It’s fortunate for Tim Lincecum that he’s not in line to start for the Giants tonight, because Clayton Kershaw against San Francisco has become basically the safest bet in baseball. With the exception of one mediocre outing against the Giants last May, Kershaw has routinely slapped around the rivals to the north, and many made the argument that his success against Lincecum last year was a large component of his eventual Cy Young Award victory.
Kershaw’s twelve career starts against San Francisco show a pattern of success:
| Rk | Date | Rslt | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | GSc | 2B | 3B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2011-09-20 | W 2-1 | 7.1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 115 | 66 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 2011-09-09 | W 2-1 | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 111 | 82 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 2011-07-20 | W 1-0 | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 112 | 87 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 2011-05-18 | L 5-8 | 5.0 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 85 | 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 2011-04-11 | W 6-1 | 6.2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 117 | 67 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 2011-03-31 | W 2-1 | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 96 | 77 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 2010-09-14 | W 1-0 | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 111 | 83 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | 2010-08-01 | L 0-2 | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 117 | 59 | 2 | 1 |
| 9 | 2010-07-20 | L 5-7 | 6.0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 104 | 56 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | 2010-04-18 | W 2-1 | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 114 | 70 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 | 2009-04-15 | W 5-4 | 7.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 105 | 83 | 0 | 0 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
In 79 career innings against San Francisco, Kershaw has allowed just 50 hits to go with an 87/20 K/BB mark. Filthy. He’ll be backed up by the Opening Day lineup, as the Dodgers opt to not give Matt Kemp the chance to rest his sore hamstring.
|
Giants
|
Dodgers
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
CF
|
Pagan |
SS
|
Gordon
|
|
|
2B
|
Theriot |
2B
|
M.Ellis
|
|
|
RF
|
Cabrera |
CF
|
Kemp
|
|
|
C
|
Posey |
RF
|
Ethier
|
|
|
LF
|
Pill
|
LF
|
Rivera
|
|
|
3B
|
Arias |
1B
|
Loney
|
|
|
1B
|
Belt |
3B
|
Uribe
|
|
|
SS
|
Crawford |
C
|
A.Ellis
|
|
|
P
|
Vogelsong
|
P
|
Kershaw
|
