Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw entered his MLB-leading ninth start of the 2023 season on Tuesday night with a Kershaw-like 2.36 ERA. And even though his ERA is still a team-best 2.52 among all Dodgers starters after suffering his third loss of the season to the Minnesota Twins in front of a sold out Dodger Stadium crowd of 52,159 on Tuesday night, the 35-year-old Dallas, TX native and Dodgers first round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in University Park, TX was not pleased with his outing.

“Rhythm-wise I felt okay, overall the stuff just wasn’t as good as in Milwaukee (on May 10),” Kershaw said after the Dodgers 5-1 loss to the Twins. “Just from the beginning, it wasn’t coming out like it was last start. That happens sometimes, you know, and just get ready to go for the next one,” added the always optimistic southpaw.

“I think he just wasn’t as crisp as he has been. A little bit, for me, I thought he was fighting himself, couldn’t really find a rhythm, get into a rhythm,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said postgame. “I thought the sharpness of the slider wasn’t there, pitch count was up. Obviously the hope was for him to go deeper in the game.”

To be kind, the extremely popular Dodgers left-hander received very little offensive support from his teammates. In fact, being less kind, they sucked.

Tops on the list was Kershaw’s batterymate and best friend, Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes, who although went 1-for-4 on the night with a single, left Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas stranded on second base with no outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, and struck out swinging with Dodgers left fielder David Peralta on third base with one out in the bottom of the seventh; all this with the Dodgers best hitter, catcher Will Smith at .323 with seven home runs, sitting on the bench. (Barnes has yet to hit a home run this season).

Collectively, the Dodgers went a dismal 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, while leaving nine men on base.

Now THAT is not good ‘stuff.’

Play Ball!

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Author’s Note:

During his postgame interview, Kershaw expressed his heartfelt gratitude over the many condolences he and his family have received over the recent passing of his mother and asked reporters to please pass this along to the fans:

“I just want to say thank you everybody for the condolences and everything this week. Everybody, fans, people, everybody reaching out. It’s been humbling to see how many people have reached out and I’m thankful for that. She was a great lady and just thank you for everybody that’s reached out. It’s really nice.”

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