At long last, Kershaw gets his Series shot
Three-time Cy Young winner acknowledges Altuve as tough out
LOS ANGELES — After he pitched six innings to defeat the defending champion Chicago Cubs and clinch the National League Championship Series for the Dodgers’ first World Series appearance since 1988, southpaw ace Clayton Kershaw continued to celebrate on Wrigley Field without his teammates. The field had cleared, and Kershaw carried his son, Charley, while chasing his daughter, Cali, around the pitcher’s mound.
“It meant a lot in Chicago when we were saying we are going to the World Series,” Kershaw said Monday, the day before his Game 1 start against Dallas Keuchel and the Astros. “But now we’re flipping the switch a little bit, and we’re trying to figure out how to win four games.”
Kershaw, a Dallas native whom the Dodgers drafted in 2006 out of Highland Park High School, explained that the time for celebrating his first National League pennant and playing chase had passed. He is concentrating on running circles around the Astros in his first World Series appearance.
“I wish I could let it all sink back in,” he said. “But in order for me to do my job, I just have to focus on getting the Astros out right now.”
Consistent excellence
Kershaw, a three-time winner of the Cy Young Award and the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 2014, has been the best pitcher in the National League for several years. In each of the past seven seasons, he has made the National League All-Star team and finished with an ERA of 2.53 or lower. His 18 wins led the majors this season.
The Astros made quick work of Red Sox lefty ace Chris Sale in the AL Division Series, but their offense looked anemic for most of the Championship Series against the Yankees before it totaled 18 hits in the final two games at Minute Maid Park. Hinch and his players frequently credited elite playoff pitching for their drought.
It does not get more elite than Kershaw pitching at home, where opposing hitters batted .206 in the regular season.
Hinch concedes nothing
“It’s hard to argue that you’re going to face anybody better than Kershaw,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s got every weapon that you would fear. He’s got that competitiveness that every ace has. He’s got some hardware on his shelf at home. And he’s pitching in front of his home crowd. There’s a lot of things tilted in his favor.
“But we’re not going to back down. We’re not afraid of him. We’re not going to concede anything, because we’ve got a pretty good team on our own side.”
In a matchup between the AL’s batting champion versus the NL’s ERA leader, Astros second baseman Jose Altuve has six hits in 15 at-bats.
“He hits everything pretty well,” Kershaw said of Altuve. “He’s super aggressive, but he hits a lot of different pitches. … Just a matter of execution with him. You’re just trying to mix up spots, pitches, locations. Don’t give him any predictable counts, predictable pitches. He’s a tough out. I think he’s one of the toughest outs in the game.”
Kershaw can be just as unforgiving. Astros outfielder Cameron Maybin, who played four years in San Diego, has the most experience against Kershaw: a .133 batting average in 33 plate appearances.
“You can feel his competitiveness when you’re in the box,” Maybin said. “You can feel how focused he is. … He throws the ball wherever he wants to.”
Kershaw does not expect the scorching Los Angeles temperatures, which are predicted to surpass 100 degrees this week, to affect the games, though they will be starting at 5:09 Pacific time.
“They’re from Houston, I’m from Texas; it’s going to be hot for everybody,” he said. “We’re all used to it. It will be fine.”
Ace helps Harvey cause
Kershaw’s Texas roots motivated him to donate $100,000 in housing aid to people displaced by Hurricane Harvey.
“The Astros were a great story for what that city has been through,” Kershaw said. “My wife went to Texas A&M. She has a lot of friends in the Houston area as well. She has family there in Sugar Land. We have a lot of people that were affected by this as well. It’s something that we wanted to be a part of and we wanted to do our part. Yeah, it hit home a little bit for us as well.”