Clayton Kershaw, Dodger teammates bask in glow of 3,000th strikeout
It was not so much the culmination of a career because it was another sign indicating the way to the temple of fame.
It was certainly not the last field that Clayton Kershaw will never launch for Dodgers, but it will probably be among the most memorable.
Because when the third basic player of Chicago White Sox, Vinny Capra, took a 1-2 cursor for a strike to end the sixth round on Wednesday evening, Kershaw became just on the 20thth The launcher in the history of the major league to record 3,000 stick withdrawals.
More people have soared on the moon than to withdraw 3,000 major leagues. And for Kershaw, who has continued history since he launched his first 20 -year -old league field, entering such an elite club will be a big piece of his inheritance.
It is only now that he has the wisdom and grace to realize that it was never on him in the first place.
“This is an incredible list. I’m super, super grateful to be part of it,” said Kershaw. “But if you don’t have anyone to celebrate with it, it doesn’t matter.”
Kershaw would know it because he is one of the most decorated players in history. Twice a winner of 20 games, a five-time champion of the era and a double world champion, he won three Cy Young prizes, was a Ligue MVP and is an All-Star at 10 times.
“Individual stuff,” he said “is as important as people around you.”
Thus, while Kershaw distinguished himself when he reached the 3K milestone on the 100th And the last launch he launched in the 5-4 Dodgers’ victory, he refused to stand out, stopping on the field to point his family sitting in their usual seats at the forefront of the Lodge section. He then accepted cuddles of teammates Mookie Betts and Kiké Hernández.
But he saved his warmest embrace for the manager Dave Roberts, who delimited the pirogue steps to greet him.
“We have gone through a lot together,” said Roberts, who guided Kershaw through doubts and disappointments, by high points and stockings in 10 years together.
“I am one of the few uniforms who have experienced them,” said Roberts. “It was in a way what the embrace was.”
Kershaw, 37, is only the fourth left-hander to reach 3,000 stick withdrawals, but more importantly, he said, is the fact that he is only the second of a century, after Bob Gibson, to do it with the same team. No launcher, in fact, spent more years in a Dodger uniform than Kershaw.
“I don’t know if I put a ton of stock to be with a team from the start,” he said. “Over time, you age and enjoy an organization a little more. Doc [Roberts] Stuck with me too. It was not all the roses, I know it.
“So there is just a lot of mutual respect and I am super grateful now, looking back, to be able to say that I have spent my whole career here. And I will spend my whole career here.”
Kershaw withdrew the first striker he faced during his Dodger debut 18 years ago, making the Schum Schumaker of Cardinals signs to a 1-2 throw. It was the first of the three stick withdrawals that he would record during his first round of the big league. Thus, even from the start, K in Kershaw – the scorebook symbol for a withdrawal – stood out more than the rest of the name.
Between Schumaker and Capra, Kershaw attracted nearly 1,000 different strikers, from CJ Abrams and Bobby Abreu to Ryan Zimmerman and Barry Zito.
He came out (Jason) Castro and (Buddy) Kennedy, Elvis (Andrus) and (Alex) Presley and (Billy) Hamilton and (Alex) Jackson. He wifmed (Scott) Cousins and brothers (Benie and Yadier Molina), a (Chin-Poumon) Hu and a Yu (Darvish), a cook (Aaron) and a baker (Jeff) as well as a trout (Mike) and several Marlins (Miami).
Former giant Brandon Belt was Kershaw’s most frequent victim, withdrawing 30 times in 62 bundles. According to Baseball Reference, less than 50 strikers faced him at least five times without withdrawn.
Along the way, the single liquidation of Kershaw, the right knee stopping as it lifts both hands just above his cap, has become an instantly recognizable silhouette for a generation of Dodger fans.
There is only one other left -hander in the history of the team who can compare himself with Kershaw, but he and Sandy Koufax are so different that the comparisons are more contrasts than anything.
Kershaw was brilliant during his entire 18 -year -old career, winning 10 or more games 12 times. He has never finished a season with a losing record and his 2.52 career ERA is the lowest of the last 105 years for launchers who are thrown at least 1,500 innings. Even at 37, he is undefeated in four decisions.
The Dodgers launcher, Clayton Kershaw, leaves the mound after having recorded his 3,000th withdrawal in career as a right field player Andy Pages, on the left, and the first goal player Freddie Freeman, on the right, reacts behind him.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Koufax was 36-40 with an ERA greater than 4.00 in its first six seasons. And while Koufax’s career was ended with an injury before his 31st Birthday, Kershaw has crossed repeated problems with his back, his shoulder, his knee, his toe, his elbow, his basin and his forearm.
Only Don Sutton won more games in a Dodger uniform than the 216 which belongs to Kershaw, who will soon be devoted next to Koufax and Sutton in the Hall of Fame.
“At the beginning, they were talking about this next guy from Sandy Koufax, this big left -hander. There was really no idea where the ball was going, but quite special,” said Roberts, who retired as a player after the recruit season of Kershaw. “It is better to wear the same uniform as him.”
But Roberts saw the other side, when the young promise gives way to traps. He saw Kershaw fight so many injuries, he spent almost as much time on the injured list as in rotation in the past five seasons. In parallel with the brilliance, he saw uncertainty.
So, with Kershaw approaching the story on Wednesday, Roberts loosened the leash, letting him return to the mound for the sixth round despite 92 throws, the most than two years.
“I wanted to give Clayton all opportunities,” he said. “We could see the emotion he had today, trying to get this third strike. But I think it’s just how it is supposed to happen, in the sense that it was the third [and] We were lucky to really celebrate it. »»
Each time Kershaw reached two strikes, which he did at 15 of the 27 strikers he faced: “I said some slender,” said Roberts.
“This is the last box for Clayton to check his wonderful career,” he added, saying that there were many more launchers will reach 3,000 stick withdrawals. “You have to stay healthy, you have to be good at the start of your career, you have to be good for a long time.”
And Kershaw was all this.
That, said Roberts, was at the origin of the second long hug that he and his launcher shared in the canoe on Wednesday evening as a coil to highlight Kershaw’s career played on video cards above the two external pavilions. The closed window crowds, which had long been on its feet, continuing to applaud, finally bringing Kershaw back on the ground to remove his cap in appreciation.
“This ovation,” he said, “was something that I will never forget, that’s for sure.”
Because who wants to celebrate alone?
