September 14th, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka There is no disputing that Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw isn’t what he once was, but then, none of us are, right? But chances are exceptionally good that if you are an opponent of the Dodgers and in a must-win situation fighting for your postseason life with only 16 games remaining in the regular season … say, like, the New York Mets, there probably isn’t anyone that you would rather not have to face.
Tough.
On a full moonlit night on Friday the 13th in front of a Citi Field crowd of 36,097 – many of whom were Dodger fans – the 31-year-old Dallas, TX native and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in University Park TX drove a stake through the hearts of those hopeful and wishful New York Mets when he allowed only two runs on four hits while walking three and striking out five in his very impressive 6.1 innings of work.
(Photo credit – Jessie Alcheh)
The first of those two Mets runs came in the bottom of the first inning when Kershaw allowed a one-out solo home run to Mets left fielder J.D. Davis. After that, however, he was vintage Clayton Kershaw, much to the dismay of the Mets.
“I think he needed that one,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after his team’s dominating 9-2 win. “The last few, he just hasn’t had the stuff he’s used to having and I think it’s been pretty frustrating to him. To get into the seventh inning, to get the swing and miss and execute pitches, every pitcher regardless of who they are needs to see the zeros on the board.”
But in spite of his Kershaw-like performance, the veteran left-hander, as he always does, was once again his own worst critic. Then again, the great ones usually are, right?
“It was OK,” said Kershaw, who is now an amazing 10-0 against the Mets and 4-0 at Citi Field. “After that first inning, I got into a little bit of a groove there. Not great not to finish the seventh.”
That seventh inning was indeed a struggle for the future Hall of Famer. After getting Mets pinch-hitter Robinson Cano to ground out to first, Kershaw gave up a single Mets to first baseman Todd Frazier and then walked right fielder Michael Conforto and the game’s leading home run hitter Pete Alonso, who was pinch-hitting for center fielder Juan Lagares; not necessarily a bad thing except that it loaded the bases for Mets pinch-hitter Brandon Nimmo, prompting Roberts to pull his ace for hard-throwing Dodgers right-hander Joe Kelly On an 0-2 count, Nimmo hit a comebacker to Kelly, who threw home to Dodgers catcher Will Smith to force out Frazier at the plate for the second out of the inning.
Just when it appeared as though Kelly might pull off a miracle and escape the mess that Kershaw had created, Mets shortstop Amed Rosario singled up the middle to score Conforto. Fortunately, Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger got to the ball quickly and threw an absolute dart to the plate to keep Alonso at third. Kelly then got Davis to ground out to second to end the inning and limit the damage to only one earned run against Kershaw in what could have been a disastrous inning for him and the Dodgers.
“Joe really bailed me out there and did a great job,” said Kershaw. “The middle innings, I found a rhythm there. Sometimes it happens. Hopefully, I get on one of those every start.”
Giving credit where due, Davis was quite complimentary of the Dodgers ace.
“He was spotting it up pretty good,” said Davis of Kershaw’s devastating slider. “He had good command of his fastball and then he started really feeling for that curveball. I know he backdoored a couple to me. He’s one of those starters where we knew we needed to get on him early before he could get into his groove. He minimized damage. He did Kershaw things.”
As for the Dodgers, they were merciless against New York, including home runs from rookie second baseman Gavin Lux and recently recalled rookie pinch-hitter Edwin Rios – Lux’s a three-run blast in the top of the fourth and Rios’ a two-run shot in the top of the eighth to crush what little spirit the Mets had left.
If what we saw from Kershaw on Friday night is any sign of what’s to come as the Dodgers pursue their third consecutive National League pennant, he will once again be the guy that opposing playoff-bound teams would rather not have to face.
Tough.
Play Ball!
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Yeah, Kershaw is still very good. He’s different but good.
Kershaw, Ryu, Buehler and ??? is an awesome playoff starting rotation.
Couple that with a very good potent lineup and decent bullpen giving the Dodgers the largest run differential in MLB we have a good shot at a Championship this year.
Go Dodgers!
It didn’t look to good at the start of Kershaw’s start but it was great to see him settle down and begin to pitch very much like the Kershaw of old.
I differ with you only in that I thought he looked good from the start. That was one pitch. Below I’ve included a carefully researched a list of Hall of Fame pitchers, Cy Young Award winners, and others who’ve accomplished great things on MLB mounds who have never thrown a bad pitch in the first inning (assuming they’ve actually pitched a first inning):
Well, in the first inning he threw 16 pitches and only 6 for strikes. He threw 6 consecutive balls and got Cano to swing on 2-0 after these 6 consecutive balls. After the HR he failed to throw a 1st pitch strike to the next 4 batters… So I thought he didn’t looked good at first. But he sure settled in !