LOS ANGELES — No other major league stadium frames a sunset quite like Dodger Stadium, where the hills around Chavez Ravine follow the San Gabriel Mountains into various shades of purple as the steady Southern California sun gives way.
At the All-Star Game, Clayton Kershaw’s golden hour arrived
On Tuesday, as the late afternoon shadows started to creep across the field, Kershaw took the mound to start the All-Star Game — ultimately won, 3-2, by the American League — in the only home he has ever known. Before he headed to the mound, he paused and looked around — the only time he has ever done that, he said later.
“I just saw a lot of people that meant a lot to me,” Kershaw said.
Many people in the stands saw someone who has meant a lot to them, too. He received a standing ovation when he was introduced as part of the starting lineups. His National League teammates waited in the dugout as he took the mound so he could get a standing ovation then, too.
“Because it was at Dodger Stadium, I think that’s why I wanted to do it so much,” Kershaw said. “This place means a lot to me. I’ve had a lot of great times here. I’ve had some rough times here, too, but overall this place is hugely special to me.”
Kershaw is part of the landscape here, as much a part of this place as Sandy Koufax or those mountains, as much a part of this franchise’s history as Steve Garvey or Fernando Valenzuela. Kershaw is the legend of this generation of Dodgers, a 21st-century star in the mold of 20th-century legends.
Valenzuela threw the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday. Then Kershaw threw the first real pitch — a fastball, 91 mph, just as he predicted during a pregame interview in which he suggested he would throw as hard as he could and see what happens. That his fastball sits at 91, not 94 as it did in his prime, is a reminder of how much time has passed. He delivered that fastball as the first shadows of the night consumed the mound, signs that sunset was on its way but certainly not there yet.
Kershaw isn’t done, but whenever he wants to be, he will have a legendary résumé. He is third in franchise history in wins, is first in strikeouts and has started more Opening Days than any of the Hall of Famers who took the mound before him. And at 34, he knows he isn’t the most dominant pitcher in the game anymore — though of course, he did take a perfect game into the eighth inning against Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Angels just a week ago.
On Tuesday, Ohtani hit that first-pitch fastball into center field for a single. Then Kershaw, who said he threw to first because he didn’t know what pitch to throw to Aaron Judge, picked Ohtani off. He ended up throwing a scoreless inning, then handed the ball to pitchers he says were more deserving.
“It’s hard, because obviously Sandy Alcantara, Tony Gonsolin, Max Fried, all these guys have better numbers than I do and they should be starting this game, and I get that,” Kershaw said before his start, a sentiment he reiterated afterward. He praised the Miami Marlins’ Alcantara as the “best pitcher on the planet,” a nod to the humility his teammates bring up long before his baseball talents. But what NL (and Atlanta Braves) Manager Brian Snitker gets, what Kershaw seems to understand, is that this wasn’t about a year’s worth of numbers. This was about 15 seasons, nine all-star selections, three Cy Young Awards, an MVP award and the only title this wildly talented Dodgers generation has been able to muster.
“I mess with him all the time and tell him, ‘Hey, you’re my hero,’ or, ‘You were my favorite player growing up’ — even though he’s only two years older than me,” Dodgers starter Tyler Anderson said. “It makes him uncomfortable.”
But what Anderson knows is that many people in this sport aren’t joking when they say he was their baseball role model.
“He was the guy that I looked up to. He was the young lefty, tall, had a big curveball and was dominating,” said Fried, a pitcher for the Braves. “Growing up in this area and being a Dodgers fan, it was easy to be a big fan of his.”
“I think I’ve always appreciated how good he is, but to be able to go through it and understand how hard it is to do it at that level with the consistency with which he’s done it as long as he’s done it,” Fried said, “it puts him in a different category.”
That category is surefire Hall of Famer and undeniable legend, one of the best to ever do it. Few active pitchers can be so classified, a list that may be as short as Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. Trea Turner played with Scherzer before joining Kershaw’s clubhouse last season. When he walked into the Dodgers’ clubhouse for the first time, he encountered Kershaw, the stoic L.A. legend with nearly unparalleled clout, singing.
“Things you don’t see every day,” Turner said.
“I don’t think he’s hiding [that part of him]. I just think you don’t really notice it because he’s competing so much,” Turner added. “He’s a lot like Scherzer in that they have those two personalities. When they’re not pitching, they’re a normal, nice, funny guy. When they’re pitching, they’re the ultimate competitor.”
Many starters have been described that way, but the reason Kershaw was on the mound at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday is, to hear current and former teammates describe it, that he has been that way every five days for years — no matter how he is feeling, no matter what is going on around him.
“Kersh is the most prepared human I have ever met. He is the hardest worker I have ever met. He will know every strength you have, every weakness you have,” former Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson said. “Even when he is having fun, there is no one that cares more about winning on days that he doesn’t pitch. He is invested in every pitch. Best teammate you could ask for. Top teammate that I’ve had.”
Gonsolin, the breakout Dodgers ace, doesn’t remember if Kershaw ever articulated the greatest lesson he taught him — to pitch with what you have, as well as you can, no matter what. Kershaw’s mediocre stuff certainly is better than most. But those who see him regularly can tell just how determined he is to do what he can when it’s his turn.
“I don’t know if it’s something he said or just from watching him pitch, but he just goes out there and competes with whatever he has that day,” Gonsolin said. “I don’t think it’s ever easy to see he’s battling. He just goes out there and does his best.”
His best has been better than almost anyone’s for 15 years. Perhaps he has another year or two left, though he hasn’t said for sure. With the air of someone who knows his time on the mound is dwindling, he talks of hanging on long enough for some of his young children to have some memories of all this. He said he had never been more tired than he was Monday night, when he had to “wrangle” his 2-year-old son into position to watch the Home Run Derby.
On Tuesday, when his inning was over, Kershaw talked to reporters, hugged a kid who said his grandfather had always wanted to meet him, then headed back to the dugout. By the time he got there, Dodgers teammate Mookie Betts had driven in the game’s first run, and only deep right field was still lit by the sun. He spent the rest of the evening talking to his fellow all-stars and taking in a scene he had never paused to consider quite like this before. No place does sunsets quite like Dodger Stadium. And no one fits at Dodger Stadium quite like Clayton Kershaw.
Source: WP
