From ESPN insider (link for subscribers only), Buster Olney opined on how incredible our own Clayton Kershaw is:
Kershaw, who is set to start against the Mets and Bartolo Colon on Sunday, has 95 strikeouts and five walks this season and a 19-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which is vastly better than Phil Hughes' major league-record 11.6-to-1 ratio for a full season -- and more than double Kershaw's career-best of 7.71-to-1.
Ellis said the difference for Kershaw has been the way he has executed strike 1 on the first pitch of at-bats, not just throwing a strike designed to get ahead in the count, but firing a quality strike, a particularly well-placed fastball or slider to the fringes of the zone. Once Kershaw gets strike 1, Ellis said, "The world opens up to him," because at that moment, opposing hitters are at the mercy of his whole repertoire, from a fastball he throws in the low-to-mid 90s, to the slider he is throwing harder than at any point in his career, to the curveball that crashes downward, like a roller coaster.
That's a tall order. In Kershaw's most recent start against Cincinnati, Ellis' sense was that the Reds' game plan was merely to put the ball in play -- not necessarily with authority, but to avoid the strikeouts -- an approach that minimizes the possibility of hitters doing major damage.
The numbers bear this out: When Kershaw has gotten ahead in the count with a first-pitch strike this season, opponents are batting .113 thereafter (17 hits in 151 at-bats), with only one extra-base hit. When Kershaw starts out with a 1-0 count, opponents are hitting .221 with seven doubles and a home run in 86 at-bats.
Cincinnati's approach isn't ideal for any lineup, but against the pitcher who might be the greatest of all time, maybe that sort of concession is inevitable.
From ESPN Stats & Information, more on Kershaw:
We are witnessing the eighth consecutive season in which Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw has an ERA below 3.00, and Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis mentioned in conversation Saturday that Kershaw has been so good for so long that you grow accustomed to his excellence. But what Kershaw is doing this season might be a case of the best pitcher of all time doing his best work, particularly in how he controls the ball-strike count.
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