Apologies for the radio silence, as I’ve been otherwise occupied for a few days, both with real world commitments and multiple Baseball Prospectus pieces. Also, thanks to Time Warner Cable, I’ve had intermittent internet access over the last two days. That’s all cleared up, so expect regular posting to resume. Seems as though all I’ve missed is Hiroki Kuroda continuing to be underrated and awesome, and yet another reliever injury, this time to Vicente Padilla. (Don Mattingly noted today that Padilla is unavailable tonight and will see a doctor, making today’s closer, I don’t know, Jay Howell? Jeff Shaw? Alejandro Pena?)
At the moment, I’m sick of staring at the last article about Jamey Carroll and Aaron Miles, so let’s bask in the glory that has been Clayton Kershaw‘s starting career against San Francisco, as he prepares to battle Matt Cain:
| Rk | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | Str | BF | 2B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2011-04-11 | LAD | SFG | W 6-1 | GS-7 ,W | 6.2 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 117 | 72 | 27 | 0 |
| 2 | 2011-03-31 | LAD | SFG | W 2-1 | GS-7 ,W | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 96 | 65 | 26 | 0 |
| 3 | 2010-09-14 | LAD | SFG | W 1-0 | SHO9 ,W | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 111 | 72 | 30 | 1 |
| 4 | 2010-08-01 | LAD | SFG | L 0-2 | GS-7 ,L | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 117 | 69 | 32 | 2 |
| 5 | 2010-07-20 | LAD | SFG | L 5-7 | GS-6 | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 104 | 64 | 26 | 2 |
| 6 | 2010-04-18 | LAD | SFG | W 2-1 | GS-7 | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 114 | 74 | 28 | 1 |
| 7 | 2009-04-15 | LAD | SFG | W 5-4 | GS-7 | 7.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 105 | 63 | 22 | 0 |
Seven career starts, and not a single clunker among them. The April 2009 13 K game and the September 2010 shutout are actually tied for the second highest Game Score of his career. As Jon Weisman notes at Dodger Thoughts, Kershaw’s 1.07 career ERA against the Giants is the lowest of any pitcher who has thrown at least 50 innings against them dating back 100 years.
[...] against Brian Wilson, who is a good closer with a nasty-looking beard. I suppose both myself and Mike Petriello jinxed Clayton Kershaw though, so fans can blame us I suppose. The bottom line here is that this [...]
[...] up on Lincecum and the Giants” proved to be a general theme of the season, as Kershaw won five of his six starts against [...]