KERSHAW SHAKING IMAGE OF THE ACE WHO FALLS APART
Veteran lefty's gutsy Game 5 performance will help dispel reputation as playoff bust
Be honest: You thought it was happening to Clayton Kershaw again.
I know I did. It was all too familiar. For reasons known only to the baseball gods, Kershaw has a peculiar tendency to take the mound for playoff starts with only some of his pitching arsenal working effectively. And so it was on Sunday night in Game
5 of the World Series, when the big left-hander — now sporting a beard and hairstyle that make him look like a frontiersman — was battling the Tampa Bay Rays without the benefit of his nasty slider. It was nothing like Game 1, when Kershaw controlled the Rays with a wipeout version of the pitch that had them swinging feebly. Instead, unable to throw the slider consistently for strikes, Kershaw made do with his fastball and curve as he scuffled through three innings.
But what usually happens to Kershaw in playoff outings like these follows a pattern. He grinds along for a few innings, doing just enough to keep his Dodgers in the game. Then it starts to get dicey, but because he's Clayton Kershaw, manager Dave Roberts gives him a little extra rope. Then it all goes to hell. See, for example: Game 5 of the 2017 World Series against the Houston Astros, or either of Kershaw's starts in the 2018 championship series against the Boston Red Sox.
And so, there he was in the fourth inning, nursing a 3-2 lead and lacking one of his pistols in this particular gunfight. He walked Manuel Margot. The Tampa outfielder stole second base, then scooted to third when second baseman Chris Taylor fumbled the throw from behind the plate.
Runner on third, none out. Kershaw walked Hunter Renfroe. Before Kershaw took the mound in the fourth, the Dodgers had a win probability of 55 per cent in the game. After two batters, with runners on first and third and none out, that probability had dropped to 40 per cent. A tie game, at least, seemed a certainty.
The Rays are one of those do-the-little-things teams. That's been their whole essence during these playoffs, that and the fact that Randy Arozarena has turned into Barry Bonds. Surely they would at least plate a run to complete the comeback. They had two shots at a fly ball.
But then Kershaw managed to do the thing that has eluded him at this point so many times in the past. He induced Joey Wendle into a shallow pop up, and then fanned Willy Adames. Runners on first and third still, but two out. It remains weird to watch Kershaw was still in the fight.
And then one of those things happened in playoff baseball that felt huge in the moment, and only became more so as the game went on. Margot tried to steal home. He might have actually done it, too, as replays showed him sneaking a hand on to the plate just before Austin Barnes applied the tag. But the throw home definitely arrived first, he was called out, and for some reason, Tampa manager Kevin Cash didn't challenge the call. It seems like a potentially game-tying play is worth challenging, but Cash decided otherwise.
Kershaw was out of the jam. Just like that, the Dodgers' win probability was up to 62 per cent.
Margot's dash to home would end up being the last time a Tampa player made it as far as first base. Kershaw retired the next five batters, and then was pulled for reliever Dustin May with two out in the sixth inning. Roberts was booed rather lustily by the many Dodgers fans in the crowd in Arlington, which says a lot about how much Dodgers fans love Clayton Kershaw.
He had battled gamely, had survived a scare and was in position for a win, and they still wanted him to keep throwing, to keep proving that he could do this in the World Series, just like they always knew he would.
But Roberts wasn't going to let Kershaw pitch himself into trouble. May came in and struck out Margot on a fastball that touched 100 miles per hour as Kershaw cheered from the dugout.
That fourth inning, which looked like it would spell doom, ended up with the most unlikely of bailouts, a mad dash home that almost worked. These are the tiny margins that have ultimately carved out the playoff legacy of Kershaw. Too often, they have tipped against him. In Game 5, finally, they did not.
It's up to the rest of his teammates to finish the job now. And if they don't do that in Game 6, and a Game 7 looms, Kershaw will be back in the bullpen, still relatively fresh. He might want to find his slider between now and then.