the craziest thing to me about kershaw is he came up with two pitches - a sick fastball and a hammer curve.. the curve had so much movement sometimes the umps weren't calling it a strike, so he responds by developing a slider that has become one of the best in the game.. if he can perfect his change that he only throws like 5 times a game he can stretch his career out forever.
― panettone for the painfully alone (mayor jingleberries), Monday, 9 March 2015 20:15 (nine years ago) link
Very comparable to Seaver through 1971 (his greatest all-around year, though not as famous as '69)--one inning apart, for starters:
Seaver: 95-54, 1379.1 IP, 7.1 H/9, 1.045 WHIP, 3.28 K/BB, 2.34 ERA, 149 ERA+, 35.9 WAR
Kershaw: 98-49, 1378.1 IP, 6.8 H/9, 1.059 WHIP, 3.41 K/BB, 2.48 ERA, 151 ERA+, 39.7 WAR
Both in pitcher-friendly parks (Dodger Stadium more so, I think), both in pitcher-friendly eras (Seaver's definitely more so, although 1970 was a big hitter's year), both 26.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 10 March 2015 01:43 (nine years ago) link
I got wanting to look at some video to try to compare Steve Carlton and Clayton Kershaw's pitching. Haven't found a comparible Kershaw montage, but man check out the movement on some of Lefty's pitches in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iHFkgs1zx8
― earlnash, Tuesday, 10 March 2015 02:49 (nine years ago) link
liner off the face; just a little dental work.
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/story/_/id/12530522/clayton-kershaw-los-angeles-dodgers-gets-extra-dental-work-being-hit-face-line-drive
― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 21 March 2015 17:31 (nine years ago) link
James had a long piece a few months ago about ranking starting pitchers; his site now ranks all the current starters and updates the rankings daily. Kershaw started the year with a sizeable lead, but Scherzer and/or Felix may pass him within a start or two. (Not saying I agree with this--I'm inclined to question any system that has R.A. Dickey in the Top 20.)
http://www.billjamesonline.com/polls_ratings/starting_pitcher_rankings/
― clemenza, Saturday, 23 May 2015 18:13 (nine years ago) link
It's based on game scores, and it's all explained here:
http://www.billjamesonline.com/the_worlds_1_starting_pitcher/
― clemenza, Saturday, 23 May 2015 18:16 (nine years ago) link
that's interesting, i'll have to check in on it occasionally. as you'd expect, it incorporates a lot of past performance into the score, so strasburg is still top 25 even though he's been awful so far this season, and wainwright is at 12 even though he's already been out for a while and won't be back til next year.
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 23 May 2015 19:06 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, it's very much a rolling thing that goes back three, maybe four seasons (and includes postseason, hence Bumgarner up near the top). I like this:
When a pitcher is a candidate for the Hall of Fame, the fact that he was the #1 ranked pitcher in the world for two years is going to be a major credential that his supporters can point to--or, vice versa, if the pitcher was never #1, it’s a major hole in his resume.
If you tracked this through the '80s, I bet Morris only made it into the top half-dozen for one or two short stretches (and was never close to #1).
― clemenza, Saturday, 23 May 2015 19:16 (nine years ago) link
yeah for me you had to have been one of the best 5 players in the league for at least a few seasons to be a hall of famer. i use the same argument with the NBA HOF, which is much more of a "big hall" than baseball's. i prefer the small hall tbh
― k3vin k., Saturday, 23 May 2015 21:22 (nine years ago) link
Awesome last night. I didn't know what to make of his slow start--most of his peripherals were still good, but we've seen (admittedly older: Verlander, Sabathia) some pitchers suddenly go south recently, so I wasn't sure if there was something going on there.
― clemenza, Sunday, 7 June 2015 15:16 (nine years ago) link
Scherzer just edged ahead of Kershaw for the #1 spot in James's rankings.
― clemenza, Sunday, 5 July 2015 17:37 (eight years ago) link
Kershaw's been bumped one more night, but when he faces Trout tomorrow, it will evidently be the first reigning-MVP-to-reigning-MVP regular-season match-up ever.
― clemenza, Friday, 31 July 2015 23:40 (eight years ago) link
(According to Facebook according to Reddit according to whoever they got it from. But it sounds reasonable.)
― clemenza, Friday, 31 July 2015 23:41 (eight years ago) link
Eight more scoreless innings for Kershaw, his scoreless streak is up to 37 innings.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Saturday, 1 August 2015 23:10 (eight years ago) link
He's on pace for 300 K this year too.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Saturday, 1 August 2015 23:11 (eight years ago) link
First Kershaw-Trout AB yesterday:
http://m.mlb.com/video/v320177383/laalad-kershaw-strikes-out-trout-looking-in-the-1st/?game_pk=415196
― clemenza, Sunday, 2 August 2015 13:57 (eight years ago) link
(xpost) Didn't realize how long its been since someone did this: Randy Johnson in 2002. As strikeouts go up and up, find that odd. The five-man rotation and rote use of bullpen was all in place 15 years ago, no?
― clemenza, Tuesday, 4 August 2015 19:06 (eight years ago) link
have to think # of IP by starters per game has decreased since then
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 4 August 2015 20:10 (eight years ago) link
Trout and Harper are historic, but Kershaw is clearly the most dominant player in baseball right now. I assume they know what they're doing with the 132 pitches.
― clemenza, Thursday, 3 September 2015 12:38 (eight years ago) link
doyers called up bolsinger, which leads me to believe they're gonna six-man the rotation to lighten his load
― slothroprhymes, Thursday, 3 September 2015 13:24 (eight years ago) link
not quite as dominant as Dallas Keuchel, really.
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 3 September 2015 14:18 (eight years ago) link
Keuchel or not, he is building a case for a 4th cy young
― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 3 September 2015 17:45 (eight years ago) link
seager called up too btw
― polyphonic, Thursday, 3 September 2015 17:49 (eight years ago) link
unless you are giving enormous weight to Ks, Kershaw is probably not the best pitcher on his team this year.
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 3 September 2015 18:21 (eight years ago) link
Kershaw has the lead in Fangraphs WAR
― polyphonic, Thursday, 3 September 2015 18:49 (eight years ago) link
& counterpoint, greinke does on baseball-ref
― johnny crunch, Thursday, 3 September 2015 18:51 (eight years ago) link
WARP computed using DRA, Greinke by 6.70-6.49
(BP)
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 3 September 2015 18:54 (eight years ago) link
'building a case' doesn't mean 'automatic winner', but yeah, I do give importance to xFIP.
― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 3 September 2015 19:14 (eight years ago) link
what is DRA?
― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 3 September 2015 19:16 (eight years ago) link
I like James's rankings, which take a longer view than four or five months (the logic that every year puts a couple of guys into the All-Star Game on the basis of a fast start and little else).
The gap between Kershaw (#1) and Greinke (#2) there is as large as the gap between Greinke and Cueto at #9. I think the Top 6 are exactly right. (Bumgarner gets credit for what he did in the postseason; ignore that, and he probably drops out.)
― clemenza, Friday, 4 September 2015 15:38 (eight years ago) link
xp deserved run average, here's the BP explanation http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=26195
― slothroprhymes, Friday, 4 September 2015 15:41 (eight years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CO9jMi2UsAEMjmi.png:large
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 15 September 2015 18:08 (eight years ago) link
http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers-20150915-story.html
Definitely a Cy argument for Kershaw--a strong one--but unless he has a couple of bad starts, Greinke will win. Which is fine.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 15 September 2015 19:14 (eight years ago) link
300 K
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 4 October 2015 21:28 (eight years ago) link
@based_ballClayton Kershaw, OPS allowed, final2013: .5212014: .5212015: .521
Clayton Kershaw, OPS allowed, final
2013: .5212014: .5212015: .521
― Andy K, Monday, 5 October 2015 18:15 (eight years ago) link
Totally missed his first start. Not too shabby, says Adam Sandler.
― clemenza, Thursday, 7 April 2016 00:19 (eight years ago) link
95 Game Score today--and knocked in the only run.
― clemenza, Sunday, 1 May 2016 23:42 (eight years ago) link
Missed that last start of his...Has a 19.25 K/BB ratio (77/4); the record's 11-something. Basically takes one lousy start to cut that in half, though.
― clemenza, Saturday, 14 May 2016 15:33 (eight years ago) link
Basically he is having last season without the (relatively) first two months.
Newest member to the 50 fWAR club.
― Van Horn Street, Saturday, 14 May 2016 17:08 (eight years ago) link
Seaver was as 51.7 at the end of his age-28 season, Pedro 52.0, Clemens 54.2. So he should stay ahead of those guys for another season, although keeping up with Clemens at the other end will be near-impossible.
― clemenza, Saturday, 14 May 2016 17:51 (eight years ago) link
(I was going by Baseball Reference.)
Pretty sure Fangraphs/ xFIP rates him more. Here's to another 50 WAR.
― Van Horn Street, Saturday, 14 May 2016 21:49 (eight years ago) link
Probably a dumb question but is it possible to figure out which game he'll likely be pitching in the Cubs/Dodgers series at the end of the month or is too far away to predict reliably?
― Immediate Follower (NA), Tuesday, 17 May 2016 16:04 (eight years ago) link
you could guess just by following the 5-man rotation and seeing when his turn would be up again. but it could be altered by rainouts, injuries, and weird baseball(tm) occurrences
― I look forward to hearing from you shortly, (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 17 May 2016 16:07 (eight years ago) link
A month-plus out, we left it to chance and it almost worked out--missed him by a day.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 17 May 2016 22:22 (eight years ago) link
I like looking up mismatched odds. You have to bet $375 on Kershaw today to win $100. That's about as long as baseball odds ever get--I guess Kershaw vs. the Braves would be even longer.
― clemenza, Monday, 23 May 2016 13:39 (eight years ago) link
he's sposed to pitch vs Bartolo (again) in NY next Sunday night, which means there should be some decent tix available due to the time switch
― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Monday, 23 May 2016 14:02 (eight years ago) link
(ok, not as many as there wd be on a non-holiday weekend)
― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Monday, 23 May 2016 17:26 (eight years ago) link
not as many as there were when i bought in anticipation 3 weeks ago
― normcore strengthening exercises (benbbag), Tuesday, 24 May 2016 01:12 (eight years ago) link
wow kudos
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 24 May 2016 01:47 (eight years ago) link