pure science with a splash of black cat

This doesn’t have anything to do with anything. I just wanted to make sure Olivia got to see it.

Sons of Steve Garvey: Five Dodgers to Be Thankful For

Loney even entered positive full-season UZR territory for the first time, rating a 1.2. His progress may not be as dramatic as Kemp’s or Ethier’s, but Loney is becoming a dependable “glue guy” in the Dodgers’ lineup.

Shawn Thornton is a glue guy. James Loney is a glue guy. Methinks Geoffrey would lose in a fist fight, though.

Really, the only thing keeping Kershaw from getting an A+ is that hideous growth on his face he’s calling a “beard”, because he was everything you could have hoped for and more in his first full season in the bigs. Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz oh sorry what I can't hear you over the inanity

Their Game 1 starter in this series (Clayton Kershaw) is a 21-year-old kid so talented that scouts sometimes compare him to Sandy Koufax, but still so erratic that one of those scouts also compared him to Tommy Lasorda — and not for his future as a manager.

“That’s the thing,” the scout said. “You don’t know if he’s going to be Koufax, or Lasorda.”

I’m just tired of this whole thing — “You should have gotten Cliff Lee,” “How could you not give up those prospects for him,” or on the more idiotic overreactionary end, Bill Plaschke’s article about this — but this made me roll my eyes so hard that they nearly fell out of my head.

Here’s a formula for you.

Clayton Kershaw at 21 > Sandy Koufax at 21

That’s it.

You don’t compare Clayton Kershaw, age 21, to Sandy Koufax, Hall of Famer, because Sandy Koufax, Hall of Famer, had nothing like the stuff Clayton has at this age. Sandy doesn’t have enough innings at 21 for a real comparison, but try his age 22 season on for size:

40 G, 26 GS, 158.2 IP, 132 H, 131 K, 105 BB, 17 WP, 4.48 ERA (92 ERA+), 1.494 WHIP

This is Clayton’s age 21 season:

31 G, 30 GS, 171.0 IP, 119 H, 185 K, 91 BB, 11 WP, 2.79 ERA (149 ERA+), 1.228 WHIP

Absolutely, there’s a comparison there. I’m not saying Clayton isn’t erratic; he can walk a batter with the best of ‘em and he’s one of two young Dodger pitchers with more than ten wild pitches this season. He’s not a finished product. He’s just a kid. He also has control Koufax could only dream of at this age, and yes, he’s managed better.

(By the way, Tommy Lasorda, age 21: not in the majors, because of some guy named Koufax and his bonus baby contract; pitched a grand total of 13 innings for Brooklyn across two seasons. In other words, this is also not a comparison worth making, unless you think Clayton is going to manage the Dodgers someday.)

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The thing about Kersh is he’s the most mature 21-year-old I’ve come across. He’s a really good kid. He wants to get better. There’s not a part of him that thinks he’s figured it out. But at the same time, he’s stubborn, and that’s good. I don’t want a pushover guy on the mound. Randy Wolf on Clayton Kershaw (via New York Times)

"Going" crazy?

Olivia: wow i don't know what got into me
Olivia: but i heard clayton talk about how
Olivia: 'no disrespect to that lineup'
Olivia: and i was like
Olivia: yo philadelphia phillies, you guys have a great lineup and imma let you finish, but i got the greatest curve ball of all. time.
Olivia: /going crazy

I just love the timing of this, how it captures one moment. It makes it look like Garland is even slow to bump fists with people, as Clayton and Jim are like, “Dude, hurry up.” (Photo by Culture Schlock/Flickr)