Written by Bob Nightengale at USAToday.com
You could sense the demons lurking around Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw once again Sunday evening, in the inning that has haunted him throughout his postseason career.
The four-pitch walk to lead off the seventh. The dropped foul pop-up. The frenzied Wrigley Fieldcrowd now taunting him, “KER-Shaw. KER-Shaw. KER-Shaw.’’
It was as if every fan had Kershaw’s postseason stats memorized: A 28.93 ERA in the seventh inning, and a 3.06 ERA in every other inning in his career.
Then, for all of the world to witness, Kershaw snuffed out those ghosts of the past, dancing off the mound, into the arms of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, and reminding everyone that this is the greatest pitcher on the planet, no matter what time of year.
Kershaw, pitching for the third time in six days, shut down the Chicago Cubs, 1-0, tying this best-of-seven National League Championship Series 1-1, with the series now moving to Los Angeles.
The chalk board in the visiting Wrigley clubhouse exposed just how confident the Dodgers are feeling.
“Keep Buying into the Process!
We Will Win This Series.’’
Kershaw, the three-time Cy Young winner whose season was jeopardized by a two-month absence due to a herniated disk, has turned the unimaginable to the inevitable.
He has pitched four times in this postseason, and the Dodgers are 4-0.
The Dodgers are 0-3 when he doesn’t pitch.
There is no man in this postseason that means more to his team than Kershaw, who limited the Cubs to just two hits in seven innings, with first baseman Adrian Gonzalezproviding the lone run with his second-inning homer, and Kenley Jansen closing the door by retiring all six batters he faced.
“It should surprise me what he’s doing,’’ Dodgers president Andrew Friedman says, “but being around him, the way he prepares, how he competes, it really doesn’t surprise me.
“It almost feels like I’m being too flippant about it, but I just know him well enough not to be surprised about it.’’
This is a man who has won three Cy Young awards, and a National League MVP award. If he stopped pitching tomorrow, he would be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The numbers he puts up year after year draw comparisons to the legendary Sandy Koufax.
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