact math, but you go up an inning a start and there’s days in between. It’s probably 20 days or something.”

But in spite of all of its pomp and circumstance, Opening Day is simply one game out of 162. Does that make the future Hall of Famer fell any better?

“At this time of year, it’s OK,” Kershaw answered, with a somewhat pained expression on his face. “Better to miss a little at the beginning than any time at all the rest of it. Disappointed. Being out there Opening Day is special. I don’t take that for granted. I love being out there and what it signifies and being part of the Dodger history and all that stuff. It’s not lost on me. I love doing that.

“But when you get super realistic about it, it is just one game. So that’s what I keep trying to tell myself. It’s going to be sad on Opening Day, watching somebody else go, but I’ll get over it,” he added. “Team-wise or season-wise, there’s nothing more important about that game than anything else. It’s just all the outside stuff, I don’t want to say it’s not important; it’s kind of not when it comes to the baseball season, but it is to me because of what it symbolizes. It’s cool.

“You want to be counted on, you want to have responsibility and you want to feel the team wants you out there. Any time you get the nod to pitch on Opening Day, that’s an exciting thing. I love it, disappointed not to get to do it but after that first win I’ll get over it. I had a good run. Hopefully I’ll can get back at it next year and be good to go.”

Brutally honest and 100 percent from the heart.

Play Ball!

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