I mean, the lockout is the reason Kershaw isn’t built up to 100+ pitches by this point…seems pretty directly related. Considering Roberts let Kershaw choose to go back out for the 7th and let Kershaw choose how many pitches he wanted to throw, I have a hard time believing Roberts would have done this if this happened after a normal spring following a normal winter where Kershaw wasn’t rehabbing an elbow injury.
You're implying Roberts would let Kershaw go 100+ pitches if they had a full spring training. If you want to see Roberts doing it to other pitchers look up Rich Hill's perfect game through 7 in 2016 and Ross Stripling's no-hitter that turned into an extra innings loss after Roberts yanked him.
Yeah, 90-100 before the 7th inning. Kershaw said he would have liked to have continued, but then talked about not being selfish. Sounds like he was ready to keep going.
Everything discussed here is speculation. Kershaw's not gonna say shit about his manager. He never has. Roberts isn't going to say shit either. His response was pretty vague. Maybe they felt that way in 6th inning, but the 7th went pretty damn smooth. So who knows what was said but a perfect game is an extremely rare event in baseball. Seems unusual to just let it go because of analytics. But then again, Roberts did start Yu Darvish in game 7 of the World Series because it was "his turn to pitch."
No, Kershaw and Roberts saying exactly what they talked about is not “speculation.” If Kershaw disagreed with the decision he could have not said anything other than “it’s the manager’s call” or something like that. Kershaw’s season ended last year because of an elbow injury. Kershaw had a PRP injection because of it. He didn’t touch a baseball until January, and had barely thrown during the spring. The lockout shortened his spring even more. This was his first start of the season. There are 157 games to go for a team that is trying to win a championship and this a very thin rotation as it is. But, sure. Throw him back out there when his arm isn’t built up.
Why isn't he doing a conditioning stint in the minors if his arm is such a worry right now?
No, you’re right. Much more important to try to get a perfect game than give yourself the best chance to win a championship.
Kershaw is not a key component to winning a championship at this point in his career. You can't possibly be that dense. He likely won't even be available come October. His body has been a liability for a while now. So why not chase history? It's a few more pitches for the single most rare event in any sport.
That’s news to the Dodgers when they paid him $17m to be the #3 in the rotation. It’s too bad Friedman didn’t have you there to save him the time and effort.
