By Louis Addeo-Weiss
The word numb, according to Dictionary.com, is defined as “incapable of action or of feeling emotion”.
Good or bad, the constant occurrence of related events may cause this feeling, or lack thereof, to manifest itself within us.
When it comes to watching Clayton Kershaw, the consensus best pitcher of a generation, experience blow-up after blow-up during the postseason, the nexus of this numbness between my, Clayton, and presumably, all of the baseball world’s emotional reaction, is ever-present.
For someone whose adoration for the Dodgers’ longtime ace has spanned as long as he’s been posting sub-3 ERA’s and winning Cy Young’s, his postseason shortcomings have, at various times, left me feeling empty, dejected, almost as if I had been the one who choked when it mattered most. The adoration and admiration I have for Clayton Kershaw has caused just as much pain and anguish as it has sheer joy and childlike euphoria.
Regardless of the heaping numbers of accolades by way of ERA titles (five), Cy Young’s (three), All-Star appearances (eight), and MVP wins, the narrative surrounding the Dodgers’ contemporary answer to Sandy Koufax will always lie in what he did when it mattered most; October, the Postseason, and where heroes are born and immortalized.
Last night, Wednesday, October 9, 2019, saw another chapter added to the ongoing saga that is Kershaw’s playoff woes.
After entering the game in relief, with the Dodgers leading the Washington Nationals, a franchise who had never as much as won a playoff series, 3-1 in the top of 7th after 6.2 marvelous innings from Game 1 hero Walker Buehler, Kershaw, who came into the game with a 2.45 ERA across 9.2 playoff innings in relief, added to that saga, in a game that would leave a 106-win Dodger team, eliminated from playoff contention.
Facing Adam Eaton, Kershaw carved the Nationals number two hitter up on three pitches, striking him out on a slider to end the inning.
All is good right?
Considering manager Dave Roberts’ supposed eagerness to have Kershaw finish the game and hopefully, the series, Kershaw returned for the 8th.
Two pitches later, what was once a 3-1 lead with the team 6 outs shy of facing their old playoff nemesis, the St. Louis Cardinals, who had just wrapped up an anticlimactic 13-1 drumming of the upstart Atlanta Braves in their respective series, evaporated before the eyes of a sold out Dodger Stadium crowd and countless others watching at home on TBS.
Pitch number one, an 89 mph slider, not too bad of a pitch when watching the highlight, to MVP-candidate Anthony Rendon, wound up in the left field seats for a home run; score: Dodgers 3, Nationals 2.
Next up was Juan Soto, the Nationals 20-year old phenom, the owner of a 140 OPS+ through his first two seasons of play.
Pitch number two, and arguably the one that signaled the beginning of the end, was another slider. This time though, for Soto, who is known for his advanced approach at the plate (career .403 OBP), took advantage of the second-thrown slider, a hanging pitch down the middle of the plate, and deposited it 449 feet over the right field wall; score: Dodgers 3, Nationals 3.
Home runs on back-to-back pitches, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, is something Kershaw had never fallen victim to in the regular season. Kershaw did so nearly two years to the day, October 6, 2017, when allowing home runs on consecutive pitches to Ketel Marte and Jeff Mathis of the Arizona Diamondbacks in game one of that year‘s NLDS.
Kershaw out, Kenta Maeda in, postseason narrative for Clayton Kershaw: further cemented.
The Beach Boys’ are one of, if not, the most heralded group in the history of American popular music, and one of their earliest hits, 1962’s “Lonely Sea”, paints a picture of a man gone desolate, both physically and, in the case of Kershaw, mentally.
When Brian Wilson sings “it never stops, for you or me, it moves along, from day to day,” one could easily apply this narrative, in a contemporary context, to Kershaw’s October horror show.
After Kershaw’s exit, Maeda would go 1-2-3, striking out the side, handing the ball over to Joe Kelly, who would duplicate Maeda’s performance in the 9th.
Fast forward to the top of the 10th, and Howie Kendrick’s grand slam would seemingly put the lid on a season many felt the Dodgers had the best chance to win their first World Series since 1988.
And after his most recent postseason blow up, Kershaw’s postseason numbers read as follows: 9-11, 4.43 ERA, 158.1 IP, 78 earned runs, 24 home runs allowed.
Of the Dodgers 7 series deciding loses, Kershaw has lost 4 of them.
We saw this in Game 6 of the 2013 NLCS, where the Dodgers ace, who allowed just 1 earned run over 19 playoff innings that postseason, surrendered 7 earned runs, giving the Cardinals the National League pennant.
We saw this in Game 4 of the 2014 NLDS, again against the St. Louis Cardinals, where Kershaw, pitching on three days of rest, and having silenced the Cardinal bats for 6+ innings, hung a curveball to Matt Adams in an eventual 3-2 loss and repeat-elimination by way of the Cardinals.
We saw this in Game 6 of the 2016 NLCS, where Kershaw would allow 6 runs across 5 innings, helping the Chicago Cubs clinch their first NL pennant since 1945, eventually winning their first World Series since the days of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance in 1908.
In Game 5 of the 2017 World Series, after authoring a 12-strikeout, 1 run gem in Game 1 against the Houston Astros, Kershaw, again throwing on short rest, ended the night with a final line of 6 runs allowed over 4.2 innings pitched, walking 3, in a series the Dodgers would lose in 7 games. Lost in the series was the left hander’s 4 innings of shutout relief in Game 7.
Game 5 of the 2018 World Series saw Kershaw, this time at home, delivering 7 innings, but as had been the growing issue with him since the start of 2017 and what hurt him last night, was the increased propensity of him giving up the long ball.
Home runs from J.D. Martinez, Steve Pearce, and Mookie Betts would seal the Boston Red Sox’s, a team who won 108 games that season under first-year skipper Alex Cora, 4th World Series win since 2004.
The recurring image of Kershaw, however, on his knees, or sitting in the dugout, totally disheartened, has become such an unfortunate signature in an already-Hall of Fame career, it could find itself one day residing in a fine art museum under the name “the Tragic Ace”; personifying humility, even from one of the best at his craft, as well as what has become the inevitable tragedy.
Clayton Kershaw, the owner of a career 2.44 ERA, a HR/9 of 0.7, the best in the live-ball era (1920-present), is and may forever be known as baseball’s tragic hero, as his repeated failures to help deliver the city of Los Angeles the World Series championship it so dearly desires, will forever attach itself to one of the most celebrated career’s baseball has ever bore witness to.
