ARLINGTON, Texas — The word beat Clayton Kershaw to the dugout during Game 4 on Thursday night.
Narrative.
Another disappointing performance in the postseason once again had analysts, expert and otherwise, debating the fairness and accuracy of the label Kershaw now carries as a future Hall of Famer whose legacy is tarnished by his postseason record.
“That narrative couldn’t be further from the truth,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said to the media after the game.
The numbers are not on the side of Kershaw’s defenders. Thirteen years into what will be a Hall of Fame career, the three-time Cy Young Award winner has a losing record in the postseason. His ERA goes from 2.43 in the regular season to 4.02 in 15 Division Series games to 4.84 in 14 National League Championship Series games to 5.40 in five World Series games – a problem for another day, perhaps.
“You probably have more information than I do as far as every single start, every outing that he has made,” Roberts said before Game 5 when asked about his post-game comment. “There’s other times where we’re talking about short rest – where people nowadays just don’t do that, and he’s done it numerous, numerous times. And other relievers giving up his runs. There’s just a lot of things that go into easily just pinning on Clayton that he’s not a postseason pitcher.
“I just know that there’s not a team that wouldn’t want him taking the ball in the postseason. So that’s just the way I feel.”
Kershaw does indeed wear the scars of poor bullpen support. The number of inherited runners who scored against relievers after Kershaw left the game would make an unacceptably large gathering by today’s standards. And both Roberts and Don Mattingly before him have overextended their ace in the postseason for lack of trustworthy replacements from the bullpen, leading to disaster at times.
The sixth inning of Game 4 on Thursday night might not qualify for that second category. Kershaw had allowed just one run in the first five innings and his pitch count was an acceptable 71.
But he was about to face the Braves’ lineup – particularly the dangerous three hitters at the top (Ronald Acuña Jr., Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna) – for a third time. During his tenure as Dodgers manager, Roberts has shown a willingness to yank a starter even when he was going well rather than let him go a third time through the opposing lineup. Just ask Kenta Maeda or Rich Hill.
But Roberts acknowledged Kershaw has earned the right to be handled differently.
“Absolutely. And, this year, last year, his last two postseason starts, I did,” Roberts said. “Especially looking at how he was throwing the baseball (in Game 4), what he was doing – making it a hard stop for him when the top of the order comes through (a third time), that makes no sense at all.”
RIGHT OUT
Going into Friday’s Game 5, the Dodgers’ left-handed hitters had supplied what offense the team has managed to create, batting .302 (19 for 63) as a group and hitting eight of the team’s nine home runs. Right-handed hitters batted .182 (14 for 77) in the first four games.
Mookie Betts had just two hits in 14 at-bats during the first four games. Will Smith was 2 for 16, once again victimized by hard-hit balls that have ended up in fielder’s gloves.“I think more four-game sample size,” Roberts said when asked if the poor performance by his right-handed hitters was a result of the Braves’ gameplans or just a small sample size. “Mookie has hit some barrels. That ball last night with Will off the bench could have easily gotten through, that pinch-hit at-bat.
“I really just think it’s four games and I just don’t want to dig too much into that. But I do know that they’re ready to go tonight and I expect good at-bats and good production.”
https://goo.gl/hYDEHJ
No comments:
Post a Comment