Clayton Kershaw is without a doubt one of the best regular season pitchers of our generation. His only problem arrives when he gets to the playoffs and becomes a shell of himself.
In each of his last two seasons while making the playoffs with the Dodgers, he has gone without a win and posted an ERA over 6. His main goal this year would be to make the playoffs and then dominate the way we’re used to seeing through out the summer.
To complete that goal, he’s going to need more of this toughness. In a Spring Training game recently he took a line drive off of the cheek bone, when asked by reporters after the game how he felt, he said:
“Scare? Yeah, I guess so,” Kershaw told reporters afterward. “It felt like getting hit by a pitch. Nothing serious. I don’t think I panicked too much. It was sore. I think I lost some tooth. I spit it out, and we got it. I assume (Saturday), I’ll be sore. I feel fine now.”
Kershaw’s whack to the jaw didn’t seem to affect him much. He retired the next seven batters.
If you’re an LA fan that is exactly what you’d like to hear from your ace after such an incident. He lost a tooth and kept on moving through the lineup like it was just another day at the park.
Keep it up, Kershaw. You’re going to need those nerves of steel come October.
Check out video of the incident below.
H/T SN