I couldn't resist commenting

[Rog]

Back in 2006 the Giants drafted Tim Lincecum, who in his first two full seasons won two Cy Young Awards.  But there was this Clayton Kershaw guy lurking in the minors.  Unlike Tim, Clayton had been signed directly out of high school.

Just as I love Tim, I continue to be amazed by Kershaw.  Here is something I came across this morning that blew me away.

A hitter just loves to get the pitcher in a hole so that he can look for a fastball, right?  That's when a hitter can dig in, look for the heater, and just let it fly.

Here's what blew me away.  If a hitter can get Kershaw to a 3-1 count, he can indeed sit on the fastball.  Clayton has thrown 403 fastballs out of 420 3-1 pitches.  But Kershaw's fastball is so good that of those 403 predictable fastballs, only 11 have been hit for extra bases.  In fact, in all three-ball counts, he has thrown 1345 fastballs, and only 28 have gone for extra bags.

Yeah, I know that Kershaw hasn't been a great postseason pitcher -- although much of the damage against him has been done AFTER some excellent pitching.  But when we see Clayton -- whom we will see tonight matched up Giants great postseason pitcher Madison Bumgarner -- we're seeing incredible greatness.  We're essentially seeing a Pedro Martinez in his prime who can lead the majors in innings pitched.  


For seven seasons Pedro was about as dominant as any pitcher ever has been, but he had a hard time staying healthy enough to be among the league leaders in innings pitched.  Clayton led the NL in innings pitched last season and just might be the pitcher with the most innings pitched in the past six or seven.

Each of the past five seasons Kershaw has led the NL in either ERA (2011 - 2014) or innings pitched (2015), and he led the league in strikeouts three of the past five seasons (2011, 2013 and 2015).

He also has led the NL in WHIP four of the past five seasons 2011 - 2014). Because of Zack Greinke, he didn't lead the league last season, although his 0.88 WHIP was the second-lowest of his career.  The past two seasons Kershaw's K/BB ratio has exceeded 7.00.

Those accomplishments are very, very similar to Sandy Koufax's over the five great seasons of Sandy's career.  Sandy did have the lowest hit rate in four of those five seasons.  Kershaw was lowest in only two, although ironically the other three seasons were the lowest of his career.  Sandy's best K/BB ratio was 5.38.

One of the best-ever regular season pitchers matched with one of the best-ever postseason pitchers should once again make a very exciting match up.  Six days ago Kershaw and Bumgarner were each outstanding, both pitching so well that neither gained the decision.  As great as the Giants/Dodgers rivalry has been, the two teams haven't had a pitching match up like this since Koufax and Marichal.

[Islandboagie]

Rog- For seven seasons Pedro was about as dominant as any pitcher ever has been, but he had a hard time staying healthy enough to be among the league leaders in innings pitched.

Boagie- Pedro just happened to be one of those elite players during an era that proved most of those elite players were getting extra help from their pharmacist. Especially the Caribbean born players who were introduced to it at an early age. Yeah, he was good, but I believe he got some help being great.

[Islandboagie]

Rog- As great as the Giants/Dodgers rivalry has been, the two teams haven't had a pitching match up like this since Koufax and Marichal.

Boagie- Or since Lincecum and Kershaw.

[Rog]

Rog- For seven seasons Pedro was about as dominant as any pitcher ever has been, but he had a hard time staying healthy enough to be among the league leaders in innings pitched.

Boagie- Pedro just happened to be one of those elite players during an era that proved most of those elite players were getting extra help from their pharmacist. Especially the Caribbean born players who were introduced to it at an early age. Yeah, he was good, but I believe he got some help being great.


Rog -- It's certainly possible, although a couple of things might indicate otherwise. He remained a small man, and his only weakness was that he was a tiny bit frail and didn't pitch as many innings as some other pitchers. We just don't know one way or the other.

One thing we do know though is that he pitched against some (many?) hitters who did use steroids, making the game a very high-scoring one. If he were using and many/most were also doing so, in theory the advantage of the steroids cancelled itself out between him and the other players. And if he weren't using and many/most others were, his 2.93 career ERA was even more spectacular.

Let's not forget that in one season Pedro's ERA was more than three runs below the league average. In other words, he gave up about as many earned runs in five games as the average pitcher gave up in two.

Here are Pedro's ERA's in his seven great prime seasons: 1.90, 2.89, 2.07, 1.74, 2.39, 2.26 and 2.22. Here are the league averages in those seasons: 4.21, 4.66, 4.87, 4.92, 4.48, 4.47 and 4.53. Factor in that Pedro threw in a hitters' park, and it could be argued that no pitcher has ever been so dominant over seven straight years. Koufax certainly wasn't, although one could argue for Sandy over five.

In 2000 Pedro set the all-time record for WHIP at 0.74. The next closest in the live ball era is Greg Maddux's 0.81, which is in essence 10% higher. As great as Koufax was, his best was 0.87, or well over 15% higher than Pedro.

And Pedro did this against many/most hitters on steroids. Maybe Pedro WAS on steroids. He enjoyed a Bondsian advantage over other pitchers. Pedro doesn't get enough recognition IMO, as I believe is the case here with Kershaw.



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