6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Clayton Kershaw Now Officially Da Man: Dodgers 1, Giants 0

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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Clayton Kershaw Now Officially Da Man: Dodgers 1, Giants 0

The Dodgers' lone run came on an error, but the night was Clayton Kershaw's; his 111-pitch masterpiece was the best start of his career, forty-five years and five days away from Sandy Koufax's perfecto.

In a wholly forgettable season, I'll take that.

The Dodgers have relegated themselves to playing spoiler, even on their own TV broadcast bumper ads, and they managed that on a night in which the Padres beat the Rockies 7-6 in a perilous game that had the Rockies with the tying run in scoring position with one out in the bottom of the ninth.

So the Pad People are back to a game and a half ahead of the Giants. It's not elimination, but it at least is saying the Dodgers ain't wholly dead, either. Congratulations, Clayton, you've done a man's work, sir.

Update: Via Jon Weisman on Twitter, Aaron Gleeman notes that Kershaw's record is historic, there being only two pitchers in history to strike out more than a batter an inning while recording 75 games or more before age 23, the other being "Sudden" Sam McDowell, the Cleveland ace of the 60's. Impressive company.

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Labels: dodgers, giants, padres, recaps, rockies