Charles Barkley had Michael Jordan.
Jim Kelly had Troy Aikman.
Ted Williams had… Babe Ruth’s curse?
—–
One of the most tired tropes of sports talk is the list of ‘best who’ve never won the big one’. Just ask any of the men above. But as long as we’re going to have this distinguished group around, we’d like to welcome one Mr. Clayton Edward Kershaw to come on down and take a look-see. Don’t have to stay, but just maybe get the feel of the place.
See what he thinks.
Clayton Kershaw has lost his last 4 playoff starts.
Kershaw only has 4 losses in his last 30 regular season starts. pic.twitter.com/nXgrjPiEjw
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 8, 2014
Other invitees (Phil, Peyton, et al) have almost moved in, but decided against it. Others (Marino) have flopped down and made themselves right at home. Time will tell what happens with Mr. Kershaw. But as it stands, he’s going to win a Cy Young and MVP award in a few weeks – but all people will want to talk about is how he choked in the playoffs.
Against the Cardinals.
Again.
Fair? Hardly. All the names mentioned are all-time greats. But when they got the chance on the biggest stage, they weren’t able to break through. Kershaw could have a 0.00 ERA in 2015 – come September, he’ll be getting asked about his past postseason flops and the ones that might lay ahead.
Clayton Kershaw's 5 postseason losses are tied with Jerry Reuss for most in Dodgers history
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 8, 2014
Kershaw – the best pitcher on the planet – and the Cardinals are now indelibly intertwined.
He’s 26. He’s great. And nothing says he can’t ever break through. But right now? At this point in history? The Cardinals absolutely PWN him.
—–
For the 10th time in the past 18 years, the Cardinals are headed to the NLCS. Thats correct, 10 times in 18 years.
Amazing.
The ROI for Cardinals fandom has reached an all-time high. It’s the Apple, the Google of emotional investments. Whatever you’ve put in the past two decades has been repaid hundreds of times over. And just when you think it can’t get any better, somehow, it does.
On an Bob Ross inspired tableau, the Birds faced down the best player in baseball for the second time in 5 days and dealt him another dramatic finishing blow. Matt “Big Mayo” Adams barely cleared the right field wall and pony kicked his way into St. Louis lore.
3-2.
Game. Series. On to the final four.
With the way sports is covered in 2014 (off-field issues, salary cap implications, service time clocks, pending free agency, and on and on and on), rare are the moments of unbridled joy.
Late this afternoon, the Cardinals provided another monumental memory.
It was pretty cool.
The Best? The Worst?
+ Yeah, Shelby. Through 5 innings, Miller was matching zeros with the Dodgers ace and making Kershaw be perfect. He finally ran out of steam in the 6th, leaving with 2 outs and getting charged with 2 runs. But he kept the Cardinals close and built up – I believe the technical term is fuckton – of confidence for the NLCS.
– I give up. You win, Rosenthal. You. Win. We lose. We accept the fact that you’re physically incapable of having a clean inning and a simple save. So we’re going to sit here, have our mini heart attacks and enjoy it. There’s no use fighting it anymore.
+ Here’s to you physics. Because whatever spin the baseball had off Jhonny Peralta’s bat that made it pop through Hanley Ramirez’s glove and into center field, well, that’s on you. Sometimes it’s a cliche to call baseball a game of inches. But in this case, it was a game of an inch.
– Donny Baseball fell on his sword by benching Puig. Why he did it? We might not know for a while. But the fact that we didn’t get a chance to beat the best Dodgers team that was possible is always going to be something that LA fans try to hang their hat on. It’s not going to work, but still.
Highlight Of The Night:
[mlbvideo id=”36770303″ width=”650″ height=”324″ /]Photo: NY Times
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