Kershaw seeking postseason success
As brilliant as Los Angeles Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw has been throughout his career, the left-hander has yet to achieve much success during the postseason.
LOS ANGELES » No one epitomizes the Los Angeles Dodgers’ recent playoff failures more than Clayton Kershaw. As brilliant as he’s been in his career — winning last year’s NL MVP and three Cy Young Awards — the ace has yet to achieve success in the postseason.
For someone as deceptively competitive as Kershaw, that kind of collapse is unacceptable.
He’ll get a chance for the third year in a row to put his defeats behind him when he takes the ball Friday for Game 1of the NL Division Series against the New York Mets.
At least the Dodgers are starting with an opponent other than the St. Louis Cardinals, who bounced them out the last two years — both times with Kershaw on the mound.
In the left-hander’s last four playoff starts, all against the Cardinals, he is 0-4with a 7.15ERA.
By comparison, Kershaw had a 2.13ERA in the regular season. He had a rough first half when he struggled with his slider, a big reason for his success. It became a hittable pitch until he began locating it where he wanted more often, helping him close strongly after the All-Star break.
He enters the playoffs with an 11-1record and 1.22 ERA to go with four complete games, including three shutouts, in his final 17starts since July 3.
“It’s pure dominance,” catcher A.J. Ellis said. “Very reminiscent and maybe even better than his MVP season.”
Consistency is something Kershaw thrives on. He was frustrated last year when he couldn’t pitch a complete season after spending over a month on the disabled list for the first time in his career. This season, he started 33 games and pitched 2322⁄3 innings, finishing with a 16-7 record.
“If there is something to take pride in individually, that’s what I would take pride in,” he said.
With four days off to prepare for the start of the NLDS, Kershaw is sticking to his strict routine. He’s the guy running from foul pole to foul pole in the outfield and hitting the weight room. He threw a bullpen session Tuesday.
CARDINALS
Carpenter’s career year boosts offense
Matt Carpenter really muscled up this season. The St. Louis Cardinals leadoff man hit 28homers, more than his first three major league seasons combined.
Carpenter struck out a lot more, too, but it seemed to be a worthy trade-off.
“He’s having an incredible season, an incredible season,” manager Mike Matheny saidWednesday, two days ahead of the NL Division Series opener. “I don’t know where we’d be if he didn’t have the kind of season he’s had.”
The Central champions led the majors with 100victories because of air-tight pitching, not a bruising lineup. They led themajorswith a 2.94 ERA, but scored the fewest runs among the playoff teams.
“I’ve been telling Carp all year he’s had a great season,” teammate Jason Heyward said. “It’s really impressive to see somebody say they want to add that to their game and go out and do it.”
St. Louis had a power void with Matt Holliday and Matt Adams sidelined for extended periods. Holliday missed about half the season and hit just four after topping 20the previous five seasons, and Adams had five in just 60 games after averaging 16the previous two years.
BLUE JAYS
Offense seeks to solve Gallardo in ALDS
Pitching against the powerful Toronto Blue Jays can sometimes feel like suffocating, because it is hard to come up for air.
“You can’t let up,” Texas Rangers closer Shawn Tolleson said a day ahead of Thursday’s AL Division Series opener. “There’s no getting past one guy and taking an exhale. Definitely, that poses its challenges. It’s not an easy lineup to just pitch around one guy and get to the next.”
Still, in their final series of the regular season, a fourgame showdown against the Angels, the Rangers pitching staff got something of a warm-up for facing the bashing Blue Jays.
“We’ve tried to do a good job this season about keeping themindset of never letting up,” Tolleson said. “We had those same talks when playing Anaheim the other day, pitching to (Mike) Trout and (Albert) Pujols and then you face (C.J.) Cron, who had really hurt us a lot all season long. We talked about how you get Trout and Pujols out and you kind of take an exhale and then, before you know it, Cron hits a double off the wall or a home run. I think that kind of preparation is going to prepare us for this.”