Make no mistake about it, Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw is a slam-dunk first-ballot future Hall of Famer; of that, you can be sure. But also make no mistake about the fact that at 33 years old, the Dallas, TX native and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in University Park, TX, is not the same Clayton Kershaw he was when he made his major league debut on May 28, 2008, as a 20-year-old.

In no way is this a knock on the future Hall of Famer, not by any margin. It is simply to say that, like a good many of us, his best days are behind him.

That being said, Kershaw entered Saturday’s contest against the NL East second-place Atlanta Braves with a 7-4 record and respectable 3.33 ERA. Even more impressive, he entered the game with a career record of 182-80, a career ERA of 2.46, and 2,603 career strikeouts. (Did I mention that Kershaw is a slam-dunk first-ballot future Hall of Famer?).

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Kershaw exited Saturday’s game after allowing five earned runs – all of them in the bottom of the third inning – and is now 7-5 on the season with a less attractive 3.66 ERA. And although the crafty left-hander struck out nine Braves batters, he allowed one walk – a very costly two-out walk – that extended that disastrous third inning in the eventual 6-4 Dodgers loss.

“Yeah, I just couldn’t stop the bleeding. With two outs, you shouldn’t give up any runs when you get to two outs. So, that (Ronald) Acuña (Jr.) walk was not good. Freddie (Freeman) does what Freddie does, hit a decent pitch, just put the bat on it, got a hit, and then, yeah, from there, just couldn’t stop the bleeding.

“Tough inning. You know, not what you want to do. Frustrating for me, battled as best I could and got through six, which I guess was somewhat of a positive, but, yeah, just a frustrating inning.”

The silver lining to all of this is that, as noted, Kershaw began the night with 2,603 career strikeouts. With his nine strikeouts on Saturday, he now has 2,612 in his 14-year MLB career, passing Hall of Famer Tom Glavine (2,607) and Chuck Finley (2,610) to move into 27th place on MLB’s all-time career strikeout list. Next on the list is David Cone in 26th place with 2,668 career strikeouts. (Did I mention that Kershaw is a slam-dunk first-ballot future Hall of Famer?).

Play Ball!

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