Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw Look to Put Stranglehold on Padres in NLDS Game 2
One way to win playoff games is to be patient enough, to hang around long enough to break through against what looks to be superior pitching, and to outplay your opponent in the late innings with key hits and shutdown pitching of your own.
The Dodgers did that Tuesday night in Game 1 of the National League Division Series versus San Diego at Texas. The 5-1 winners got four gritty innings of one-run ball from starter Walker Buehler, followed by two perfect (and perfectly inspiring) frames from Dustin May, with the final nine outs (one hit, no walks and four strikeouts) via Victor Gonzalez, Blake Treinen and Kenley Jansen.
Tonight Los Angeles will try to win either similarly or in some other fashion with Clayton Kershaw going against Zach Davies in Game 2, at 6:08 p.m. PT. None of the men in blue care what form tonight's victory comes in; they just want the W, and a stranglehold on the NLDS.
You know all about Kershaw's brilliant NLWC start opposite Milwaukee at Dodger Stadium (8 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 13 Ks). You also know about his postseason history, which almost-annually includes some great performances, with some stinkers mixed in. I think it's reasonable to expect something in the way of a quality start -- if you believe in such things -- six innings with three earned runs across from Kersh tonight. Anything better is gravy and anything less can be dealt with by the L.A. squad picking up their mate.
They do that by getting to Davies for three, four of five runs in say, five or six innings, and getting some separation late off San Diego's much-used bullpen.
A few numbers to ponder: Davies in the 2020 regular season: 7-4, 2.73 ERA, 3.88 FIP, 1.067 with 63 strikeouts in 69 1/3. Davies in the NLWC: 2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER and an ERA of 18.00. Davies vs. Los Angeles lifetime: 3-3, 2.37, 1.054. Davies at Globe Life Field: 5 IP, 3 ER.
Kershaw vs. the Padres lifetime: 21-7, 2.03, 0.977. Kershaw vs. San Diego in 2020: 6 1/3, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 Ks, which if duplicated is good enough to win tonight. More will be revealed.
And remember, glove conquers all.
Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the internet since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter.
Video courtesy of Spectrum SportsNetLA/Los Angeles Dodgers.
