L.A. Screams 'K' for Kershaw

By now, if you are a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers or a just a rabid baseball fan, you have heard about the Legend of Clayton Kershaw. That's right, the Legend. That is what is seems like as Kershaw has been the most hyped Dodgers' pitching prospect since Sandy Koufax. Kershaw is the hottest twenty year old kid to hit the L.A. scene, you wouldn't even think he would be a baseball player. Musician? Maybe. Actor? Probably. But baseball it is, and the kid's Hollywood celebrity is already bright and growing.

The fans have been crying for his arrival since spring training when he dominated in big league camp, and even Dodger icon Vin Scully has been singing the kid's song since he dubbed the curveball, that was so good it buckled Sean Casey twice in the same at bat in a spring training game, "Public Enemy Number One". Only two years removed from high school baseball, it has been a mythical rise through the minor leagues for Kershaw. It was never a matter of "if", but only "when". The buzz has been rampant in Los Angeles from Opening Day, and general manager Ned Colletti has made it a daily habit of answering the next round of Kershaw questions.

Colletti stressed the importance of not rushing the kid and allowing him time for seasoning and development. Those explanations held hardly any water when word of Kershaw's latest dominant outing in Double-A Jacksonville surfaced at Chavez Ravine. It would be safe to say that Colletti's hand was forced when the Dodgers' entire starting rotation it seems has been in a month long funk, and forget about the number five starter. That has been nonexistent in a rotation that has asked Esteban Loaiza and Chan Ho Park to take their cracks at it.

And so it was, on Sunday, Memorial Day weekend, the kid from Highland Park, Texas, the phenom on a freight train from Jacksonville, arrived on baseball's biggest stage in a city with some of the brightest lights. This was not making your Major League debut for the Kansas City Royals in September when the club is 30 games out of first place and the fans are looking for football season. This is taking your first cracks at The Show in front of a passionate fan base, amidst a cry for help from the front office.

It wasn't meant to be like this, Clayton, with the weight of stabilizing the Dodgers' starting pitching on your shoulders from the get-go, but here you are and here's the ball anyways.

The kid arrived to the ballpark with family and friends in the stands, and put on his Los Angeles Dodgers uniform and headed for the bullpen to pull up the anchor on the ship and set this baby out to sea. It is time. Time to get this young, heralded career on the road.

Kershaw took the mound, cap pulled down over his eyes covering his easy going hair, pants loosely hanging down from his waist nestling on the top of his spikes, jersey comfortably draped over his broud shoulders and big league frame. And then he stared. He peered at the plate to get his first sign from catcher Russell Martin: a 93 mph fastball. He stared as he blew away Skip Schumaker with elevated 95 mph cheese, the first strikeout of his career, the first out of the ballgame.

The glare towards Schumaker as he plodded back to the dugout told us all we needed to know. The kid had arrived and he was ready to be here. He knew he should be here. He felt he belonged here. There was no more wondering about the road through the minors, the one teammate Luis Maza knows all too well after ten long years.

Kershaw showed some big league jitters as it took him 32 pitches to get through the first inning, surrendering one run after Albert Pujols welcomed him to the big leagues with an RBI double. But Kershaw came back, firing high-octane fastballs at the hands, at the knees, at the Cardinals until their beaks were sawed off and their wings were clipped. This was Kershaw's ballgame.

Kershaw fanned seven over six innings of work, utterly dominating the St. Louis Cardinals notwithstanding a few chinks in the armor, allowing two earned runs in a no decision, one of which got on with a hit because first baseman James Loney lost a popup in the sun, only to have it come down and smack him square on top of the head. If that wasn't enough, St. Louis caught another break when Blake DeWitt came charging in on a chopper with a runner on third, but his throw home was high and Martin had to leap up to catch it, allowing Brian Barton to slide home safely with the second run of the game.

That would be the final inning for Kershaw in his debut, one of the biggest moments of his life was complete and he had passed it with ease. Fortunately for the Dodgers, Andre Eithier picked up the club and singled home Juan Pierre in the bottom of the tenth inning to give the Dodgers a 4-3 victory, avoiding a three game sweep.

But, naturally the game was all about Kershaw and the southpaw should be here to stay, as the Dodgers really have no other starter that deserves the fifth spot in the rotation more than Kershaw. The fastball popped and the curveball snapped just like they said it would. Kershaw is known for this two-pitch arsenal, but it only took a couple of innings into his big league career before we saw the first adjustment.

Yes, the fastball and curveball will always be his bread and butter, but it was apparent from the beginning that big league hitters are a little bit better at fighting off the good breaking pitches, when minor league hitters would usually swing and miss. A major league lineup can hit the fastball, and they can battle one offspeed pitch. That was the plan from the Cardinals' hitters from the start as they kept fouling off the breaking ball until they could get a rip at the fastball.

It was obvious that Kershaw would need a third offering to get him some easy outs, keep the pitch count down, and keep hitters honest and off of his breaking ball. That is when Russell Martin started throwing down the sign for the change up, a pitch that Kershaw never needed in high school, and seldom used in the minors. Surprisingly, well maybe we shouldn't be so surprised, Kershaw had a pretty good one of those too. His 85-86 mph change is certainly an average third pitch, and was extremely effective towards getting the opposing hitters out front and inducing weak ground balls. The change up was the reason why he didn't throw more than 12 pitches in any inning from the second through sixth, a much needed break after laboring in the first.

It could have been the 95-97 mph fastballs that Kershaw used to tie up right handed hitters, or the curveballs that he used to buckle lefthanders, that caused a sense of awe and astonishment while watching the rookie work. Or, in hindsight, it may have been the poise and the enjoyment Kershaw exuded on the mound. There was a distinct flair for the game, a rich enjoyment of baseball that crept onto mound at Dodger Stadium; this is the breath of fresh air that this club needs in order to become the championship club that it is capable of becoming.

Who would have thought that it would take a 20-year-old kid from deep in the heart of Texas, to come to the Dodgers stamped as baseball's next big thing, and show a struggling bunch of veterans what it means to believe in your talent and believe in your ability to get Major League hitters out? That is what I saw from Kershaw on this day. Of course he has the great pitches that very few will ever be able to throw, but does that really matter that much? No, because it is not as if Brand Penny, Derek Lowe , et al. are slugs.

It was about time Los Angeles got a taste of what is rightfully theirs, as much as Sunset Blvd. and the "Hollywood" sign. Hollywood is the passion that Clayton Kershaw is going to bring to this Dodgers rotation. Sunset Blvd. is the street that we can put the old ways and old schemes on, full of aging players who are holding budding superstars down, and push them right off into the distance, out of sight and out of mind.

As Clayton Kershaw left his swagger and his fastball on the field on Sunday, making his first indellible impression on the Dodgers faithful, the skyscrapers of downtown L.A. sat calmly behind Dodger Stadium, slightly shadowed by a plethora of clouds on this overcast afternoon. Kershaw stood as tall as those buildings and as easy as that overcast, spring breeze, as he took the Dodgers' future into his own hands and delivered his game to a team that was in dire need of a boost, to a city that has mastered the act of welcoming a phenom. Sunday was no different and, in the name of Vin Scully, it was about time.