The Kershaw Collection: 3 Cy Youngs, an M.V.P. and Now, a World Series - The New York Times
NYTimes no longer supports Internet Explorer 9 or earlier. Please upgrade your browser. LEARN MORE >> Baseball|The Kershaw Collection: 3 Cy Youngs, an M.V.P. and Now, a World SeriesCHICAGO — The first World Series in Clayton Kershaw's memory are the ones with the Yankees in the late 1990s. Those were Derek Jeter's teams, but to Kershaw they belonged more to the strapping Texas aces on the mound. He is from Dallas, and he wanted to be like them."Clayton knows baseball," A. J. Ellis said by phone late Thursday as the Los Angeles Dodgers were capturing their first National League pennant in 29 years. "We would talk long into the night after some of his starts — not just about current baseball, but baseball of the past. He's got that genre of the late '90s and early 2000s pretty well nailed, with the kinds of pitchers he wanted to emulate — the Texas guys, like Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte."Ellis had worked with Kershaw more than any other catcher — from Class AA to the majors, through Cy Young Awards, a Most Valuable Player trophy and several excruciating trips to the postseason — until the Dodgers traded him last summer https://www.miamigearshop.com/129-dewayne-washington-ii. When Kershaw finally reached the World Series on Thursday, it seemed remarkably smooth: six swift innings, all with a lead, in an 11-1 mauling of the Chicago Cubs, the defending champions, at Wrigley Field.A year ago, the Cubs had battered Kershaw here in the sixth, and final, game of the National League Championship Series https://www.miamigearshop.com/291-malik-mayweather. The Cubs went on to win a championship, and the Dodgers ended up back at Wrigley for the ring ceremony on a cold, wet night in April. Some of the Dodgers made a point to watch the Cubs' celebration. Others refused. But the moment meant nothing to Kershaw. AdvertisementContinue reading the main story"I was out there for some of it Dionte Williams Jersey, and I came in after a little bit," he said then. "Pretty indifferent. We lost last year, so I don't really care who it was to." Continue reading the main story The Dodgers had not won, so to Kershaw, nothing else mattered. He was 7 months old when they last won a title, in 1988. Drafted in the first round out of high school in 2006, Kershaw achieved so much, so soon, that winning his own ring has stood as the only line unwritten on a future plaque in Cooperstown.That is how others saw it, and that is how Kershaw saw it, too. Would something be missing if he never got this chance?"That's a tough question," Kershaw said late Thursday at an interview podium beside his 2-year-old daughter, Cali Ann. "I think, at the end of the day — yeah. Winning the World Series is really all that we play this game for. All the individual stuff is great, but I just want to win a World Series. If we win, I might retire. I might just call it a career."He was joking, of course, but a championship would be a fitting way to end a decade of dominance. For a pitcher of his pedigree, it is overdue.Kershaw is 144-64 with a 2.36 earned run average and three Cy Young Awards. Only eight others have won the award at least three times: Clemens, Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, Greg Maddux, Sandy Koufax, Pedro Martinez, Jim Palmer and Tom Seaver. All have earned a championship ring and pitched at least three games in the World Series.No wonder, then, that Kershaw ranked Thursday's victory with getting married and having children as one of the best days of his life."It's just special; it's the only way to say it," Kershaw said. "I couldn't imagine being part of something this great. These guys put me in a great spot, to get on that mound for this win tonight. I can't explain it right now. I'm getting to go to the World Series." AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyAndre Ethier, the veteran Dodgers outfielder, said he brags to friends that he may be the only one — with the pitching coach, Rick Honeycutt — to have witnessed nearly all of Kershaw's starts. Ethier, 35, was already on the team when Kershaw was drafted. He tried to ignore the hype, but Kershaw has far exceeded it. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. An error has occurred. Please try again later. You are already subscribed to this email. View all New York Times newsletters."I heard about this young guy when he was in the minor leagues coming up, this great phenom — O.K., whatever," Ethier said. "He comes up and establishes himself as what he is. It really is an honor to be on the same team as him and to take a step back and realize what he's done in his career, how dominant he's been, and at the same time how personable and humble he is toward everyone on this team."If Kershaw had a flaw, it seemed to be October. He is 6-7 with a 4.40 E.R.A. in the postseason, but five starts have come on short rest. At other times Brian Polendey Jersey, a shaky bullpen has led the Dodgers to leave in Kershaw too long. He has never quite crafted a defining postseason moment that gives a pitcher a halo forever.Yet through it all, Ellis said, there was never a conversation about whether Kershaw was willing to pitch, to grind past the soreness and find a way through. He considered it part of his job as an ace, and admired how Clemens, Pettitte and others had done so.This year has been different, partly by necessity; Kershaw missed nearly six weeks with a back injury in July and August. But with Rich Hill, Yu Darvish and Alex Wood stabilizing the rotation, and Kenta Maeda, Brandon Morrow and others locking down the late innings to set up the closer Kenley Jansen, the Dodgers are better equipped to help Kershaw be his best."All the naysayers want to pull out every negative that they can," said Honeycutt, the pitching coach since 2006. "He didn't have the supporting cast in the other years — the other starters, the bullpen. This is by far the deepest staff, by far the best group to go deep, to get to the World Series, that the Dodgers have had since I've been here. We've always been good, but we've always been short."The Dodgers have now won eight of Kershaw's last nine playoff appearances, and teams have learned that there is really just one way to score off him. In 17 1/3 innings this postseason, he has given up seven runs on homers, and no other runs. In the regular season, he allowed 23 homers, a career high."The secrets are gone as far as what the league is doing against him," said Ellis, who played for Miami this season. "You see the jump in home runs against him because teams understand you're not going to get multiple hits against him in an inning. He's got too many strikeout weapons. You've got to try to outslug this guy — that's the only way you can beat him — but he's now learning how to go away from that slug," although, Ellis added, "that's sometimes tough to do on the fly."Kershaw's fastball averages about 93 miles an hour, his rainbow curveball brings gasps of awe from fans, and his slider — perfected in one bullpen session before a game at Wrigley in 2009 — is his best wipeout pitch. AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyOn Thursday, though, no teammates mentioned a particular pitch when asked what stands out most about Kershaw. One after another, they cited his work between starts, his relentless preparation and drive. Justin Turner, the series' co-most valuable player with Chris Taylor, said he had never seen anyone train as tirelessly as Kershaw."Everybody's like, ‘What's the secret?'" Hill said. "It's work. That's what it is. And when he goes out there and pitches, he has such a passion for baseball. When you have a passion for something, it's unstoppable."Nothing this season has stopped Kershaw and the Dodgers. Just one stage remains, the one he has wanted all his life. On Baseball A regular analytical column looking at major league baseball.