Clayton KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKershaw No Hits the Rockies

Clayton Kershaw tossed one of the most dominant games in Major League history. A no hitter is historic in its own respect, but to strikeout 15 batters with just over 100 pitches is unheard of. This no hitter is the second for the Dodgers this season after Josh Beckett's no-no against the Phillies in Philadelphia. I have compared Kershaw to Sandy Koufax plenty of times, and here is a side by side video of the two pitching.

Kershaw's no hitter would have probably been a perfect game if it were not for a Hanley Ramirez error in the 7th inning which allowed Cory Dickerson to reach base. Other than that base runner, Kershaw did not allow any others. Here is a video of every play of the game announced by the legendary Vin Scully.

Kershaw's stats are going back to where they usually are after a hiccup early in the season. His ERA sits at 2.52 and his WHIP sits at 0.92 with 86 strikeouts in 64.1 innings pitched. He also holds a 7-2 record. It appears he is on his way to yet another sub 3.00 ERA season, maybe even another sub 2.00 ERA season. You can expect Kershaw to compete for the All Star Game start with Cueto, Wainwright, Teheran, and Hudson.

Clayton Kershaw signs record setting extension

Clayton Kershaw has agreed to a 7 year $215 Million extension with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The $30.7 Million annual salary is the highest for any player ever. The overall value of the contract is the greatest for any pitcher. Kershaw must have really wanted to stay with the Dodgers because I am certain he would have been offered a 10 year contract for greater or equal average annual value.

Clayton Kershaw and Sandy Koufax

Kershaw has been the definition of masterful. In his first five full seasons Kershaw has a 2.43 ERA in 1072 innings pitched. That ERA is the lowest for any starting pitcher in the live ball ERA. If you include his rookie season his ERA goes up just to 2.60, still the lowest of all time for a starting pitcher.

The contract includes an opt out clause where he can become a free agent at age 30, but if he does not use that option, the contract will carry him through just his age 32 season. Kershaw may be looking at an even larger contract if he continues to put up monstrous numbers. In 2013 he put up the first season with a sub 2 ERA from a starting pitcher since Roger Clemens in 2005 and Pedro Martinez in 2000.

Kershaw has drawn comparisons to Sandy Koufax and is most definitely something special. Just imagine the contract Koufax would have been offered today.

Midyear Reports

So the season is more than half way completed and some players are just raking. This post will focus on the players raking. Another will follow with the players who are disappointing, and another will follow with which teams may be buyers and which teams may be sellers.

In the American League, baseballs are flying out of stadiums from every which direction. The home run leader Chris Davis has an astounding 33 home runs as of July 10th. Miguel Cabrera follows him with 29 in the Motor City, and Adam Dunn represents the South Side with 24.

In the National League, Carlos Gonzalez leads with 24 big flys with Philadelphia's pleasant surprise Dominic Brown and Pittsburgh's slugger Pedro Alvarez both trailing with 23. Alvarez's amazing season has been a major part in Pittsburgh's contention in the NL Central and why they are fighting with the Cardinals for the best record in baseball.

Throw Back Miggy with the Marlins

I'm not a big fan of batting average, I like on base percentage more, but some guys are just blowing the category away this year. In the NL Yadier Molina leads with a .344 avg followed by Rockies surprise Michael Cuddyer with a .336 avg. Finishing third in the NL avg contest is Allen Craig with a .329 avg of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Miguel Cabrera has made a joke of American League pitching by posting a .366 batting average a half season after winning the triple crown. David Ortiz comes in second with a .327 avg for the Red Stockings and teammate Dustin Pedroia finished third with a .321 avg; a fair explanation for the success of the Boston Red Sox.

In the MLB leaders for ERA the first seven names are of the National League. Pitching has been dominate in the NL this season. Clayton Kershaw leads the pack with a 1.89 ERA, followed by Jeff Locke of the Pirates with a 2.15 ERA, and rounding out the top three is Adam Wainwright with a 2.30 for the Cardinals.

Felix Hernandez is the king of Seattle. He has a 2.69 ERA for the Mariners, leading the American League. Second in the AL is Bartolo Colon with a ... 2.69 ERA (rounded but slightly higher than Hernandez's). Finally Yankees pitcher Hiroki Kuroda has a 2.77 ERA in 2013 and has been a bright spot for the bombers this year.

I've also mentioned how strikeouts aren't a necessity for pitchers, but they are still awesome to watch and in the American League Yu Darvish has collected 157 k's to lead the MLB. Second in the AL and third in the MLB is Max Scherzer with 146 punch outs. Finally rou
nding out the trio is surprise guest Justin Masterson with 137 strikeouts for the Cleveland Indians.


In the National League pheno
m Matt Harvey leads the league with 147 for the Mets. Following Harvey is my favorite starter Clayton Kershaw with 129 k's in LA. From the North side of Chi Town comes the man who's name I can't spell Jeff Samardzija with 128 strikeouts in 2013.

Jim Johnson. Was that a balk or a bark?

The American League features all three save leaders in the MLB. They are of course Jim Johnson of the Orioles with 31, Joe Nathan of the Rangers with 30, and the great Mariano Rivera of the Yankees with 29. That is as of July 12th.

In the National League the save leaders are the usual suspect and two surprising pitchers. Jason Grilli of the Pirates leads the NL with 28 saves, followed by Craig Kimbrel of the Braves with 25, and Edward Mujica of the Cardinals
also with 25.

Those are your lead leaders for the midyear report. These guys have been ripping their leagues a new one. They may just continue to do so for the second half. Will Davis hit 60 homers? Will Cabrera win back to back triple crowns? Can Kershaw finish with a sub 2.00 ERA? We have about 70 more games to find out.

Sing Us a Vogelsong

The Giants have a definite ace on the mound when Ryan Vogelsong pitches. Yesterday Vogelsong took the mound against the Dodgers in San Francisco in an important series in the NL West. Vogelsong knew he had to pitch well, because his counterpart was Clayton Kershaw, the 2011 Cy Young award winner.

In the game last night Vogelsong pitched 7 shutout innings allowing just 7 hits and 1 walk. Kershaw also was strong pitching 6 innings allowing 2 runs to score. The Giants' bullpen would come in to close the door. With Lincecum not pitching as well as he should, Vogelsong has been a major part of the Giants' pitching staff. The Giants' pitching is the strongest part of their team, which makes Vogelsong so beneficial to the team. He has a 7-3 record and a 2.23 ERA over 96.2 innings this season. He doesn't strike out many batters, but relies heavily on his defense.

Vogelsong pitched in Japan for a few seasons after not finding success at the Major League level. When returning the the Majors in 2011 with a 2.74 ERA his presence was seen. Also in 2012 with the aforementioned 2.23 ERA Vogelsong's career turnaround has been a great story. Don't let his 4.31 career ERA fool you, his stuff is nasty. He may just make the All Star Team.

Koufax-Kershaw Comparison

                 KERSHAW
                       VS
                  KOUFAX







Clayton Kershaw is just 24 years old and has already impressed a lot of people around baseball including myself. He has 3 consecutive seasons of a sub 3 ERA, but it was 2011 with a 2.28 ERA and 248 strikeouts that made him separable from other starters. Some believe Kershaw may be the next Sandy Koufax.


Koufax hit his prime much later than Kershaw. When Koufax was 23 his ERA was 4.05, but Koufax would kick it into high gear at the age of 26 with a 2.54 ERA and would never post an ERA lower than that. Kershaw and Koufax also have extremely similar strikeout per nine inning rates.

Koufax obviously pitched in an era that was pitching dominant and the MLB is slowing shifting back to pitching dominance, but to this day Koufax is still one of the best pitchers ever. Kershaw has a lot of promise for his future and even Sandy Koufax says he likes the way he pitches.

Graphs courtesy of fangraphs.com

The Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers finished the 2011 season with a record of 82-79. In 2011 they had a Cy Young award winner and a runner up in the MVP voting.

The Dodgers have a definite force in Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw has been a dominant pitcher his past 3 seasons in the MLB. Since 2009 Kershaw has only pitched to sub 3.00 ERA's and over 9 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. In 2011 he earned himself the National league Cy Young award with the following stats: 21 wins, 2.28 ERA, 233 IP, and 248 strikeouts. He won the pitching triple crown tied in one category with Ian Kennedy with 21 wins. Chad Billingsly used to be the ace pitcher for The Dodgers before Kershaw came on the scene. He had a 4.21 ERA in 2011 which is much higher than it should be. In 2008 he pitched to a 3.14 ERA over 200 innings. Billingsly is now 27, if he can return to the pitcher he should be The Dodgers will have a nice 1-2 combo.

The Dodgers also lost Hiroki Kuroda due to free agency. Kuroda signed with The Yankees after his best season. Kuroda pitched 202 innings with a 3.07 ERA and 161 strikeouts. He was the cap on The Dodgers rotation making the 1-2-3 combo of Kershaw, Billingsly and Kuroda, but now it looks like the Dodgers will have to do without.

After Ryan Braun being accused of performence enhancing drug usage I think Matt Kemp should have won the MVP. Kemp was 1 home run away from being into the 40-40 club. The 40-40 club is an elite list of players who have hit 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in as single season. Matt Kemp finished with 39 home runs, 126 RBI's, 40 stolen bases, a .399 on base percentage, and an 171 OPS+.

The Dodgers don't have many other notable offensive players. So you can see why they didn't make the playoffs. One notable player is Andre Ethier. Ethier gets injured often not playing more than 140 games  in 2010 and 2011. One thing he is good at is facing right handed pitching. In 2011 there was a right handed pitcher on the mound 74% of the time. Ethier had a .410 on base percentage vs right handed pitching and a .468 slugging percentage vs right handed pitching. Although he is neutralized by left handed pitching Ethier can bring a wallop to the offense 74% of time.  

Since The Dodgers have only 2 offensively dangerous players and 1 pitcher you can take for granted The Dodgers will have a rough time in 2012. It is highly unlikely that Kerhsaw or Kemp will repeat the great seasons they had in 2011, but if they do it; it won't bring The Dodgers to the playoffs.