{"id":29523,"date":"2016-10-07T08:02:32","date_gmt":"2016-10-07T15:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/kershaw-a-mystery-entering-opener\/"},"modified":"2016-10-07T08:02:32","modified_gmt":"2016-10-07T15:02:32","slug":"kershaw-a-mystery-entering-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/kershaw-a-mystery-entering-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Kershaw a mystery entering opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON<\/strong> \u2014 It is one of baseball\u2019s enduring mysteries in recent years and will be front-and-center in Game 1 of the NL Division Series between the Dodgers and Nationals that begins today:<\/p>\n

Why is LA lefty Clayton Kershaw so downright masterful during the regular season and so decidedly mediocre during the playoffs?<\/p>\n

While a player such as Washington slugger Bryce Harper talks about thriving when the stage is biggest, the lights brightest, the TV audience broadest, Kershaw seems to spend early October dealing with questions about happens to him at this time of year. He goes from being a three-time Cy Young Award winner (with a pair of other top-three finishes in voting) who wins two out of every three decisions (126-60 career record) and owns a 2.37 ERA to just a guy: 2-6, 4.59 ERA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bad ones stand out more,\u201d he said Thursday, \u201cfor sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

He offered one possible explanation for the disparity, and a hopeful-sounding view of why things could be different this time around, beginning when he faces Max Scherzer and the rest of the NL East champions.<\/p>\n

In years gone by, Kershaw said, he thought he was supposed to carry the Dodgers.<\/p>\n

But he missed more than two months with a back injury in 2016 and thought it took some time to get completely comfortable when he returned for five starts in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, I\u2019ve definitely felt that pressure more. But this year\u2019s been a little bit different for me, just as far as having to watch on the sidelines. … It\u2019s really kind of hit home for me a little bit, as I\u2019ve come back, that I can definitely be a part of this and definitely help and definitely be a factor in winning,\u201d Kershaw said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t have to be THE factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another difference: He recently picked up somewhat of a sidearm delivery for the occasional 95 mph fastball, something he got from Game 2 starter Rich Hill.<\/p>\n

Neither Dodgers rookie manager Dave Roberts nor Kershaw himself has spent time going over video of past playoff performances to try to glean anything that could be improved or changed for this series.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t read too much into it and haven\u2019t looked back on it. I don\u2019t think it has any bearing on this postseason, the start tomorrow,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAnd I really don\u2019t think Clayton cares, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Setting aside Kershaw\u2019s particular case, for the moment, there are those players, to be sure, who are able to elevate themselves when the stakes and scrutiny are the greatest.<\/p>\n

Harper, who slugged .882 with three homers in Washington\u2019s 2014 NLDS loss to San Francisco, describes himself as someone who enjoys \u201cplaying in front of millions of people\u201d and adds: \u201cMy heart doesn\u2019t really race or anything like that. I\u2019m super calm. I feel great at the plate. I feel great in the outfield. Just feels like home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nationals left fielder Jayson Werth, who won a World Series title with Philadelphia in 2008, spoke about Phillies teammate Jimmy Rollins as an example of someone who performed best when the TV cameras turned on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe red light\u2019s on and, all of a sudden, he turns into a superhero. That\u2019s more personality than DNA, I think,\u201d Werth said. \u201cSome guys can do it. Some guys are the opposite. They play better during the season, when no one\u2019s watching.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some other story lines to watch in the NLDS between the Dodgers and Nationals:<\/p>\n

\n

ROOKIE STARS:<\/strong> This series features two outstanding rookies who might be the teams\u2019 most dynamic offensive players, Dodgers SS Corey Seager (.308 average, 26 HRs) and Nationals CF Trea Turner (.342, 13 HRs, 33 SBs in 73 games). \u201cHe\u2019s going to help us out tremendously the next couple of weeks,\u201d Harper said about Turner.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

HOME VS. ROAD:<\/strong> The Dodgers went 53-28 at home and only 38-43 on the road in 2016; if the best-of-five NLDS goes the distance, Game 5 will be at Nationals Park. \u201cYou know what?\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019ll be carryover.\u201d<\/p>\n

CLOSE CLOSERS:<\/strong> Each club features a top regular-season closer \u2014 Washington\u2019s Mark Melancon converted 47 of 51 save chances this year; LA\u2019s Kenley Jansen went 47 for 53. One difference: Melancon was asked to earn a save of more than three outs only twice all season, while Jansen did it five times, and Roberts said he\u2019d have no qualms about asking for that repeatedly in the series.<\/p>\n

\n

HISTORY-MAKING MANAGERS: <\/strong>This is the first postseason matchup in MLB history involving two black managers. \u201cIt gives us some pride, in being African-American, to show people that not only can we do the job, but we can do the job better than most,\u201d Washington\u2019s Dusty Baker said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 It is one of baseball\u2019s enduring mysteries in recent years and will be front-and-center in Game 1 of the NL Division Series between the Dodgers and Nationals that begins today: Why is LA lefty Clayton Kershaw so downright masterful during the regular season and so decidedly mediocre during the playoffs? While a player […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-29523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29523"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=29523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}