Dodgers: Taylor hits a grand slam in victory over the Royals.
SURPRISE, ARIZ. » Cinematically, it was the moment when Dorothy landed in Oz and everything was in bright technicolor.
Clayton Kershaw had lived in the black-and-white world of October disappointment, taking each postseason failure by the Dodgers personally. That changed deep in the heart of Texas last year. Now Kershaw is a certified World Series champion, no longer carrying the burden of being a future Hall of Famer without the blue checkmark of October validation. And Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he can see a new lightness to Kershaw this spring.
“Yeah, I think so,” Roberts said Thursday before Kershaw made his first Cactus League start of the spring. “You can even initially go back to him having kids. That does it to all of us, as far as that softness and different perspective. But I also think winning the World Series, that weight off your shoulders is evident in Clayton’s overall demeanor.
“One part of it is he realized how many people were kind of going through it with him. I say that because when you see the joy that people had for him personally, I think that resonates with you. I think that’s something that landed with him . ... Personally for him, not trying to speak for him, it’s just a box that was checked. When you had his great track record, that was the only box that remained to be checked. That’s something he has a lot of personal satisfaction with.”
Kershaw pitched two scoreless innings against the Kansas City Royals on Friday, gave up two doubles (one in each inning, no harm done), struck out two — and waved to his “kiddos” in the stands as he left the mound.
“I must just have a better personality this year,” Kershaw said, laughing off Roberts’ observation. “Maybe I was kind of a bum the last 10 years. I don’t know . ... I think you don’t really realize what you’re carrying, while you’re carrying it. So now that we’ve won and the burden
to win after 32 years is finally off — yeah, I think the burden might be off a little bit, for sure. But that doesn’t mean that any of us are any less motivated to win this year.”
The motivation is different, the three-time Cy Young Award winner said. Now that the first championship has been won, the drive is to take advantage of “just being a part of a really special team that we have coming back for this season. So I think that’s the only part that’s different.”
Roberts has avoided getting pinned down about his Opening Day starter. Kershaw was scheduled to make his franchise-record ninth season-opening start last year when a minor back injury forced him to miss it.
This spring, Kershaw followed Trevor Bauer, Walker Buehler and Julio Urias in making his first start of the spring. The Dodgers will open on the road in Colorado on April 1 with the home opener not until April 9 — a game that could be played with fans at Dodger Stadium for the first time since October 2019 and feature a ring ceremony for the first time in a generation. Roberts agreed there would be “significance” to having Kershaw on the mound for
that game but said nothing has been “finalized” about the season-opening rotation.
“Opening Day is a special thing, obviously,” Kershaw said. “So whoever gets to do that, it is obviously an honor and then I think the home opener in and of itself this year is very special — first time at Dodger Stadium with fans in a year, after winning the World Series after 32 years. So regardless if there’s 10 fans or 2,500 or whatever it is, it’s going to be a special day for all of us.”
Bullpen updates
Right-hander Kenley Jansen retired the side in order on nine pitches, striking out two, in his first Cactus League outing on Monday. But Jansen got out of whack with his mechanics during a live batting practice session on Thursday and hit outfielder Zach Reks in the elbow with a pitch.
Jansen did dry work Friday (miming his delivery without throwing a ball) and will spend a couple of days getting back in sync before he appears in another game.
“He’s trying to work out some things,” Roberts said. “I think it was just a little bit out of sync. With Kenley, obviously a big-body guy, it happens.”