Clayton Kershaw Continues to Own the Giants
July 20, 2011 at 3:48 pm | Posted in Clayton Kershaw, Dioner Navarro | 59 Comments
Earlier today, I wrote this, regarding Clayton Kershaw‘s history against San Francisco:
Kershaw historically owns the Giants; in nine career starts, he’s allowed just ten earned runs in 55.2 IP, and has a 60/16 K/BB mark. This will be the fourth time he’s seen them this year; he dominated in the first two (7 shutout innings on Opening Day, beating Lincecum, 6.2 scoreless on April 11) before running into trouble the third time (4 ER in 5 IP on May 18).
Now how about adding eight shutout innings with 12 whiffs against just three hits and a walk? By Game Score, which is admittedly imperfect, that was the third best start of Kershaw’s career. That it was also the third best start of his season should tell you a lot about just how good his 2011 has been so far, particularly now that he’s up to 23 consecutive scoreless innings and an MLB-best 167 strikeouts.
Back to the Giants, Kershaw’s mastery over them continues. This was his 9th career start against San Francisco, and only once in that time – earlier this year – have the Giants managed to score more than two runs.
KABC’s Joe Block tells us that the resulting 1.41 ERA (also including one relief appearance) against SF is the best in MLB history for a pitcher against them. They’ve been around for well over 100 years. That’s… kinda impressive. Despite his excellence, Kershaw wasn’t allowed to go out for the 9th, even though he had struck out the side in the 8th. At the time, it seemed odd to remove him for Javy Guerra in a one-run game, since Guerra’s last few saves have been rollercoasters; the decision made even less sense when Trent Oeltjen, pinch-hitting for Kershaw, merely used his at-bat to sacrifice. Fortunately, Guerra retired the side in order, and the Dodgers avoided the sweep headed into the off-day.
And then there was Dioner Navarro, who had one of the more bipolar days you’ll ever see. On one hand, he had two throwing errors in the first three innings (among three Dodger miscues on the day, leading KABC broadcaster Charley Steiner to bizarrely claim the Dodgers usually had one of the better defenses in baseball). On the other, his solo homer against Tim Lincecum was the margin of victory – and the second time a Navarro homer has led to a 1-0 victory this season.
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He had made more than 110 pitches. I’m not ready to turn him into a 120 pitch machine like Verlander quite yet.
Comment by Bip— July 20, 2011 #
I am. He can handle 120-130 pitches, but I am not going to complain. Next year or the year after, I expect him to come out for that 9th inning.
Comment by Bob Springer— July 20, 2011 #
Not in this season where he’s had struggles in the later innings, including, according to him, a drop off in strikeouts in the late innings because his slider flattens out. People speculate that Lincecum struggled for a bunch of starts because he was allowed to make >130 pitches in his shutout. I think he can take it, but I’m in no hurry. Next year though I agree. Halladay will be a year older and Kershaw will be a year wiser. Someone has to take up the “best pitcher in the NL” reigns eventually.
Comment by Bip— July 21, 2011 #
I wonder if one of the reasons for the late inning struggles is that he gets too fine when he realizes what the pitch count is. It seems he labors or tries too hard when the pitch count gets to 100 and he has a chance at the complete game. I wonder if that is where the real struggle comes from. I think that many starting pitchers get late into their pitch counts and start looking over their shoulders. Just a thought.
Comment by Bob Springer— July 21, 2011 #
I hear you, Bip. I just don’t trust Guerra with a one run lead, and with all that’s happened lately, blowing this game would have been disastrous. I’d have let Kershaw start the inning with Guerra at the ready.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— July 20, 2011 #
Was the reward worth the risk? Not that the risk was really that great. I think it was the right baseball move. That being said, Kershaw could’ve bunted for himself with the realistic danger of extra innings looming.
Comment by Rich— July 20, 2011 #
CGS to avoid a sweep at ATT against Lincecum while the Gs hold the trophy? Yes.
Comment by brooklyndoyer— July 21, 2011 #
Guerra>Gagne!!!!
Comment by Brandon— July 20, 2011 #
Hmmm. Pre-juice, or post juice?
Comment by Jeff M.— July 20, 2011 #
I thought bizarre claims were part of the job description for Steiner and Lyons.
Comment by Bill Grabarkewitz— July 20, 2011 #
Has to be. And then after the game Erik Karros talking about Kershaw being where Matt Cain was a couple years ago, solid but not shut down stuff. What a moron. Cain has never been as good as Kersh is now, and if he isn’t a shut down guy I don’t know who is.
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— July 21, 2011 #
I heard the exact same thing on espn’s highlight of the game. They said he’s like matt cain because he doesnt have the filthy stuff like lincecum.
The man leads the majors in strike outs and you’re gonna say he doesn’t have filthy stuff? Gimme a fuckin break.
Comment by Dodger Blues— July 21, 2011 #
Yeah exactly, so obnoxious.
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— July 22, 2011 #
Yea, that was Chris Singleton commenting with Karl Ravech sitting next to him. Those two guys will say absolutely anything. When Kurkjian, Olney or (sometimes) Stark aren’t talking, there’s absolutely no reason to watch Baseball Tonight. Or if you’re really into SM then maybe Kruk too. The stuff he says is so stupid it makes my ears bleed. I could put a better show on in my garage.
Comment by Greg— July 22, 2011 #
Say what you want about Navarro, but when Navarro catches Kershaw, Kershaw is better than usual.
Comment by Bob Springer— July 20, 2011 #
This means Navarro gets 10 yr contract next year! Yay! (Booo.)
Comment by Gerson Pineda— July 20, 2011 #
I have been telling everybody since spring training that Navarro is the type of professional hitter we want on this team. I can’t believe I just signed him to a 1 year contract!
Comment by Ned Colletti— July 20, 2011 #
Seriously, now our broke team will have to get in a bidding war this off-season just to keep him. Way to go, Ned.
Comment by Brandon— July 20, 2011 #
The Dodgers, according to most sources I visit, have ranked them third in defense in the National League all year. How is Steiner’s claim bizarre?
Comment by Anthony Forkush— July 20, 2011 #
Can you share your sources – without using fielding percentage?
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— July 20, 2011 #
lol, i remember a Fox broadcast where they were ranked 2nd IIRC and even Lyons has gone on about how great the defense is, these people must all be blind.
Comment by DodgersKings323— July 20, 2011 #
Dilbeck has a couple of times I remember tried to promote the Dodgers as a top defensive team – his premise was all based on fewest errors not any of the UZR, RF or other new stats. Steve Lyons has raved about Ethier’s defense and that he should get a gold glove. Anyone watching Ethier all season would say there is improvement, but at times he looks like a Little Leaguer with the glove – especialy with poor routes.
As of last week Fan graphs rated Ethier on all the new stats as the #1 defensive right fielder in the league. They rated Kemp as the worst defensive center fielder in the league, so I am very skeptical of their methods
Have you seen the new SI.com article proclaiming Kemp as “Baseball’s Most Complete Ballplayer” ?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/ben_reiter/07/19/matt.kemp/index.html?xid=siextra_072011
Comment by Kirk Davenport— July 20, 2011 #
Kirk, do you have a link to the Ethier piece?
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— July 20, 2011 #
Here is Fangraph rating Ethier best fielding RF
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=rf&stats=fld&lg=nl&qual=y&type=1&season=2011&month=0&season1=2011&ind=0
Comment by Kirk Davenport— July 20, 2011 #
Dilbeck on the Dodgers being second best dfenesive team
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dodgers/2011/06/in-defense-of-the-dodgers-we-sumbit-their-defense.html
Comment by Kirk Davenport— July 20, 2011 #
I believe it was during the Dodger/Philly game of about June 8th that Steve Lyons raved about Ethier’s defense including his ability to throw out runners and touted him as a gold glove outfielder. He has done it on other broadcasts also, even after Ethier had hurt his arm. Lyons also supposedly quoted an unnamed professional scout on how good Ethier’s defense was.
Many fans have questioned Lyon’s judgment in comments on various blogs.
Comment by Kirk Davenport— July 20, 2011 #
Kemp is a terrible fielder, and it’s apparent. His jumps are so late.
Comment by Bip— July 21, 2011 #
Kemp has so many times gotten away with defensive lapses due to his athletic ability. He would be a better right fielder with Gwynn or Trayvon in center and Ethier in LF. I sometimes excuse Kemp due to not really having a baseball background, but by this time he should have learned or more likely some coach has not been able to get him properly focused.
Comment by Kirk Davenport— July 21, 2011 #
Here’s a question for proponents of fielding percentage: Who would you rather have, the guy who makes plays on two balls hit to either side of him and makes an error on one hit right to him, or the guy who gets the one hit right to him but can’t reach the other two, so they’re credited as hits?
Comment by Bip— July 21, 2011 #
CY YOUNG!
Comment by Justin— July 20, 2011 #
Mike, apparently Donny said in the postgame interview that since the team is out of the race, he didn’t want to risk Clayton’s health by letting him pitch the 9th after having thrown 111 pitches already.
Comment by The Dude Abides— July 20, 2011 #
I have to disagree with Donny on this one. As long as we are not mathematically eliminated we are still in the race. I will have to have a talk with him, his inexperienced as a manager is showing with that comment.
Comment by Ned Colletti— July 20, 2011 #
Sorry, you’re wrong. The manager has to make decisions like this and I see no point in burning out kershaw when we aren’t even contenders.
Comment by johnmano12— July 20, 2011 #
Watch out for the person satirically posting as Ned Colletti.
Comment by Bip— July 21, 2011 #
I can’t wait for the day we loyal MSTI readers find out that this wasn’t satire, Ned really just likes Mike’s writing.
Comment by Dave Pomerantz— July 22, 2011 #
If Ned reads this blog he’s a masochist.
Comment by Bip— July 22, 2011 #
Sorry you misunderstood me. What I meant was a truly experienced baseball person never admits to their players or fan base that the team is out of the race until they are mathematically eliminated. Now to get back to Kershaw, you are absolutely right! I think we should actually limit his innings to maybe 6 at the most and a pitch count to 80. This would not only keep him fresh thoughout the season but extend his career.
Comment by Ned Colletti— July 21, 2011 #
Ned, you need to step away from the phone. Don’t even think about trading Clayton to the Padres for Heath Bell. Tony Jackson just said for the first time that Clayton is an ace!
Comment by The Dude Abides— July 20, 2011 #
Love hearing the inner thoughts of Neddy.
Total coup for MSTI!
Comment by McColletti BeGone— July 21, 2011 #
I get to be a happy baseaball fan about once every 5 days. Thanks KKKKKKKKKKKKershaw.
Comment by game6ers— July 20, 2011 #
Don’t forget KKKemp!
Comment by Vegas Blue— July 20, 2011 #
KKKemp? God I hope you’re referring to the strikeouts.
Comment by Brandon— July 20, 2011 #
That’s why he used 3 K’s in his name…Just like game6ers used 12 K’s in Kershaw’s name…
Comment by Gibby's Limp— July 20, 2011 #
Kemp has K’s 11 times in 26 AB’s vs Timbo in his career. Its not like that kind of day wasn’t expected.
Every Kershaw vs Lincecum game should be 1-0. That’s what makes them special.
Comment by game6ers— July 21, 2011 #
Mike,
You hit the score right on the head. What was the time of the game. you predicted 2:10?
Comment by DAVID S— July 20, 2011 #
2:34. Close!
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— July 20, 2011 #
It looked pretty quick thru 6 innings, I think it slowed down at the end
Comment by DAVID S— July 20, 2011 #
Mike, are you sure that Oeltjen’s bunt was a sacrifice? It looked to me like he was going for a hit.
Comment by johnmano12— July 20, 2011 #
I think it was both; he was going for a hit, but it gets scored as a sacrifice.
Comment by nsxtasy— July 20, 2011 #
>> the second time a Navarro homer has led to a 1-0 victory this season.
.
It’s also the third time a Navarro RBI has led to a 1-0 victory; on July 9 he drove in the only run, but with a single rather than a home run.
Comment by nsxtasy— July 20, 2011 #
Do you think Ethier will get pissed if Navarro gets nominated for a MLB Clutch Performer Award?
Comment by Omer— July 20, 2011 #
Why should he? Ethier doesn’t deserve one this year.
Comment by Bob Springer— July 21, 2011 #
ba-da- boom
LOL
Comment by jWerthfan1— July 21, 2011 #
Hats off to North Texas. Eight dominant shutout innings from Dallas native, Clayton Kershaw followed by a save from Denton native, Javy Guerra.
Comment by SamAdams— July 21, 2011 #
How ’bout a Hee Haw saaaaaaa-lute !
Comment by jWerthfan1— July 21, 2011 #
So I know that we complain a lot about Steve “Psycho” Lyons, but I think we should all be thankful we don’t have to deal with Rex Hudler. I was listening to Angel Talk today to get my baseball fix, and oh man, that guy is NUTS. Makes Lyons looks like the definition of sanity.
Comment by Bip— July 21, 2011 #
[...] And, well, that’s exactly what happened, at least after he missed the first month of the season thanks to an oblique strain. Navarro’s batting average was south of .200 for basically the entire season, and that combined with indifferent defense had us calling for him to be gone by early June, when Navarro’s OPS had sunk to a lowly .483, with no indication he deserved a spot on the team. Even when he was good – two of his homers were the margin of victory in 1-0 wins – he was bad, as he had two throwing errors in the first three innings in the second of those games. [...]
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[...] MSTI, July 20: Now how about adding eight shutout innings with 12 whiffs against just three hits and a walk? By Game Score, which is admittedly imperfect, that was the third best start of Kershaw’s career. That it was also the third best start of his season should tell you a lot about just how good his 2011 has been so far, particularly now that he’s up to 23 consecutive scoreless innings and an MLB-best 167 strikeouts. [...]
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