Clayton Kershaw is determined to show he is a modern day Sandy Koufax – by pitching on 3-days rest.
This decade, that is rare for a franchise pitcher. In the ’50s, not so much. The Braves of that decade pretty much lived on a motto of ‘Spain and Sain and pray for rain’ after the Braves’ 1948 mythological pennant drive, when those two went 8-0, including two doubleheaders, in 12 days time.
Want the whole poem?
First we’ll use Spahn
then we’ll use Sain
Then an off day
followed by rain
Back will come Spahn
followed by Sain
And followed
we hope
by two days of rain.
Koufax pitched in a 4-man rotation, rather than the 5 typical today. His counterpart was Don Drysdale, and they are comfortably displayed on my wall for eternity due to their. His manager, “Donny Baseball” Mattingly, was an old school guy in his day too. Mattingly is in a contract year despite having a playoff favorite on his hands and he is either going to be a hero or a goat for this move, like managers always are when they go off book – but Kershaw is a pitcher. He wants to pitch and he knows that in the old days the ace of the staff wants to pitch games 1,4 and 7 in the World Series – so games 1 and 4 in a NLDS.
But he’s at over 240 innings this season and threw 120 times during his last start.
We’ll see how much sense it makes to let players and guts overrule the math.
Clayton Kershaw. Credit: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images / October 7, 2013. Link: LA Times
Clayton Kershaw to start Game 4 for Dodgers on three-days’ rest By Dylan Hernandez, LA Times